Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Protection built in.

Meet the Other Phone.
Protection built in.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Chat

Join the discussion and chat with other Mumsnetters about everyday life, relationships and parenting.

Original poster

Has Brexit made you want to leave the UK?

122 replies

Anxious1013 · 02/02/2020 06:27

Just that really.

Or maybe you have already left and if so where have you gone?

If it were an option for me I would now leave Sad.

This Ian McEwan article pretty much sums up the desolation that I feel.

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/politics/2020/feb/01/brexit-pointless-masochistic-ambition-history-done

OP posts:
nuttymoon · 02/02/2020 06:36

If I was single without children I would or if I had young children who hadn't school. It's a moot point though because my parents have emigrated and I can't join them.

Lovemornings · 02/02/2020 06:54

I hear you, OP. Sad and uncertain times. However, I’m not ready to leave yet, although we shall see with time if that changes! I’ve lived abroad in far worse places so despite the flaws I’m still pleased to live here, in a democracy.
I’m interested to know - where would you like to go to? Somewhere within the EU or beyond?

Sunshinegirl82 · 02/02/2020 06:56

I'm considering Canada. It's made difficult by the fact that my job is specific to England and Wales so it is difficult for me to work elsewhere without retraining.

Plus my dad died 18 months ago so my mum is on her own (and in her 70s) and I would feel guilty leaving her.

It is hard living somewhere where a significant proportion of people want something I so vehemently don't want. I don't feel like I fit. I don't want this "rule Britannia", "sovereignty", "we don't need experts" attitude that seems to pervade at the moment to be what surrounds my DC as they grow up. I just gutted about the whole thing.

Original poster
Anxious1013 · 02/02/2020 06:58

It would be the EU definitely. I lived in one EU country a long time ago but probably wouldn’t go back there. Not sure which country I would pick.

OP posts:
Original poster
Anxious1013 · 02/02/2020 06:59

It is hard living somewhere where a significant proportion of people want something I so vehemently don't want.

Yes.

OP posts:
Lovemornings · 02/02/2020 07:01

Thanks for the link to that article. It’s such a shame that the energy invested in ‘making Brexit happen’ wasn’t invested earlier in making the U.K. a better place to live, for everyone.
I do hold out hope, though. I’m not sure what the silver lining is, but I’m looking out for it!

Nicolastuffedone · 02/02/2020 07:06

No.

AnnaFiveTowns · 02/02/2020 07:06

Yes. I've been looking at options. I don't feel like this is my country anymore.

ViveLEntenteCordiale · 02/02/2020 07:19

Already left, driven out in early 2000s by horrible commutes, crazy taxes for contractors and house prices that meant we'd never own our own home in spite of two decent incomes. Certainly no desire to move back. Luckily we should have no problems applying for permanent residency in our new country, there will just be a lot of bureaucracy in our future.

I cannot get over the irony that leave-voting SIL now wants to move to France (but heaven forbid she should actually learn the language Hmm).

Naomh · 02/02/2020 07:20

We left last month. Ireland.

raskolnikova · 02/02/2020 07:27

Yes. Brexit Britain is not for me.

It is hard living somewhere where a significant proportion of people want something I so vehemently don't want. I don't feel like I fit. I don't want this "rule Britannia", "sovereignty", "we don't need experts" attitude that seems to pervade at the moment to be what surrounds my DC as they grow up.

I feel like this too.

crosspelican · 02/02/2020 07:32

We have talked about it, but we’re Irish and our right to remain here is secure independently of whatever happens to other EU citizens. We probably won’t stay here forever, but we like it a lot here right now. I don’t imagine we’ll ever move back to Ireland. I’d love to live in France but DH is civil service (sort of) and there are many hoops to jump through to qualify to do his job in France. Some day, maybe.

bellinisurge · 02/02/2020 08:05

Dh does.
But having actually lived abroad, I have told him you miss home; you still get a blocked loo that needs fixing (or similar) and you are often a nuisance to the people around you. And being old without a pension is shit in another country - we are 40s/50s.
Only if it actually got sketchy with violence would I consider it. And then it would be poor old Ireland that we'd go to. They have enough problems without us Irish via parents/grandparents turning up .
And I think it'll just be a bit shit here and then, because it's not as shit as it was when it was really shit, it'll be tolerable.

Hoppinggreen · 02/02/2020 08:12

DH and the Dc have dual Nationality with another EU country - actually I should drop the “another now”. They got it with Brexit on the horizon
DH has been here since he was 10 but we do visit the other country frequently and he could easily work there (I couldn’t). DH has grumbled about moving there for the last 10 years or so and I really wish we had when the dc were small (Dd in Y10 so GCSEs looming) but I am finding it increasingly difficult to argue why we should stay here.

borntobequiet · 02/02/2020 08:16

Well it made me leave on Friday for a week to avoid the sad day. If I didn’t have family who aren’t in a position to leave themselves I’d have gone a few years ago when I retired from teaching. I have dual citizenship, so would have no problem relocating. However I now have a second career that I’m pretty invested in and would hate to lose, so that’s an additional complication. I predict that things will get significantly worse in this country before they get better, and that the poor and vulnerable will be most affected.

beepbeeprichie · 02/02/2020 08:25

I’ve lived abroad twice for 4 year stints. No I would not want to go anywhere else. There are some countries where I think I fit in better than others, but overall the UK is a reasonable fit. It’s just my opinion, but countries that seem, on the face of it, more tolerant and progressive than our own (certainly at the moment!!!) really are not when you scrape the surface. France, Italy, Hungary I’m looking at you! Smile

CharlotteMD · 02/02/2020 08:33

No, it doesn't.

12345ct · 02/02/2020 08:33

😂 I love the comments of yes I want to leave as I'm so upset/ashamed but ..... if you feel that strongly just leave or say No I'm staying.

SimonJT · 02/02/2020 08:35

Yes, I don’t know about anyone else on here but I have experienced a lot more racism since the vote for brexit. I barely experienced any before, but loud verbal comments are now very common place when out and about.

I have even had colleagues ask me when I’m leaving as “you won’t be able to live here after brexit” despite the fact that I’m British and not a citizen of another EU country.

My cousin and her wife have made the move as they were sick of the increased racism, just with them the UK have lost a GP and NICU nurse.

motorcyclenumptiness · 02/02/2020 08:38

Yes
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-norfolk-51341735

chomalungma · 02/02/2020 08:41

I did leave the UK many years ago but came back because I missed the part of the UK where I live now.

I love my country. I love Europe and the idea of working to be part of something bigger.

I have no choice but to stay - so stay I must and somehow do something to make the UK a better place to be - in spite of all the nastiness and insular thinking that Brexit has exposed.

BonnesVacances · 02/02/2020 08:42

I'd like to leave. Mainly to say a big fuck you to the grandparents who thought they voted to remove that right from us and DC, one of whom has been very clear from a very young age that he wanted to live in Paris when he was older.

VenusClapTrap · 02/02/2020 08:50

It’s tempting. Dh is an EU national and he has felt very hurt by the whole thing. This country has been happy to take huge amounts of money from him in taxes for the past twenty years, but now suddenly he has to fill in a form to be allowed to stay here.

We wouldn’t move to dh’s country though. Too cold. He fancies Barcelona; nice climate, great food.

The dc have EU passports as well as UK ones, so the only person who it would be a bit complicated for would be me. But not insurmountable.

InMySpareTime · 02/02/2020 08:52

My sister left, as she works across Europe and needs the certainty of freedom of movement.
I will leave in a couple of years as soon as the kids are away, they're both mid-exam years and I don't want to disrupt their educations.
Hopefully by then I'll have the option of an independent European Scotland, otherwise Ireland is an option (DH's company have offices in both countries).

InMySpareTime · 02/02/2020 08:58

It's sad that the ones most able to leave are the younger, highly skilled, British-born employees of global companies.
They'll likely be replaced by a lower skilled workforce from abroad, or by dragging older people out of retirement to fill empty roles.
I hope the Little Englanders enjoy what they voted for and won.