Seriously thinking about leaving the UK

Schools closing for Eid and some "non British shops" are not sharia law 😂

For posters who favourably compare France to the UK, a question : what happens to poor and elderly people who are unable to live independently? Do they have the same system of basic / low quality care homes we have in the UK?

I wondered if care homes are unique in Europe to Britain or the norm. They are a negative symbol to me of an eroding society and personally I’d hate to end up in one (I mean the ones that are stretched and low quality for people who don’t have any money to pay)

I agree, I’m from Co Carlow but my brother and SIL live I Kilkenny which is lovely. My other brother with family lives in Glenealy which is sort of commuting distance to Dublin.

If you move to Ireland as someone who lives in Dublin, I would move to anywhere except Dublin! The rest of Ireland is literally empty!

Yep North Somerset tends to mean areas like Portishead or clevedon, ( which may not be what you are after though m not sure) whereas north east Somerset is more Bath/ Bath villages - villages like Norton st Phillip , wellow might suit ( wellow has a lovely stables too) - lots of horsey stuff in that area, same with Bruton and castle Cary - nice too towards Wells with horses , although shit for train connections if you need them - other lovely villages round Frome like Beckington and Nunney . Its nice too towards Wells , to be honest it’s all nice.

Thank you, I would live to in North Somerset. I currently work (admin) in a sister hospital of Bath clinic so I’m sure I could try for a job there.
I’ll be bringing my horse and although we don’t want to buy land I’m sure there’s nice livery yards to keep him. I love hacking so plenty of bridleways are a must, maybe Mendips or Wiltshire downs.

@BobbySox71 we live in Bath because I like still having plenty on doorstep but I would also add in places like Corsham and Bradford on Avon and Devizes in west wilts if you come this way - all nice places to live and you can get a decent buy too -

I would like to move back ‘home’ to Ireland but I hear it’s just as bad there.
DD has just joined the Royal Navy and as it’s Fleet Air Arm she’ll likely to be in Somerset or Cornwall.
We’re in west London and no reason to stay here, I’m thinking of doing the typical Escape to the Country and move to Somerset. DH will be retiring soon and nice to buy somewhere nicer and cheaper, not having HS2 behind us

Yes we are paying for hollowed out services, which still cost a lot to fund ie buildings hr etc but aren't funded enough to provide a decent service.

I've wondered, with its history, some countries in Europe are more worried about the population taking matters into their hands than others?

We need electoral reform, PR is way over due.

@Alexandra2001 I suspect that is to do with how councils and social care are funded too - the UK system these days is nuts - it’s a viscious circle now, we have a lot of low wages service economy jobs , therefore high tax at modest earnings like the scandis have along with many other Northern European nations would cause an outcry , as well as low basic pensions , we end up with an awful lot of high costs for private rented housing and stupid levels to buy in many parts of the country too - and a press that would be utterly ruthless in criticising a complete about face turnaround on top that might not favour their reader demographic . On top of this we have a first past the post system that means anyone in power is scared to turn off a whole demographic

Plan d'eau's, picnic areas, sports facilities ie pitches, all free and most parking is almost always free too.

In the UK, this would almost all be charged for and/or parking wouldn't be free.

Yes I think there's a pinch point at about 100k in the UK. It's very far from poor. But it is a cliff edge for lots of things
I saw a poster talk about "families earning 100-500k" but actually there is a massive difference between 100k.and 500k.
The problem is reforming the tax system so maybe people on 100k are less squeezed but the money is made back in higher tax bands might work. But then you would have people earning, eg,.300k who see their taxes go up feeling victimised (possibly also with some forced teaming with lower incomes). And right wing rags reporting an "exodus" of ordinary people earning 300k.

Every country has moaners.
They moan in the Netherlands too even though to me so many things are done so.much better (no austerity for one). But almost everywhere has tensions around immigration/racism; culture war stuff; cross farmers; economic woes; a sense that things aren't as good as they used to mw/that wages don't go far. And house prices. Always house prices. Partly I think because some issues are genuine universal problems - the impact of COVID and land/houses being an investment opportunity.not somewhere to live.

But also there is general dissatisfaction pushed by social media/YouTube videos saying "why the United Kingdom is a LAUGHING STOCK" or "totally screwed" often with a thumbnail of a presenter looking shocked in front of an AI image of London on fire or something.

So working out what is a "real" problem and what has been amplified by too much doom scrolling is hard sometimes.

I don't think there is anything wrong with UK people moving abroad. I would be a massive hypocrite. But I don't agree with the idea that the UK is uniquely crap/doomed.

I think the tax point is key here. I actually pay less tax in France even though my salary here is higher than in the UK. As a family of 4 with the family quotient (income divided into three parts before tax bands are applied) more of my salary as ´family’s income is taxed in lower bands than in the UK. So think 3 personal allowances applied before the tax bands even in kick in. In 3 parts the very top slice of family income (circa €20 -30k) gets taxed at the top rate of 40%. In the UK, I had no personal allowance and the vast majority of my salary was taxed at 40% and 45%.

Many low income families with 1 or 2 children in France pay no tax at all and a middle income family with 2 or 3 children is also likely to pay very little or no tax at all.

Yes the taxes are higher but personally I think they bite at the right level. I think there is definitely more incentive for parents to be in gainful employment in France, especially with more readily available and affordable younger years childcare.

As a result I don’t agree that those (like me) would be just as disgruntled in France as in Uk because the tax regime overall feels considerably more fair and balanced.

I'm not complaining. I don't think taxes are bad thing and I can absolutely see where my money goes here in France.

But what is this free stuff in small towns and villages you speak of?

Yes it’s an issue when someone contributing is seen as part of the problem. We need more doing that not fewer.

I doubt he did. And we don’t have Covid now so even the pressures are lower for Labour.

You also have super smooth roads, far cheaper housing, outside of Paris etc

You also get a v good joined up health service and lots of free stuff in small towns and villages.

I listen to friends of mine, living there, moan about France & think "You've really nothing to complain about"

Starmer does absolutely nothing to stop people breaking into the country he dosent even mention the boats I don't recognise our cities anymore he has betrayed all of us a very weak man .

I asked because while the 10-year WA CDS allows you to leave France for up to 5 years, other CDS only allow you to leave for 2 years.
Bon courage!

We already have a real estate wealth tax (the IFI) levied on individuals with real estate assets valued over €1.3 million.

There are moves afoot to introduce a tax on the super wealthy (the Zucman tax) - a 2% minimum tax rate on the wealth of individuals with a net worth exceeding €100 million. The bill was rejected by the French Senate in June but it's only a matter of time.

Yeah, don't move to France if you think you pay too much tax in the UK!!

@OneZippyRobin absolute rubbish - it was broken in so many ways before the change of government - the gvt were actually quite lucky that the hoo ha of covid and Brexit was to the fire and masked to some extent other almighty issues - as well as emphasising how much more vulnerable we were than others. I actually think Sunak wanted to lose- he knew a big storm was a brewing and there wasn’t the cash in the system to fix in any way

The country was a blazing success pre July 2024 wasn't it..... not...

Starmer is betraying us , the country is broken .

@Snakebite61 I think it’s a bit of both - the very wealthy elite are indeed part of the issue - however the other end of the wealth spectrum is also part of the problem , and I don’t mean the hard working working class , I mean the ones who simply don’t want to work, find they are ok getting by with doing not much and manipulating things to maximise their ability to get by not doing much , ‘splitting up/not splitting up’ , feigning conditions on not just themselves but children, subletting housing association places etc and staying with mates - and then yep blaming all the shit on immigrants etc - it is incredibly naive to not think that vast amounts of this stuff has been going on — and I’m social minded too and not Reform/Tory. What really pisses me off is that this kind of behaviour makes it very difficult for the genuinely in need and unable to actually help themselves to get proper help