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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To want Brexit be reversed

812 replies

BeKookySheep · 05/05/2025 10:59

I don’t normally post about politics, but this has been playing on my mind for a while. I wasn’t super political before the referendum — just a mum trying to do her best for her family. But now, years later, I really feel like Brexit hasn’t delivered what we were promised. And I think we should seriously start talking about reversing it.

My eldest is 16, really bright, and had dreams of studying languages and maybe doing a year abroad. We looked into Erasmus a while ago, but that’s gone now. And the cost and hassle of studying or working in Europe is so much higher now. She asked me, “Why is it so much harder for us than it was for you, Mum?” And honestly, I didn’t know what to say. It hit me hard.

Everything’s more expensive — our food shop has gone up loads, and don’t even get me started on getting certain things for school packed lunches! Little things, but they add up. My brother runs a small business and he's drowning in paperwork just to send stuff to Ireland. And a friend of mine left the NHS because she felt so overstretched — they can’t recruit enough staff anymore, especially from Europe.

Brexit hasn’t made anything better. It’s just made life harder in so many small but important ways. And if something clearly isn’t working — and is limiting our children’s futures — why shouldn’t we talk about changing it?

We tell our kids it’s okay to admit when something’s not right and make it better. Maybe it’s time we took our own advice.

Would love to hear if others are feeling the same. Has Brexit made life harder for your family too?

OP posts:
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Clavinova · 05/05/2025 17:01

Perplexed20 · 05/05/2025 16:43

Which poll are you quoting Clavinova?

Potential re-accession to the EU - March 2025 - including those who answered neither/don't know;

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potential_re-accession_of_the_United_Kingdom_to_the_European_Union

Clavinova · 05/05/2025 16:56

I haven't had time to read much of your link but I notice that the researcher has based his percentage calculations on Germany receiving 148,000 asylum applications in 2021 - however I have just checked and the correct figure is over 190,000 so his comparison is flawed. Germany then received over 244,000 asylum applications in 2022 and over 350,000 applications in 2023. The researcher only looks at 2021 stats (incorrectly).

Perplexed20 · 05/05/2025 16:43

Perplexed20 · 05/05/2025 16:41

clavinova

This poll says otherwise re rejoin. Also polls consistently say people think it was a bad decision.

natcen.ac.uk/public-attitudes-new-eu-referendum

Which poll are you quoting Clavinova?

Perplexed20 · 05/05/2025 16:41

clavinova

This poll says otherwise re rejoin. Also polls consistently say people think it was a bad decision.

natcen.ac.uk/public-attitudes-new-eu-referendum

Walkaround · 05/05/2025 16:40

The great benefit of Brexit was enabling the country to become more extremist. Obviously, once you’ve got people to vote a particular way on the basis that it will protect them from uncontrolled immigration, no money for the NHS and straight bananas, you can move onto protecting people from money-wasting diversity, equity and inclusion strategies, a bloated, lazy public sector, benefit scroungers and unhealthy fatties who are ruining the NHS and the economy with their poor health and depravity. Then you can move onto women and their unreliability, weakness and hysteria in the workplace, their ridiculous notions of work-life balance, their harmful feminisation of men, and how they are ruining the next generation and not doing their patriotic duty of having children. Before we know it, they’ll be saying most people shouldn’t be allowed to vote, because they don’t contribute enough to this country to deserve a vote - people should do as they are told.

Goditsmemargaret · 05/05/2025 16:38

Well how did you vote? I have fuck all sympathy for anyone who voted to leave.

MumChp · 05/05/2025 16:37

Lots of people couldn't afford to study abroad before Brexit. We shouldn't fool ourselves.
But Brexit hasn't done any good. True.

thepariscrimefiles · 05/05/2025 16:36

Lookjaz · 05/05/2025 11:56

Brexit was not done as it should have been due to the remainders blocking everything and not helping together it done in a timely manner. Their refusal to accept the result gave the EU added power to give the UK a bad outcome

How did the 'remainders' block everything? The negotiations were done by hard-line Brexiteers. Boris 'got Brexit done' by leaving without any sort of deal. He boasted about the 'oven ready deal' which he got through Parliament, so how is this shitshow the fault of 'remainders'? Footage of the negoations were hilarious though. The EU representatives turning up with folders of notes and David Davis turning up with a notepad and pen. They were all too lazy and complacent to do it properly.

TooBigForMyBoots · 05/05/2025 16:32

thepariscrimefiles · 05/05/2025 16:21

Please tell us all about these wonderful Brexit benefits that are about to unfold! I'm waiting with baited breath.

It destroyed the Conservative Party, pissed off racists and Tommy, the great patriot, man of the people, Brexiteer, Robinson moved to Spain. With his newly acquired Irish passport.

Do those things count?

thepariscrimefiles · 05/05/2025 16:26

Swiftie1878 · 05/05/2025 11:43

I said they are to unfold. They have started to unfold, but we aren’t anywhere near full benefits yet.
We’ve stopped paying money to the EU - given the state of the public purse at the moment, that’s a huge gain.
We can now control our own taxes - VAT on private school fees, and removing VAT on sanitary products would not have been allowed had we been in the EU.
We have stopped free movement of people - the immigration crisis across Europe would be far worse for us without this door closed.
We are deep in trade agreement negotiations with a number of countries, including the U.S., (which will protect us from the tumult of Trump’s tariff whims). Our non-EU membership has already kept our tariffs lower than those being put on EU goods and services.

There are more to come, and we won’t fully know what Brexit Britain looks like for some time due to other world events.
And Brexit was democratically decided upon.
It is unreasonable to revisit such a major decision so soon.

Didn't the UK economy shrink by about £140 billion due to Brexit? Plus if we had a free trade agreement with the EU, our nearest trading block, it would mitigate the impact of Trump's tariffs.

AndImBrit · 05/05/2025 16:25

MrsBennetsPoorNerves · 05/05/2025 14:20

Lol. I have always been suspicious of supposedly clever people who join Mensa. It smacks of someone that is desperately trying to prove something.

tbf, I was bought the test as a Christmas present. I qualified, paid for the first year to get the certificate and then intend to let my membership lapse.

thepariscrimefiles · 05/05/2025 16:21

Swiftie1878 · 05/05/2025 11:12

YABU.
The benefits of Brexit are still to unfold. The whole world has been a shit show since then, due to COVID, Syria, Ukraine and now Trump. None of that is down to Brexit, in fact being outside the EU has helped more than hindered.

Please tell us all about these wonderful Brexit benefits that are about to unfold! I'm waiting with baited breath.

Mannatan · 05/05/2025 16:19

Another effect of brexit: it definitely feels lonlier in the uk these days.

I feel cut off from the rest of the EU.

Its lonely out here

thepariscrimefiles · 05/05/2025 16:19

BeKookySheep · 05/05/2025 11:10

We have just been worse off and it would be 10 years of referendum next year. Its very clear how worse off we have been since then.

I agree, and now that Donald Trump is unleashing his brain dead policies on tariffs and threatening to invade Greenland, we need the security of being in a trading block with our nearest neighbours, rather than grovelling for a trade deal with the US which will open us up to allowing in chlorinated chicken and other abominations.

Teanbiscuits33 · 05/05/2025 16:19

Clavinova · 05/05/2025 16:02

Nick Timothy MP
@ NJ_Timothy
Here we go again. In 2017 under the Dublin regulation: - 314 migrants were transferred out of the UK - 461 migrants were transferred to the UK The year before the numbers were 362 and 558. Dublin didn't work. Labour aren't serious.

https://www.epc.eu/content/PDF/2022/EU-UK_post_Brexit_DP.pdf

https://www.epc.eu/content/PDF/2022/EU-UK_post_Brexit_DP.pdf

lifeonmars100 · 05/05/2025 16:17

On the day of the referendum I was waiting for the bus when I overheard a young woman talking on her phone. She was telling whoever she was speaking to that although she had never voted in her life before she was going to vote leave to "stop all the Turks coming over here". Propaganda certainly works

Mannatan · 05/05/2025 16:17

I did think that brexit was stupid. Surely people should see what would happen, if one small country left the EU.

Its made it much harder for British people to study or travel or work in the EU.

LyndzB · 05/05/2025 16:17

People voted for it to stop immigration and it utterly failed to do that. I didn’t agree with it and voted to remain, but for those who voted out I’m surprised more aren’t mightily pissed off that it hasn’t achieved this.

Dangermoo · 05/05/2025 16:14

TheyNotLikeUs · 05/05/2025 15:13

"Not everyone who voted for Brexit is racist, but every racist voted for Brexit."

What a profound contribution you make. Do you remember how that kind of bigoted remark went down when it was applied to Muslims and terrorism?

MrsBennetsPoorNerves · 05/05/2025 16:13

Thephantom · 05/05/2025 16:02

But the PM didn't unilaterally exit EU though. He asked the people and the people spoke. There's no point in the entitled 48% moaning , 52% have chosen to leave and that's democracy. That's how the real world works and coming onto mn and moaning about status quo and "not know what to tell darling daughter" is just cringe.

You seem to have a comprehension problem. Where did I say that the PM unilaterally decided to leave the EU? Clue: I didn't.

But yes, you're right, our kids will allhave to learn the reality that democracy generally produces the results that the electorate deserves. And if we fail to educate our population properly, the electorate will carry on making stupid choices to the detriment of all.

Rummly · 05/05/2025 16:13

MrsBennetsPoorNerves · 05/05/2025 15:53

Absolutely. Just explain the reality that our former Prime Minister chose to gamble away the future of the country in a failed attempt at settling some in-fighting within his own party, and that an ill-informed electorate then voted to tank the economy because they didn't like foreigners and chose to believe some lies on the side of a bus. But don't worry, darling. At least we have blue passports now.

TBF, the pp could add that the LibDems were the first party to offer a referendum as a manifesto commitment. And that Labour did sweet Fanny Adams to support a remain vote.

Clavinova · 05/05/2025 16:13

MissScarletInTheBallroom · 05/05/2025 15:44

This is rather missing the point.

It would be madness to hold a referendum and risk people voting to rejoin when the chances we would not be allowed back in are so very high.

To be fair I was replying to this;
I don't believe that's true anymore. Look at the polling, the majority think Brexit was the wrong decision.

TopPocketFind · 05/05/2025 16:12

Clavinova · 05/05/2025 16:02

Nick Timothy MP
@ NJ_Timothy
Here we go again. In 2017 under the Dublin regulation: - 314 migrants were transferred out of the UK - 461 migrants were transferred to the UK The year before the numbers were 362 and 558. Dublin didn't work. Labour aren't serious.

The UK also lost access to the European Asylum Dactyloscopy Database (EURODAC) – the EU-wide asylum fingerprint database – that is used by participating states to cross-check fingerprints taken from asylum seekers.

As well as elements of the Common European Asylum System (CEAS)

blindblinds · 05/05/2025 16:12

How about parenting and teaching your child the reality of living in the real world, instead of having an entitled rant on mn.

Would MNs even exist if it wasn't for said rants?

Dangermoo · 05/05/2025 16:11

TheyNotLikeUs · 05/05/2025 15:05

Rise in racist attacks since the referendum, the racists are empowered.

But those that voted for it don't accept any responsibility for this.

😆 🤣 you have the nerve to question intelligence 🙄

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