Stephen Fry releases myth-busting Brexit video and explains why the country should have a People’s Vote
Stephen Fry. (Mike Marsland/Mike Marsland/Getty Images for SeriousFun)
Where were YOU when actor Stephen Fry busted any myths and misinformation campaigns surrounding Brexit in a video as well as advocating for a People’s Vote?
Reading this article, we hope.
The comedian, 62, took part in a video demystifying the UK’s withdrawn from the European Union for the YouTube channel Pindex. The account shares an array of colourful infographic cartoons.
With the saga of the nation divorcing the bloc – which is currently snarled in a deadlock – proving to be a point of exhaustion for the public, Fry’s dissection of what lawmakers and activists are saying on the topic is much needed.
Moreover, in a second version of the video he tweeted this week, he explained why he believes the people need a Final Say referendum, a pertinent point as lawmakers hash out Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s aggressive and accelerated withdraw deal.
Stephen Fry busts Brexit myths in video.
Fry kicked off the myth-busting journey with a simple statistic: 99 percent.
This is the amount of UK public expenditure that is determined completely by the government “which shapes all major political policy, from education to marriage, divorce and the NHS [National Health Service].
“The expiation is immigration, but the UK controls the vast majority of immigration which is from outside the EU.”
He goes onto sketch out how immigrants from within the EU are, in actuality, the most valuable for the economy in “paying for more hospital and school places than they use.
“So, it’s unlikely that the government will rush to reduce numbers.”
Notably, Fry referenced that each EU member state has its own individual control over laws, giving the example that this independence enabled the UK to legalise same-sex marriage meaning that ‘I was able to marry the man I loved and wanted to spend my life with.”
Fry referenced the ‘Porn Ban Bill’ – a controversial and widely panned piece of legislation, since shelved – as an example of how the UK, even within the EU, has independence.
“But the illusion of Britain losing control resonated with those feeling trapped at the wrong end of inequality.”
‘Boris no more represents “the will of the people” than I, you, or the penguins in London Zoo’, says Stephen Fry.
Furthermore, Fry explained how the EU works on projects grounded by cooperation, such as improving air quality or tackling tax evasion.
The Financial Secrecy Index, which tracks shrouded financial flows and tax havens, stated that, if Britain’s network was assessed together, it’d be the most financially secretive in the world.
“Brexit threatens to undo EU progress,” Fry said. “It’s not Britain that needs to take back control,” he continued, “it’s the British companies.”
In rotating through many of the planks of the pro-Brexit campaign, Fry concluded how such misinformation proves damaging to democracy.
Boris no more represents “the will of the people” than I, you, or the penguins in London Zoo. Only one way to find out and that’s to ask… Some points to bear in mind, meanwhile. pic.twitter.com/e1vG9WvLJE
— Stephen Fry (@stephenfry) October 21, 2019
As lawmakers jostle with the idea of hurtling out of the EU at the end of the month, Fry released a new, clipped version of the original YouTube video with a new rallying cry: The need for a second referendum.
Showing a poll that indicated that there has been, however small, a shift towards the Remain faction over the last 18 months, he said: “Britain has changed its mind.
“If a democracy can’t change its mind it ceases to be a democracy.”
You can watch the full video below:
