Hamat
Bah, leader of the National Reconciliation Party (NRP), has said the issue of
the referendum on Britain not staying in the European Union was a negative
aspect played by the media.
The
NRP leader was speaking to journalists at a press briefing held recently at the
party’s Political Bureau at Westfield.
He
said Britain was not a founding member of the European Economic Community,
which came to be the European Union in 1993.
He
said at first they wanted to be part of the union, but they were not welcomed
and a referendum was held, and they decided to join the European Economic
Community as it was called.
According
to Bah, after the dismantlement of communism, other countries in Eastern Europe
decided to join the European Union.
Bah
added that as a result of that Britain being a member was obliged to meet all
the protocols, as well as the agreements that a member must fulfill.
He
said Britain was one of the second biggest economies in Europe, and it
contributes a huge amount of money to the European Union.
He
said because the Conservative Party are always sceptical about the European
Union for many reasons principally the issue of immigration.
“We
saw a lot of people coming from Poland and other Eastern countries to Britain
taking lot of jobs and also enjoy benefits that they would enjoy in other
countries but people preferred going to Britain,” he said.
The
NRP Leader further informed journalists that the young generation of the
British feels they should be part of Europe, and they voted to be part of
Europe.
However,
he added, the middle aged and the old feel they should really get out of the
EU, and now the consequences of the role the media played in it.
“I
believe that the Labour leader and other party leaders did not do as much as
David Cameron did when they were campaigning for all of them to stay. Other
parties campaign for them to stay; so with all these big parties there should
have been a positive outcome for them to stay,” he said.
He
said he thought that for the Prime Minister to allow people to express their
opinion and also allowed Scotland to have independence “shows that David
Cameroon is a real democrat”.
“Scotland
voted to stay,” he added.
Hamat
Bah also said: “I think the media played a very important role that affected
the results, because the media was focusing on the negative aspect more than
the benefits of being part of the European Union.”
He
added that if you studied the issue “it tells you more about immigration,
unemployment, and medical health services which, of course, are under pressure
and that basically was why the British felt that they should get out from the
union.
