We told you so! So shout the "Remainers", leaving the EU was always going to make life worse say folks such as my utterly misguided father. Thus we are told today that the EU is thinking of introducing US style visas and that, post Brexit whenever that is, we in Britain may need to cough up a few quid should we want to travel into the Evil Empire.
The scheme will work a bit like the US ESTA scheme and the EU says that it will tackle terrorism. Like hell it will. Most of the Islamofascists who want to murder folks within the EU are there already. And is the EU suggesting that anyone washing up on the shores of Italy and Greece without an EU-ESTA will be sent back at once? Er...no. We know already that some of those folks actually are terrorists but this proposal will not stop them. It will not make the EU one iota more safe.
Instead it will impose a cost of both time and money on Brits travelling to Europe. This is the sort of petty vindictiveness we might have expected from the EU. But it will be so utterly counter productive.
Firstly such Visa schemes are not self funding. As such it will impose an additional cost of EU taxpayers which will not make Europe any better off. Secondly for countries in Southern Europe where holidays are targeted at the "budget" level this will, in percentage terms, make a noticeable different to the bill for British tourists.
I fill in an ESTA online with no problem, many folks of my father's generation or in lower income groups may struggle. So that means fewer British tourists heading to Spain, Portugal, Bulgaria and Greece. I bet they will be delighted.
Today's news makes the case for Brexit even stronger. Do you really want to be part of a club which takes decisions that will make its people worse off just out a sense of malice? Me neither. we are so much better off out.