6 Brexit Pledges That Are Already Dust Two Months After The EU Referendum

Yet again Nigel Farage is left fuming.
LOADINGERROR LOADING

Theresa May has dismissed one of the central points championed by the Leave campaign in the run up to the EU referendum, much to the chagrin of Nigel Farage.

The latest to fall centres around immigration but is far from the first pledge to be dropped in the aftermath of the vote.

Here’s a round up of what the public were promised but will not be getting...

1) A points-based immigration policy.

Farage repeatedly voiced his mantra that a points-based immigration policy such as that in place in Australia, would go someway to solving the migrant issue which became such an integral part of the debate around Brexit.

Just this Monday however, May dismissed the idea as it was not “not a silver bullet” to reduce the numbers coming to the UK.

What? PM says no new £350m a week for NHS or points-based immigration?! Next she’ll be saying there aren’t 76m Turks about to arrive! #crazy

— David Schneider (@davidschneider) September 5, 2016
Nigel Farage was not particularly impressed with the latest news
Nigel Farage was not particularly impressed with the latest news
Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire

Farage, unsurprisingly was rather peeved, saying: “Given that myself and others also campaigned for a migration system that would treat all who wanted to come equally, any preference for EU nationals would be totally unacceptable

“If the establishment think they can stitch-up Brexit then they better be ready for the huge electoral consequences from a British public who on June 23rd voted for radical political change and now expect it to be delivered without failure.”

Simply saying you want a "points-based" immigration system is a bit of a magic asterisk. How many people? Points for what?

— Matthew Yglesias (@mattyglesias) September 5, 2016

2) More money for the NHS.

Remember this?

So @Nigel_Farage @BorisJohnson - when exactly does the NHS start getting its £350 million ? pic.twitter.com/Rr2PoXsxSz

— Rob Windscheffel (@RWindscheffel) June 24, 2016

The infamous Leave battle bus.

Almost immediately after hailing victory, Nigel Farage was forced to admit one of the central pledges of the Leave campaign simply wasn’t true.

They had said the weekly £350 million saving in EU contributions could be spent on the NHS instead, but confronted by Susanna Reid on ITV’s Good Morning, the former Ukip leader swiftly changed his tune.

When asked whether he could guarantee the bold pledge promoted on the side of a much-photographed battle bus would be delivered on, the Farage said: “No I can’t”, adding it was a “mistake”.

“Let’s give our NHS the £350 million the EU takes every week.”

Wonder how that's shaping up. 🙄 pic.twitter.com/89pmzlvvWU

— Benjamin Cook (@benjamin_cook) August 26, 2016

Reid said: “You’re saying, after 17m people have voted for Leave based - I don’t know how many people voted on the basis of that advert, but it was a huge part of the propaganda - you’re saying that was a mistake?”

The figure has been criticised repeatedly in the past for being “misleading”, included by the UK Statistics Authority.

Brexit mess. No points based system. No £350 million for NHS. May thinks Boris is an idiot and Japanese warn of UK jobs. What a mess!

— david bush (@Davidbush) September 5, 2016

3) Immigration.

For many of those intending to vote leave, immigration was the most important issue with an Independent poll in early June finding a third of voters more concerned with it than the economy.

Farage repeatedly raised it as a concern, drawing criticism for stoking up fears of terrorism and sex attacks.

He told The Sunday Telegraph before the vote: “The nuclear bomb this time would be about Cologne ... There are some very big cultural issues”.

When asked whether our EU membership boosted the risk of Cologne-style attacks, Farage told the paper: “It depends if they get EU passports. It depends if we vote for Brexit or not. It is an issue.”

90% of the approximately 85,000 women raped each year knew their attackers. Farage needs to do some research. https://t.co/jEAH0SbzF0

— Kirsty S (@KirstyStricklan) June 5, 2016

On the Saturday morning following the EU referendum result, leading Brexit campaigner MEP Daniel Hannan was accused by Newsnight’s Evan Davis of peddling an immigration policy “completely at odds with what the public think they’ve just voted for” after Brexit.

In an extraordinary exchange that at one point saw Davis put his head in his hands in despair, Hannan admitted the UK would still allow free movement of labour from Europe.

.@evanHD isn't happy with this potential change of tone on freedom of movement...#brexit #newsnight https://t.co/VKnfMz70ke

— BBC Newsnight (@BBCNewsnight) June 24, 2016

Davis said: “I’m sorry we’ve just been through three months of agony on the issue of immigration.

“The public have been led to believe that what they have voted for is an end to free movement.”

I personally voted leave believing these lies and I regret it more than anything, I feel genuinely robbed of my vote😡😤😭

— khembe (@rambogiblet) June 24, 2016

4) The Economy

On the eve of the referendum, Vote Leave announced:

After we Vote Leave, there won’t be a sudden change that disrupts the economy. The day after the referendum, nothing changes legally. We will talk to our friends in Europe and discuss the best way to agree a new UK-EU relationship.

Then this happened...

The pound, pictured falling off a cliff
The pound, pictured falling off a cliff
BLOOMBERG

The morning of the vote saw the pound plummet to a low not seen since 1985 with a loss of £122 billion to the FTSE 100.

The UK is no longer the world's 5th largest economy. The £ has fallen so far that France has overtaken us. #EUref

— The London Economic (@LondonEconomic) June 24, 2016

Although there was a bounce-back of sorts, recent reports have painted a rather gloomy outlook ahead.

Last month it was revealed there could be another recession as UK economic activity fell to its lowest level since 2009.

On Monday Japan’s government announced it may move the head offices of the country’s firms out of Britain “if EU laws cease to be applicable in the UK”.

In a letter it said: “Japanese businesses with their European headquarters in the UK may decide to transfer their head-office function to Continental Europe if EU laws cease to be applicable in the UK after its withdrawal.”

As you can imagine, with the number of Japanese firms operating in Europe this would have a drastic effect.

Here is full Japan Brexit "message to the UK and EU" - probably the most technical analysis I have seen from anyone https://t.co/vVThsUUtoG

— Faisal Islam (@faisalislam) September 4, 2016

5) Taking Our Country Back

The rather vague phrase popped up repeatedly throughout the campaign largely leave voters presumably reminiscing about a bygone era.

I have voted.Voted to put the Great back into Britain.To take our country back off of this corrupted organisation that is the EU #Brexit

— Michael Beirne (@MBeirne93) June 23, 2016

So glad that I voted leave yesterday, it's time to take our country back!#EUreferendum #Brexit

— Ross (@BROKEN_ross) June 24, 2016

It has even spread Stateside.

If only Americans were smart enough to want to take our country back. #Brexit

— Amber Heath (@BrownEyes706) June 24, 2016

Quite what it exactly means is still a bit of a mystery but one leave voter has gave us some idea...

But the tide appears to have turned since...

When did we let bigots and racists get the upper hand in Britain? Time for the decent, tolerant majority to TAKE BACK OUR COUNTRY.

— Marcus Chown (@marcuschown) September 4, 2016

Bizarrely the people leading the Leave camp seemed in no hurry to “get their country back”.

Boris Johnson said shortly after the vote: “In voting to leave the EU it’s vital to stress that there’s no need for haste, and as the prime minister has just said nothing will change in the short term except work will begin on how to extricate this country from the supranational system.

“As the prime minister has said there is no need to invoke article 50.”

6) ‘Brexit means Brexit’.

To further complicate matters, just this week a group of MPs including Owen Smith is calling for a second EU referendum ahead of a Westminster debate on the petition backed by four million people.

The U.K should have a 2nd referendum. I'm sure the result would be to remain in the EU.

— Jeremy 🌐 (@J_Shepz) June 27, 2016

If they try overturn result or push for a 2nd referendum we will have our pitchforks at the ready. I have some sharp ones in my shed.

— IrelandforBrexit (@Irelandbrexit) June 27, 2016

Labour’s Geraint Davies told The Huffington Post UK people deserve a second say on EU membership as “once they find out what’s actually in the can isn’t actually what was printed on the tin, there’s going to be a lot of very unhappy people”.

Judging by this tweet, people are getting very passionate about it.

WHAT WITH OWEN SMITH TRYING TO GET A 2ND REFERENDUM & JEREMY CORBYN'S PARANOIA ABOUT SEATING ARRANGEMENTS ON TRAINS. DISSOLVE LABOUR PARTY

— Vern Hughes (@Huggiesll) August 24, 2016

So that’s six so far, stay tuned for an updated version soon perhaps...

Close

What's Hot