Brexit- if we had a referendum now do you think people would vote to stay/ go back in

It's not weird at all that the UK has secured closer trading relationships with Pacific rim nations because it is purely a trade relationship. We don't have to pay to join their club. No courts we have to obey. They don't make rules about thousands of other things they expect us to stick too either.

Well, the question was "Would we vote to rejoin..." not would the accept us back... so one step at a time, no one knows what a 3 or 4 year negotiation would get us.. or not...!

The UK is relatively wealthy market of almost 70m people, we are a nuclear power, with a 1/2 decent military, certainly comparable to most European armies.

Atm, its still too hard to trade with the UK and vice versa, this needs sorting first.

Getting back into the EU is not up to us.

The door has been slammed shut and we are persona non grata. We will need to beg for any scraps the EU is prepared to trade with us. Frankly, we have little to offer the EU.

At least the people selling fish on the street can go about their business unhindered.

No people are selfish and stupid

@Pipsquiggle It's not the same thing. They weren't disillusioned, they just didn't care at all. They had some idiotic, misplaced patriotic view that the Country's ills were caused by immigration and cheap labour imported from Eastern Europe and that leaving the EU would sort that out.

I'm disillusioned, I think the system is broken, I think both major parties are as bad as each other, politics is an absolute shitshow. I do however vote. Every single time. I am also fortunate to have EU citizenship. As soon as my familial obligations are done, I'm off.

That's a strange one! Voting Leave because you think that Remain will win! However, the EU/complacency thing is probably more of a factor.

Who knows? There are so many stupid people in this county (52% of citizens to be precise) that it's quite difficult to predict how these seemingly obvious decisions will go.

I saw an angry letter (in the Telegraph?) from a man who wanted the polling companies held to account for predicting that Remain would win.

This man had wanted Remain to win, but not by a huge margin as he thought that would make the EU complacent. So he voted Leave! 🤦‍♀️ I’m not convinced of of the wisdom of voting tactically in a binary referendum.

Yes, I made that point upthread and it's valid - thousands of people just couldn't be bothered to vote. When I asked someone why, she said "oh I just thought Remain would win".

I was surprised as well. It just goes to show what rubbish some of the press write about 'boomers' taking us out of the EU.
I genuinely believe that if people stopped getting their news from social media and read at least 2 newpapers from different political persuasions, then we would have a better educated electorate who would hold the politicians to a higher standard.

At the moment it's a race to the bottom with all main parties.

I think the silent majority, the ones who don't post on social media etc voted leave because they were totally fed up and wanted control of our borders again. In actual fact it is now worse than ever with anyone who wants to jump in a boat able to move her with free hotel accommodation and food and warm radiators whilst the working natives are completely bled dry trying to obtain the same accommodation food and heat. I think many now don't see the point in voting for anything,

I do often wonder if the vote would have been a lot different if the people at the time who were eligible to vote, had actually voted.

I guess we'll never know.

Yes

Millions were whipped up by social media and the news outlets they chose to engage with. I think, if there was another referendum, the media focus might shift/ things might be less frenzied. I think there would be a swing to remain of about 60:40.

Personalities change, e.g Bojo isn't around with his blatant lies.

The UK cannot move on when it has such a damaging trading relationship with the EU & that cannot be fixed unless we have closer alignment, which ultimately means a Norway/EFTA style agreement.

Its rather weird that the Tories, without a referendum, have sought closer alignments with Pacific rim nations than it has the Europeans.

Once again, even if we rejoined, the UK economy is no longer able to join the Euro, it would be an ambition only.

Depends on the terms eg the euro

Also as pp said the education tax is a divergence

One of the myriad of reasons why we won't be able to rejoin the EU is because by this time next year there will be VAT on education which is illegal in the EU so that would have to be rescinded for us to rejoin and that would be electorally unpopular. There will be loads of other divergences between uk regulations and the EU which will be equally difficult to overcome. Keeping the door open to rejoining would require us to stick to EU rules throughout the wilderness years of non-membership and that boat has already sailed.

No.
52 percent of those who voted, voted leave. That means well over half of adults did not. A portion of those elderly people who did vote leave in high numbers have sadly died in the 8 years since.

I voted remain, I live in a remain area, almost everyone I know voted remain (including my then 76 year old mother). My neighbours voted leave, because when they went to Malta there were hospitals being built with EU money....no I don't get it either. People voted leave in many cases in protest at things that were not the EU's doing, because it was never properly explained. Like NHS waiting lists or not being able to see your GP easily.

I understand perfectly the issue with Northern Ireland, but I agree that for reasons I don't understand, it was never made properly clear to voters. Why didn't they explain it clearly in simple terms on the news, instead of making vague comments about 'the Northern Ireland problem '.

Your anger should be focused on the media, campaigners, the liars who misrepresented what the EU does, and the people who actually voted leave.

@SauronsArsehole 100% this.

I also voted remain and was shocked by the result. However, I don't think we can or should rejoin - the way the EU reacted and the mess it's all been means the relationship will never be the same. We need to properly move on, and with good leadership (which it doesn't look like we will ever have, sadly).

Over 60% of Scotland voted to stay. Welcome to democracy in the UK.

Here's an idea...

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/wilson-wanted-uk-to-be-us-state-1075874.html

Think of all the guns y'all could have and, possibly, Trump in charge of us!

Whoop, whoop (or what they shriek).

I think we are saying the same thing.
Loads of people are disillusioned about voting due to the FPTP system and therefore don't vote in general elections. As every vote is equal in referendums they thought they were 'heard' for the first time and turned out in droves.

I absolutely hate that the Tories had a referendum on this just to appease their back benches. I will never forgive David Cameron for enacting such obvious self harm to the country. This is only the start, Scotland and Northern Ireland will want independence and I can't say I blame them.

No we wouldn't, thats just another Leaver lie, the euro can only be adopted when economic conditions allow, they don't want another Greece!!

The Uks debt to GDP is far to high for new euro membership.

If the UK did vote to rejoin, there would be a negotiation, we would not know what we would get & we wouldn't need a rebate as our economy is much weaker, we could even end up not being a net contributor!

Immigration? why would young people in the EU come here now? their economies are doing better than ours and the UK is not the attraction it once was to east europeans.
One reason both Labour and the Tories don't want FOM for younger people is that they know we would see huge numbers of young brits move...

We don't have 30 years between General Elections just so we can see "if the govt works"....

People should be allowed to change their minds or perhaps stick to the same decision, this shouldn't be denied but i'd prefer if a 'party put SM/CU memebrship in their manifesto, so it doesn't become a single voting issue.

@Pipsquiggle These weren't disillusioned voters. These were people of all ages who had never voted and had no intention of voting again.

Whether PR or FPTP, it is compelling people of voting age to vote that is needed. There are so many people that complain, but when you ask if they vote, they don't. If you don't use your vote, don't complain.

Probably not. Most people just do whatever the mainstream media tells them. Besides which it wouldn't be quite as simple as that as there are some areas where we'd be unlikely to meet the criteria currently.

Personally I will never forgive Cameron or those who voted leave in the ADVISORY referendum. I've lost my rights to work elsewhere in Europe without having to jump through hoops, my right to study elsewhere (often at a significant discount compared to the vastly overpriced UK), my food security (after several years of utterly crap harvests those of us who aren't the top 1% will definitely be feeling the effects of that later this year) and my confidence that I will always be able to get the meds I need for me and the lady I care for to survive.

Thanks Brexiteers. Live long and prosper, eh.