I voted to remain but here’s why i’m celebrating today | thearticle

The Brexit vote seems infinitely longer ago than 2016. Three-and-a-half years later it’s hard to remember what a news cycle involved before Brexit came along and consumed Westminster. As

someone who voted to Remain, I was disappointed with the result, but my disappointment in the subsequent behaviour of politicians has been far greater. Regardless of how you voted, everyone

can see that it’s been a messy, divisive and confusing time since. The day-to-day business of government has been put on hold as every department geared up to be ready for a definite

departure on first March 29, 2019, then October 31, 2019 and eventually today January 31, 2020. Now we can look to the future. Finally, we can call an end to the constant “will they, won’t

they” of Brexit, and go forward together — more unified as a nation than we’ve been since 2016. While plenty of people didn’t vote for the Conservatives, enough did that finally we can stop

ignoring the democratic inevitability of it all, and just get on with Brexit. It’s not like there aren’t other pressing issues at the moment. American manufacturing is stagnating, oil prices

are fluctuating, and the geopolitical situation is looking very uncertain. At a time of such enormous global instability this government must renegotiate its way into the world of

international trade, for the first time in decades. It is against this backdrop that Johnson has promised one of the greatest domestic overhauls in recent times. He’s made promises on

everything from the “levelling up” of regional economies to improving healthcare and remaking our entire infrastructure system while “prioritising the environment”. With Brexit behind us,

the spectrum of political debate can broaden out to include other issues. The media can return its focus to figures, statistics and success rates, as opposed to the Brexit positions of

previously unheard-of MPs. In my lifetime, the UK has never seemed more divided than during these Brexit years. It seems impossible to think that just ten years ago the Dave and Nick show

burst onto our screens in the Rose Garden as the Lib Dems and Conservatives put aside tribal loyalty to deliver what was best for the country in times of serious economic hardship. But, in

recent years, politicians have not put aside their Brexit loyalties for the sake of a better future for the country as a whole. With the debate now firmly behind us, the country has got a

chance to reunify without calls for yet more decisive protests and referendums. The accusations of being traitors or racists, depending on how you voted, can stay in the last decade as we

push ahead with a vision, finally and firmly set. So today, as the clock (although not Big Ben) strikes 11pm, I for one, will raise a glass to the future.