Image Credit: Andrew Shiva (CC BY-SA 4.0)
In a referendum held on Wednesday 14th November, the Worcester College JCR voted to remain in the EU upon the UK’s departure.
54 of the 78 votes cast favoured this option, with 22 against, and 2 abstentions.
The JCR committee are now mandated to “write to the presidents of the EU requesting continued membership”, as well as informing Queen Elizabeth II of the JCR’s intention to secede from the UK upon Brexit occuring.
It follows the motions meeting on Sunday 11th, during which the JCR passed a motion to hold a “people’s vote’” regarding the JCR’s future membership in the European Union.
The motion was proposed by 2nd years Luke Rickard and Boris Andrews, who favour continued membership of the organisation and believe that the JCR will do better remaining in the EU even if it means separating from the UK.
In their proposal, they noted that the majority of the JCR would have been too young to vote in the original referendum, and that Worcester’s constituency, Oxford West and Abingdon, voted to remain.
While the motion was taken light-heartedly at the meeting, Andrews told The Oxford Student that the referendum is “not just a joke, it’s our future and I’ll be damned if Theresa [May is] going to take that away from us”. The motion was prompted by similar discussions within other JCRs.
The JCR’s future relationship with the rest of the UK, and the College, is yet to be decided, but questions have already been raised. Comparisons were made to Passport to Pimlico, where the London district secedes from the UK, while one student asked if “passports and bodcards” would now be required to enter the JCR.
It also remains to be seen how criticisms raised at the motions meeting will be addressed, including statements that the “JCR doesn’t fulfil the requirements of the EU”, and that as the per capita wealth of the JCR is higher than most EU countries, they would end up having to give more money to the EU than they would receive in return. This would mean the donation of much of the JCR budget every year to the EU. It was also feared that the Worcester College JCR would “become an epicentre for border smuggling crime” upon leaving the UK.
One comment on the post remarked that “Wexit means wexit”, leading calls for a second Worcester referendum.
