Letter from Leanne Wood, Plaid Cymru

From: "Morris, Aled" <Aled.Morris@assembly.wales>
Date: 5 July 2016 at 10:42:23 BST
Subject: RE: United Left in a Post-brexit World

Dear x,

Many thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts with Leanne on the result of the recent referendum on EU membership. As I'm sure you can imagine, Leanne has received an incredibly high volume of correspondence over the past couple of weeks and it has proven to be difficult to acknowledge each email in as timely a way as we'd like. Please accept our apologies for this.

This is just to briefly confirm that your thoughts have been passed on for Leanne's consideration and that your feedback is very welcome indeed.

Warmest wishes,

Aled Morris

Swyddog Gweinyddol ac Achos | Administrator & Caseworker

Leanne Wood, Arweinydd Plaid Cymru ac Aelod Cynulliad dros y Rhondda

Leanne Wood, Leader of Plaid Cymru and Assembly Member for the Rhondda

Sent: 27 June 2016 10:42
To: Gerry.adams@oireachtas.ie; caroline.lucas.mp@parliament.uk; clucasmedia@parliament.uk; Wood, Leanne (Aelod Cynulliad | Assembly Member) <Leanne.Wood@assembly.wales>
Subject: United Left in a Post-brexit World

Dear Ms Wood, Mr Adams, and Ms Lucas,

Firstly, I want to thank you for your dedication and commitment as party leaders. Your hard work does not go unnoticed. Thank you again for taking on such a thankless job.

David Cameron has resigned. George Osborne stuck his head above water for the first time this morning — and only to tell the markets they're right to panic. Having created this mess, Boris Johnson, Nigel Farage, and Michael Gove appear to have washed their hands of the entire situation. The Labour Party is imploding as Jeremy Corbyn refuses to step down as leader. 

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 first 36 hours following the results of the referendum the world turned upside down. Following is a list of some of the consequences that unfolded in that time.

• David Cameron resigned as PM, effective October 2016.
• Nigel Farage 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 stated that this decision is unlikely to have an impact on EU migration rules.
• Sinn Fein called for Northern Ireland to leave the UK and reunite with the Republic of Ireland.
• The SNP indicated their intention to secede from the UK and remain a member of the EU. Furthermore, the EU indicated they would view such an application favourably.
• Almost 150,000 people signed a petition calling for an independent London.
• More than two million people across the UK signed a petition calling for a second referendum on leaving the EU.
• Both the Daily Mail and the Sun 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 announced they had set aside £250 billion of additional liquidity as an emergency measure.
• Rampant, vulgar incidents of public racism in broad daylight were reported all across the country.
• The EU began 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. There is no plan. Right now instead of developing a plan, the Conservatives are arguing over whose responsibility it was to have developed one. 

We must engage with one another across intra-national borders to work together to resolve this. The rest of the UK stands to lose more from Scotland's separation than they do, but — make no mistake — we all lose. The same is true for Northern Ireland. This is Game Theory in action. Only by working together can we all win. 

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. Please urge him to do so now.

We need a united left to lead us back from the brink of the apocalypse. A planned coalition of parties united against the Right is the best defence to the madness that is threatening to hurl us all off a cliff. You can and should play a key role in that. I urge you all to work with your colleagues in Labour, the SNP, the Lib Dems, Sinn Fein, Plaid Cymru, and the Greens to achieve this. The time for focusing on what separates us is past. We must work together now for the good of all our people.

Please act immediately.


Yours sincerely,

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Sample Letter to MEP

Find your MEPs' contact details here (you will have several). Write to them all to let them know what you think. 

Dear (YOUR MEP'S NAME HERE),

Fifty-two per cent of voters in this country voted to commit economic suicide. Many of them did so because they have been screwed over by the current government. Many of them did so because of beautiful lies they were told by a Leave campaign that was fuelled by political ambitions of people who have never had to work. 

The people who propagated those lies knew they were lies. They did not care. This was never real to them. They thought it was a game. They thought it was a popularity contest. 

The poor, who are already suffering under Tory austerity, will be hit hardest by the economic devastation caused by this decision. 

Not only have we voted to commit economic suicide, we've also handed the country to the far right. Immigrants and people of colour are being attacked and degraded because we have legitimised racism and xenophobia.

Democracy is a constantly evolving beast. One minute we vote for something, the next we change our minds. That is how democracy works. If we don't like the result of a vote, we are free to petition, campaign, and speak out against it. That is how democracy works. 

This referendum is not democracy in action; this is democracy on steroids. In an election, the results can be reversed, they can be repealed. A few years later we do it all again and we make a different decision. Not this time. If we do not fight this, it will be irreversible. 

There will be no more UK. Scotland will leave. Northern Ireland will break away. London will no longer be the financial capital of Europe — and if you don't think that's a bad thing, you must not know how much tax they (IF YOU WORK IN THE FINANCE SECTOR TO, CHANGE 'THEY' TO 'WE') pay. The price of everything will increase while wages go down — at least for the few lucky enough to have a job. We will have to wave goodbye to our workers' right. We will kiss our human rights goodbye.

As one of the MEPs representing me in the European Parliament, you are beholden to carry this message to them. They must be informed that this is not over yet. 

Thank you.

Yours sincerely,

(Full name)

(Full address)

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United Left in a Post-Brexit World

An open letter to Leanne Wood, Gerry Adams, and Caroline Lucas 

Dear Ms Wood, Mr Adams, and Ms Lucas,

Firstly, I want to thank you for your dedication and commitment as party leaders. Your hard work does not go unnoticed. Thank you again for taking on such a thankless job.

David Cameron has resigned. George Osborne stuck his head above water for the first time this morning — and only to tell the markets they're right to panic. Having created this mess, Boris Johnson, Nigel Farage, and Michael Gove appear to have washed their hands of the entire situation. The Labour Party is imploding as Jeremy Corbyn refuses to step down as leader. 

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 first 36 hours following the results of the referendum the world turned upside down. Following is a list of some of the consequences that unfolded in that time.

• David Cameron resigned as PM, effective October 2016.
• Nigel Farage 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 stated that this decision is unlikely to have an impact on EU migration rules.
• Sinn Fein called for Northern Ireland to leave the UK and reunite with the Republic of Ireland.
• The SNP indicated their intention to secede from the UK and remain a member of the EU. Furthermore, the EU indicated they would view such an application favourably.
• Almost 150,000 people signed a petition calling for an independent London.
• More than two million people across the UK signed a petition calling for a second referendum on leaving the EU.
• Both the Daily Mail and the Sun 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 announced they had set aside £250 billion of additional liquidity as an emergency measure.
• Rampant, vulgar incidents of public racism in broad daylight were reported all across the country.
• The EU began 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. There is no plan. Right now instead of developing a plan, the Conservatives are arguing over whose responsibility it was to have developed one. 

We must engage with one another across intra-national borders to work together to resolve this. The rest of the UK stands to lose more from Scotland's separation than they do, but — make no mistake — we all lose. The same is true for Northern Ireland. This is Game Theory in action. Only by working together can we all win. 

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. Please urge him to do so now.

We need a united left to lead us back from the brink of the apocalypse. A planned coalition of parties united against the Right is the best defence to the madness that is threatening to hurl us all off a cliff. You can and should play a key role in that. I urge you all to work with your colleagues in Labour, the SNP, the Lib Dems, Sinn Fein, Plaid Cymru, and the Greens to achieve this. The time for focusing on what separates us is past. We must work together now for the good of all our people.

Please act immediately.


Yours sincerely,
British by Choice

London Borough of Lewisham

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