Page 32 | To want Brexit be reversed

BeKookySheep · 2025-05-05T09:59:56+00:00

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?

blindblinds · 05/05/2025 11:27

@Ablondiebutagoody You misunderstand, there are legitimate concerns around immigration but wages started to stagnate since the 70s & are impacting many sectors today. It's not just because of immigration though and it doesn't mean we don't need immigration.

MissScarletInTheBallroom · 05/05/2025 11:26

Ablondiebutagoody · 05/05/2025 11:24

Depends on your job. Tell that to someone working in a Midlands warehouse who's pay had been stagnant for the best part of a decade because there were more than enough people from Eastern Europe willing to do it.

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And those people are rolling in it now, are they?

MissScarletInTheBallroom · 05/05/2025 11:26

HopingForTheBest25 · 05/05/2025 11:21

If we rejoined the EU where would that leave the SC ruling? Bearing in mind that may EU nations are completely captured by gender ideology. Would we be able to resist any potential challenge in the European courts - would it outrank our own court?

No, this sort of thing has never been within the EU's jurisdiction.

Chester23 · 05/05/2025 11:26

Not everything is because of brexit. As someone else has said, we've had covid, Ukraine war, trumps policies. Take a look at the wider work instead of just blaming brexit

blindblinds · 05/05/2025 11:25

Brexit was an arrogant vote by the unintelligent and is a damning indictment of the UK education system, IQ levels and critical thinking abilities.

I think that's a tad harsh but a lot don't seem to want to acknowledge that things are different and it's not all the fault of the boat people.

Ablondiebutagoody · 05/05/2025 11:24

blindblinds · 05/05/2025 11:20

Basically Brexit was all about immigration. People don't like the fact that it's doubled since, plus the boats.

The immigration thing confuses me. I get why people are annoyed about illegals etc but we have an ageing population. We need legal immigration.

Depends on your job. Tell that to someone working in a Midlands warehouse who's pay had been stagnant for the best part of a decade because there were more than enough people from Eastern Europe willing to do it.

MissScarletInTheBallroom · 05/05/2025 11:24

Swiftie1878 · 05/05/2025 11:20

There already are.
Look, it’s fine to disagree with it, but to continue the misinformation about it long after the vote is unhelpful (from both sides!)

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Like what?

First you said that the benefits of Brexit are yet to come.

Now you're saying there already are benefits.

Name some.

EasternStandard · 05/05/2025 11:23

TempestTost · 05/05/2025 11:12

No, I think that's a totally impractical idea, just from a completely pragmatic perspective. It likely couldn't happen and returning to the EU would be on less favourable terms than before. It would mean adopting the Euro for one thing which is a terrible idea.

And there is the deeper issue - why should it be a bad idea to adopt the Euro? Because there are serious structural economic issues with the EU, which IMO are likely to get worse. I think the UK may find they are better off out of it in the longer term, in fact I have serious doubts about the EUs survival.

A better path would be to look to forge other kinds of links, as many other countries do.

I have to say the university thing comes off as a bit whiny. I come from a Commonwealth country, in my parents generation, and especially my grandparents, it was possible for students there to study in the UK for free. It's not now, they pay as if we were outsiders. No one seems to think this is some kind of injustice or attack on our "rights". We either pay as non-residents, or what many students do is they enter exchange programs through their own domestic universities. This is very common in language programs in particular and perhaps something you could look into. As the graduate and post-graduate level many students study outside their own country, it's very common, EU or not.

I agree. I didn’t vote to leave but having the Euro isn’t what I’d like.

HopingForTheBest25 · 05/05/2025 11:21

If we rejoined the EU where would that leave the SC ruling? Bearing in mind that may EU nations are completely captured by gender ideology. Would we be able to resist any potential challenge in the European courts - would it outrank our own court?

HappiestSleeping · 05/05/2025 11:21

TempestTost · 05/05/2025 11:12

No, I think that's a totally impractical idea, just from a completely pragmatic perspective. It likely couldn't happen and returning to the EU would be on less favourable terms than before. It would mean adopting the Euro for one thing which is a terrible idea.

And there is the deeper issue - why should it be a bad idea to adopt the Euro? Because there are serious structural economic issues with the EU, which IMO are likely to get worse. I think the UK may find they are better off out of it in the longer term, in fact I have serious doubts about the EUs survival.

A better path would be to look to forge other kinds of links, as many other countries do.

I have to say the university thing comes off as a bit whiny. I come from a Commonwealth country, in my parents generation, and especially my grandparents, it was possible for students there to study in the UK for free. It's not now, they pay as if we were outsiders. No one seems to think this is some kind of injustice or attack on our "rights". We either pay as non-residents, or what many students do is they enter exchange programs through their own domestic universities. This is very common in language programs in particular and perhaps something you could look into. As the graduate and post-graduate level many students study outside their own country, it's very common, EU or not.

This 👆

We would never get the favourable terms we had prior to Brexshit. Joining the euro would be pretty disastrous. While leaving was one of the most stupid decisions, we have to deal with it now.

How anyone could have believed Farage, when he had the lowest attendance for any MEP (apart from one who is disabled and physically couldn't get there), is unfathomable, and even more so that they continue to listen to him.

Whilst the EU was becoming a behemoth and possibly too self absorbed, the way to challenge is from the inside, and not to leave.

We have years of economic turmoil to come, only exacerbated by Ukraine, Trump, etc.

blindblinds · 05/05/2025 11:20

Basically Brexit was all about immigration. People don't like the fact that it's doubled since, plus the boats.

The immigration thing confuses me. I get why people are annoyed about illegals etc but we have an ageing population. We need legal immigration.

Swiftie1878 · 05/05/2025 11:20

MissScarletInTheBallroom · 05/05/2025 11:13

There will be no benefits to Brexit.

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There already are.
Look, it’s fine to disagree with it, but to continue the misinformation about it long after the vote is unhelpful (from both sides!)

DoYouReally · 05/05/2025 11:19

Brexit was an arrogant vote by the unintelligent and is a damning indictment of the UK education system, IQ levels and critical thinking abilities.

blindblinds · 05/05/2025 11:18

There's work to reverse this for under 25s without having to rejoin EU and hopefully it is a strategy that will happen very soon

this would be excellent

Allthegoodnamesarechosen · 05/05/2025 11:18

Not so much unreasonable as deluded

MasterBeth · 05/05/2025 11:18

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.

Putin was absolutely emboldened to invade Ukraine by the perceived weakness and disunity of Europe caused by Brexit. Breaking up the EU had been his number one foreign policy aim and the reason why there had been so much Russian influence into Farage, Johnson, Aaron Banks and the Leave campaign.

MrsBennetsPoorNerves · 05/05/2025 11:17

Didimum · 05/05/2025 11:15

This isn’t true though. These predictions were poo-poohed and sneered at as ‘scaremongering by remainers’. Actually they were just very savvy and knowledgable economists.

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Yes, I know that they were sneered at and dismissed as Project Fear. But my point is that the warnings were all out there, and people actively chose to disregard them.

Ablondiebutagoody · 05/05/2025 11:17

StillProcrastinating · 05/05/2025 11:02

People are voting Reform, so looks like lots think Nigel Farage knows what he’s doing. Presumably they’re quite happy with the outcome of brexit and think it’s been good for the country because otherwise why vote for him ….

Because the polling, especially of Labour voters switching to Reform, seems to show that people blame the implementation of Brexit rather than the decision itself.

Basically Brexit was all about immigration. People don't like the fact that it's doubled since, plus the boats.

ClareBlue · 05/05/2025 11:16

As someone who lives in the EU but travels on a UK passport, I can say that all those cost of living challenges and strains on health care are exactly the same in the EU as in the UK. The freedom of travel and study and working is a very obvious disadvantage that is especially an issue for young people. There's work to reverse this for under 25s without having to rejoin EU and hopefully it is a strategy that will happen very soon. The UK is not ready to rejoin as this is just too devisive at this time and the EU is not ready to have them back, but policies like this can address some of the disadvantages for young people. The UK hasn't lost allies as a result of leaving EU. There is actually very little critism at official level and plenty of Countries have significant popular support for UK. We tend to see a EU perspective on this but EU is not even the European perspective. The UK has as strong aliances with France and Italy as they ever have. The Baltic Countries are strong EU supporters but also are developing strong connections with UK. This is happening across Europe with most countries.

KimberleyClark · 05/05/2025 11:16

MissScarletInTheBallroom · 05/05/2025 11:12

YANBU to want Brexit to be reversed, but realistically it's not going to happen.

What I'd like to see is the Labour government attempting to rebuild the relationship with the EU and maybe get some of the advantages back, such as limited free movement in return for a better trade deal.

Yes that is a bit more realistic.

Didimum · 05/05/2025 11:15

MrsBennetsPoorNerves · 05/05/2025 11:04

I don't disagree with you, but all of the issues that you've mentioned were predicted prior to Brexit, so I'm assuming that people felt that these negatives were "worth it" for whatever reason.

This isn’t true though. These predictions were poo-poohed and sneered at as ‘scaremongering by remainers’. Actually they were just very savvy and knowledgable economists.

MasterBeth · 05/05/2025 11:15

You can't reverse Brexit. We had a unique deal with the EU, with a financial rebate and no need to commit to closer financial union through the Euro. Any country joining the EU now would have neither of those advantages.

But we undoubtedly need to move back closer to the EU in a world with an aggressive Russia and a USA gone mad. Maybe that leads to realignment back into the EU but heaven knows how that looks in the decade of more it would take.

blindblinds · 05/05/2025 11:14

in fact being outside the EU has helped more than hindered

can you give some examples?

MissScarletInTheBallroom · 05/05/2025 11:13

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.

There will be no benefits to Brexit.

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.