Plea for Assistance in This Time of Crisis

An open letter to Vicky Foxcroft, MP for Lewisham Deptford 

Dear Ms Foxcroft,

Firstly, I want to thank you for being an outstanding MP. The recent assassination of Jo Cox has served as a reminder as to what a thankless job it must be. Your hard work does not go unnoticed.

Secondly, I want to thank you and your team for the passion and effort you put into the Remain campaign in recent weeks and months. Lewisham voted 66% in favour of remaining in the EU.

I'm writing to you today because the UK is at a crossroads. What comes next will set our course for decades to come. We must define the terms of our relationship with the EU and obtain their agreement. 

In the 36 hours since the results were announced the world has turned upside down. Following is a list of some of the consequences that have unfolded so far.

• David Cameron has resigned as PM, effective October 2016.
• Nigel Farage has admitted the Leave campaign's claims of freeing up £350 million a week to be spent on our own social services was erroneous. 
• Daniel Hannan has stated that this decision is unlikely to have an impact on EU migration rules.
• Sinn Fein have called for Northern Ireland to leave the UK and reunite with the Republic of Ireland.
• The SNP have indicated their intention to secede from the UK and remain a member of the EU. Furthermore, the EU has indicated they would view their application favourably.
• Almost 150,000 people have signed a petition calling for an independent London.
• More than two million people across the UK have signed a petition calling for a second referendum on leaving the EU.
• Both the Daily Mail and the Sun have published articles advising their readers of the dire, devastating personal consequences of Brexit.
• The value of the FTSE 100 fell by £50 billion and the FTSE 250 fell by £25 billion.
• The value of the pound reached a 31-year low. In fact, it was falling so rapidly that British tourists overseas were unable to exchange or withdraw cash.
• The Bank of England has set aside £250 billion of additional liquidity as an emergency measure.
• Rampant, vulgar incidents of public racism in broad daylight have been reported all across the country — including in Brockley, part of your constituency.
• The EU has begun pressuring the UK to leave quickly.
• Voters across the UK have publicly expressed remorse at voting Leave, saying they did so purely as a protest against the current government.

The time to act is now. We are a nation in crisis. We cannot afford to wait days or weeks. The consequences of delaying will be devastating to our economy and our national identity.

We must not trigger article 50 and give formal notice to cede from the EU until we have a plan in place on how we will proceed. This will be a long and arduous negotiation process. It is vital that these negotiations happen expediently, but not hastily. David Cameron is not the right person to lead these negotiations — not because he campaigned for Remain, but because he has already resigned and because he has lost the faith of the public who elected him only 13 months ago.

We must engage with Scotland to ensure we work together on this. The rest of the UK stands to lose more from Scotland's separation than they do, but — make no mistake — we all lose. Ruth Davidson, as the leader of the Scottish Conservatives, must play a key role in this. She alone can speak compellingly across party lines, socio-economic divides, and  intra-national borders. Please encourage Mr Cameron to engage strongly with her.

Mr Cameron must call a general election. We cannot allow him to simply hand the premiership to Boris Johnson or Theresa May. We cannot permit this country to be ruled by an unelected official for 3.5 years. This must be done immediately and be enacted before Mr Cameron's resignation takes effect in October. 

The people must have the opportunity to vote on the issues surrounding renegotiation. The Leave campaign was fought on a platform of 'take back control'; however, the leaders of that campaign have now revealed they do not have a plan for how to do so. They did not think this day would come. Now that it has, they have shown themselves to be completely unprepared. The only viable solution is to hold a general election with involvement by all parties to allow the people to choose who should lead our country through this pivotal time of change.

Please act immediately. Please do not hesitate to contact me if I can be of assistance to you in your efforts.

Yours sincerely, 

Shannon