To those who voted for Brexit

[HappyClappy1]

Are you happy with your decision?

@OhBiscuits

It doesn’t stop them applying, but it makes it more expensive and more difficult. Great. Also, the Erasmus scheme was much cheaper and more accessible to students from lower income backgrounds, as flights to/life in Europe is cheaper than what students on the sort-of-replacement Turing scheme would be expected to pay. This means students from lower-income backgrounds will struggle to afford international study and miss out on experiences that once were on offer to them.

Why would we want that? Literally, why is that a positive? No one is saying we can’t ever travel or work in or move to Europe. But it’s harder, more expensive, with more paperwork and more uncertainty. Professional qualifications, once recognised, may not be.

The Erasmus scheme was primarily used by middle class reasonably well off students and not students from lower income backgrounds. And you have no evidence as yet what the uptake will be on the Turing scheme and who will benefit from it.

@WhyMrsRobinson

Well, I’ve had to come back from abroad where I was looking after my mum who retired abroad 30 years ago. Thanks to brexit she is now in a home. Thanks to brexit, I can’t send parcels because of the insane customs regs. Thanks to brexit if I choose to stay abroad I will have to pay 5 k import tax on my car that I previously could just drive across no bother. I also have to get health insurance that was covered before. My children can no longer look for jobs abroad, even though they have endless fiends on the internet, the world is getting smaller, yet we are deliberately cutting ourselves off. Also, it’s been 6 months. Not long enough for disaster yet, and what exactly is happening behind ooh covid? I know the tuc is fighting for workers rights because, guess what? We had some thanks to Europe, and now we have none. What and how has beprexit actually benefitted us? Thank goodness all those nasty Turks won’t get chance to flood our shores and steal our jobs. We can get our beef from Australia too, yum, 6 months stored in cold rooms in gas. so much better for the world. Grrrrrrrrr.

Firstly I would love to know why you HAD to come back from abroad? Secondly a lot of UK employment laws are more generous than EU employment laws and a considerable amount of the EU laws are based on laws that were already in place in the UK. Also none have been changed since Brexit so what is it the TUC are fighting for that they wouldn't have been if were still in the EU? Why can't your children get jobs abroad? Of course you can send parcels you just comply with the regulations. Frankly it sounds like a lot of shit stuff in your life that you want to blame on Brexit.

It’s not been long but the negatives have already started to make themselves known to me, but I’m still waiting on the positives. Little niggles really.

I didn’t vote for it but I AM an employer in europe and I’ve just had to bin a pile of application forms from young British school/uni leavers because my boss has better things to do than spend a day in the immigration office sponsoring a working visa, when we can just employ Irish folk (we need native English speakers) instead.

I also paid 45£ in customs fees when next delivered a load of my kids pants and socks. Next promised no customs fees so have had to refund me. That’s a lot considering how many international customers they have, I expect that’ll be reflected in higher domestic prices eventually.

I DID think the vaccine thing may have been a benefit, but then I’m young and it’s my turn now, but due to Pfizer having a three week gap I’ll end up being fully vaccinated BEFORE my uk schoolmates of the same age.

whatever your vote, we need to pull together to make the best of it for our country as a whole.

It won't work like that. Most people will be "contributing" wage increases. Some will be giving their whole jobs. Children will be getting by on less resourced education. The nhs will no doubt be sacrificing a lot of health care. While a relatively few will be earning shitloads or removing huge amounts of cash from the uk. Leaving everyone else worse off.

There will be no equal working for the best of the whole country (I doubt there will be a "whole" country left in a couple of delades because of brexit - it really was such a shit outcome.)

Why can't your children get jobs abroad?

In the eu country i live in, they actually write in job adverts that if you haven't got permission to work in the eu then don't bother applying. It takes too long to go through the immigration authorities. That now includes uk citizens.

@Peacelillyhippy

Why can't your children get jobs abroad?

In the eu country i live in, they actually write in job adverts that if you haven't got permission to work in the eu then don't bother applying. It takes too long to go through the immigration authorities. That now includes uk citizens.

Okay but it's still possible. I worked in many countries over the years and none of them were part of the EU.

I also paid 45£ in customs fees when next delivered a load of my kids pants and socks.

Yep! Due to lovely generous family in the uk, i reckon it cost me 100 quid to collect parcels for dd's birthday.

Okay but it's still possible. I worked in many countries over the years and none of them were part of the EU.

In that case your experience is not really relevant. What about kids who want to work in an eu country? Now it is much harder, and therefore much less likely.

A private Amazon seller in the uk also had to refund me £10 on kids books too, because there was a “final price guarantee” which wasn’t met when customs were slapped on. I felt bad for her because she is a small business but then so am I!

Do you just make it up as you go along? Statutory maternity leave in the UK is *up to 39 weeks in the UK vs. 14 months in Germany, zero-hour contracts are illegal in most other countries, there is now VAT and customs duty to be paid on parcels (including gifts) from the EU with a value over £39 / £135, roaming charges will be reintroduced, the quality and availability of fresh food and home goods have deteriorated, etc. etc. And I don't think it's navel-gazing to evaluate the so-called benefits and disadvantages of Brexit now that the UK has left, on the contrary, because many consequences are only starting to emerge or will only become apparent in the future.

@Peacelillyhippy

Okay but it's still possible. I worked in many countries over the years and none of them were part of the EU.

In that case your experience is not really relevant. What about kids who want to work in an eu country? Now it is much harder, and therefore much less likely.

Of course it is relevant, in fact more relevant than if I had worked in an EU country. The point I was making is that I was still able to work in them by getting relevant visa etc. which is what people who want to work in the EU will have to do.

But @TooOldandTired that’s a massive obstacle. My employer won’t do it, they have better things to do, it requires the director to spend time in person in the immigration office. We’re just hiring the Irish instead. Okay, maybe if we needed an expert and there wasn’t one in any other EU country, but what about all the British kids who aren’t experts but would benefit from the opportunity?

Statutory maternity leave in the UK is up to 39 weeks in the UK vs. 14 months in Germany, zero-hour contracts are illegal in most other countries,*

What has this got to do with Brexit, this was the case before the UK left the UK, Brexit has not changed this.

roaming charges will be reintroduced

Br greedy companies wanting to make more money who promised they wouldn't reintroduce them.

, the quality and availability of fresh food and home goods have deteriorated

Well I have noticed no change in the food I can get in the supermarket. Obviously you have but that is just anecdotal there is no evidence of a decrease in the availability of fresh food and deterioration in home goods.

For everyone asking me about immigration in Sweden.. this was about be being in the UK and Brexit. I gave my perspective about how it affected me as that was the question asked.

I said what I said.

We are not perfect in Sweden. By any means. Yes Scandinavia is very homogeneous. And there are white supremacy groups there, as there are in the UK. Your point is?

So I’m not allowed to have any opinion on the UK unless Sweden is absolutely perfect. Got it!

The UK is a poorly run country. I stand by what I said. It’s not bad, but poorly run. Your government officials are chaotic, therefore everything around them is chaotic. Including immigration.

Great chat ladies.. have a good day.

Who the hell can be happy with how things are at the moment? We are in a pandemic still. Not sad to be out of the EU and their increasingly belligerent behaviour is a good enough reason.

@QuentininQuarantino

But *@TooOldandTired* that’s a massive obstacle. My employer won’t do it, they have better things to do, it requires the director to spend time in person in the immigration office. We’re just hiring the Irish instead. Okay, maybe if we needed an expert and there wasn’t one in any other EU country, but what about all the British kids who aren’t experts but would benefit from the opportunity?

And what about all the British kids (primarily from lower socio economic backgrounds) who will have access to jobs in the UK because there is not unlimited EU immigration.

Undoubtedly it is harder and less UK kids are likely to work in the EU but there are lots of options for travelling and working around the world.

Yes very pleased.
It’s going to take a decade to embed properly but it’s a good start.

No, you actually can't go on holidays to Europe without having to quarantine. This wouldn't have been the case before Brexit

Of course this would have been the case if we had remained. It's about the pandemic not whether we are in the EU or not! Individual EU countries as well as us are making unilateral decisions about travel as well as other things.

I read that a recent poll indicated that the result today would be 51% remain, now that everyone realises the implications of leaving. So I’m guessing that not everyone who voted to leave is happy, although it’s still close.
Although I’m sad that we’ve left and voted remain, I’m not impressed with the tactics of the EU leaders, particularly regards N.I they have been bullish and difficult. I think this is a reason why some who voted remain would actually vote leave now.
My husband is struggling with all of the bureaucracy and VAT paperwork that he didn’t have before. His stress levels are through the roof. The only winners are the customs agents. I haven’t seen any benefits from us leaving. Only downsides.
We have always had our sovereignty, we didn’t need to leave the EU to regain something that we never lost.
I understand some people’s motivation and respect their opinions on leaving. We just have to get on with it now but I’m not at all happy with the situation. It’s awful and expensive to those companies who trade with the countries still in the EU.

I campaigned for Brexit from before Cameron went to Germany and was snubbed by Merkel.
I lost touch with day to day stuff for health reasons. However my general impression was that Teresa May ruined everything. She tried to act and negotiate as if she had the final say. She didn't, the electorate had voted for LEAVE. May was a Remainer.
The EU Governments and negotiators could see that she could not deliver. Her continuing and then the Gen Election wasted so much time and so much effort. There was a massive distraction for about 18 months.
We may well have made the wrong decision in leaving, but we just had to persevere and make the best of it.
With a Leave Vote if we had kept the E Court of Justice and the EU Agriculture Policy and Fishing Rules and called it 'Brexit' there would have been a revolution.

I am pleased we are not fighting the closer integration battle from within. We would have to have allied ourselves quite closely with some right wing groups that are too extreme. This is a battle that the Europeans have to sort for themselves.

Currently we speak to Poland and Hungary in a formal way but we will never adopt their policies on Religion/abortion or press censorship, nor will we support the imposition of those policies on their own populations.
We are well out of that.

If only we had better politicians.

Okay but it's still possible. I worked in many countries over the years and none of them were part of the EU.

I have worked in many countries. In all of the ones I've experienced, the employer has to jump through hoops to prove they can't find anybody with my skills and experience locally - or in case of EU or Switzerland, that they can't find anything in the entire EU.

If you have specialised skills and a couple of decades of experience, your employer might do that and might get a permit. They will not do it for a 20-year old looking for their first job, as they simply wouldn't fulfill the criteria and get the permit.

@TooOldandTired

Statutory maternity leave in the UK is up to 39 weeks in the UK vs. 14 months in Germany, zero-hour contracts are illegal in most other countries,*

What has this got to do with Brexit, this was the case before the UK left the UK, Brexit has not changed this.

roaming charges will be reintroduced

Br greedy companies wanting to make more money who promised they wouldn't reintroduce them.

, the quality and availability of fresh food and home goods have deteriorated

Well I have noticed no change in the food I can get in the supermarket. Obviously you have but that is just anecdotal there is no evidence of a decrease in the availability of fresh food and deterioration in home goods.

@TooOldAndTired This was in response your claim that the UK has better employment rights than EU countries. As for the introduction of roaming charges: The companies aren't "greedy", they are private organisations to make a profit, it's called "capitalism". IIf anything, it's the fault of the UK government for failing to negotiate a better deal. And lucky for you that you haven't seen a decline in the quality of food and other products; I have certainly never chucked out so many mouldy (recently bought) fruit and veg. Or maybe you just eat turnips and baked beans.

I notice that those who say they are happy with Brexit have not specified what has improved for them.

What is better since Brexit?

One woman 's whim can change the whole face of Europe. Merkel in 2015 opened the door to hundreds of thousands of young men from a religion that devalues women. Just one person can do this.

Other high level appointments in the EU (see Martin Selamyr - the position was not even posted, Junker chose him and that was it!)

These people make decisions for the whole of Europe and we have no say in the choosing of them and when they go).

This is far more important than the price of apples and such like yet it is rarely discussed.

correction above Martin Selmayr