To those who voted for Brexit

[HappyClappy1]

Are you happy with your decision?

You're asking if choice-supportive bias is a thing? Yes, yes it is.

@TooOldandTired

I might be wrong but i thought the EU set a base line? the ease of hire/fire/rehire, pension and low unemployment sickness benefits in the UK is one reason we have had a buoyant labour market pre CV, which has tended to be an advantage to business rather than emplyees.

that has now come back to bite us as employers struggle to find skilled workers, not least in healthcare.

As a remain voter, i am looking excitedly on to see the benefits of leaving, which i believe will be very few, happy to be wrong though.

*If another Swede wanted to come and live I would say go and see and enjoy living. But it would be clear very soon that in comparison it’s not a very well organised or governed nation.

We came here for my husbands job. And if I had to do it all over I would come but only for a year or two max. I really wish we were not here to see the after effects of Brexit because I don’t like the UK that I see.

And yes I do have to be honest and say that our families and friends at home have a bad view of the UK and we are always being asked “what is going on over there” by them*

Thank you for your kind words Marshmallowswede

the lesson has not been learned

You start your post by saying, quite rightly I’ll agree, that many of the votes were a simple “fuck off” to the status quo. But this in itself is not constructive; it won’t lead anywhere better. It’s two fingers to the establishment and little more.

Things most definitely have got worse, fishing, peace prospects in NI, anyone attempting to do business with the EU, gaping holes in many employment sectors, the haulage industry etc etc

And it’s clear from this thread that many are completely happy with their choice (with no explanation of why they are happy) and at the same time don’t give two stuffs about any of this going on under their noses in their own country.

I’d say there aren’t really any lessons to be learnt from people that simply don’t care. It’s like asking what lessons can be learnt from the local vandals who have just smashed up the bus stop.

I don't think that Brexit is why we have Johnson - we had an opposition who were determined to go against the electorate's decision, which pissed off people who believe that democracy matters. We also had Cameron who had called a referendum, with no plan as to what he would do if he lost, such was his arrogance and then May who was weak and pathetic when it came to negotiation with the EU. Our useless opposition led us to a Johnson govt. As awful as they are, if a general election was called tomorrow I still think Labour would lose!

@GrumpyMiddleAgedWoman

Why is no-one saying why they are glad they voted leave? Because I think it's too early to tell, esp with Covid, and with BoJo at the helm.

But it’s Johnson that took the U.K. over the final line and finalised the agreement no?

Well Frost is currently advertising for a civil service post: Director Brexit Opportunities Unit.

Most bizarre.

@NotAllTheOnesWhoWanderAreLost ask the people of Northern Ireland whether it has been finalised or not. I don't consider Brexit has been completed, part of the UK is still in transitional arrangements.

I don't think people are happy with the negative consequences, but what we were voting for was opportunity for something better. The EU is too big, too unwieldy, too resistant to change. It's unaccountable and it provides a useful place for useless politicians to hide. Ever increasing political union is not what everyone wants. You can't take countries with different societies, economies and priorities and expect all to derive equal benefit from membership. That's not to say the EU was wholly bad, it wasn't. But on balance I still think countries are better out than in.

@claralara42

Stupid people are often happy with their stupid decisions. They didn't understand the full implications at the time and they don't understand now, and furthermore, they generally don't care.

Agree!

No one knew exactly what would happen. Not even the politicians and legal experts whose jobs are to know!
The public aren't experts on all aspects of EU workings, government, law and economics. We were asked a question and answered it to the best of our ability, with the information we had available. We were asked what we wanted - it's the government's job to deliver it! It's what we pay them for and it wasn't unreasonable to assume they knew how to do what they told us to decide.

@MrsHuntGeneNotJeremyObviously

No one knew exactly what would happen. Not even the politicians and legal experts whose jobs are to know! The public aren't experts on all aspects of EU workings, government, law and economics. We were asked a question and answered it to the best of our ability, with the information we had available. We were asked what we wanted - it's the government's job to deliver it! It's what we pay them for and it wasn't unreasonable to assume they knew how to do what they told us to decide.

How do people feel when members of the government, like former Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab, “hadn't quite understood" how reliant UK trade in goods is on the Dover-Calais crossing? He hadn’t even read the 32-page Good Friday Agreement all the way through?

These are the people making these very sensitive, important decisions. We deserve better.

We certainly do and I think Brexit has brought into focus that we are paying significant amounts of money to politicians who seemingly aren't very bright or up to the job.

So which newspaper will this thread end up in, I wonder?

This question is premature. It will take several years to disentangle ourselves from a project that we were part of for 44 years.

Ask again in 6 years, not 6 months after exiting.

I will say this though: I'm glad its happened because for awhile (under Theresa May) it looked like it might not and at the end of the day a vote occurred and the result needed to be respected and enacted. If there hadn't been 2-3 years of 'delays' I would not be saying ask the question in six years, but in 2024.

Yes - very happy.

It’s interesting that PPs picked up on MarshmallowSwede’s point about immigration but not about how the U.K. is so poorly run. As a Brit living in Germany, I can tell you that the U.K. is really badly run and full of misconceptions about other countries (healthcare, immigration to name a few). The tories keep putting party before country, people keep voting for them, then blame the situation on the opposition. It’s demented.

The opposition aren't good enough to be elected though. I don't consider them to be a safer pair of hands

@MrsHuntGeneNotJeremyObviously

The opposition aren't good enough to be elected though. I don't consider them to be a safer pair of hands

Why because they are more pro EU? is that the only reason?

Because if you put each member of the shadow cabinet against their opposing Government equivalent - Labour would compare favourably, especially in the top slot.

Labours biggest problem (or one of) is that people expect far higher standards from them than the Tories - Gove recently found guilty of giving cronies contracts but not a mention in the press or media.

The stupid decisions one could say the people who wanted to drag us into something beyond a trading block were the stupid ones and that stupid desicion had been corrected.

There are informed and less informed people on both sides.

And all people have their own priorities and agendas. Some people care about loosing erasmus and uni funding, others care about slightly more complicated holidays.

Some people care about people's jobs being undercut and some care about a crime influx and no way of tracking it.

I won't vote for any party which refuses to acknowledge biological reality.

I don't care if Labour are pro EU - that's their prerogative. But once the nation decided, that ought to have been it. No trying to wrangle out of it. I also don't think that Labour put country ahead of party - look at all the infighting

Yes thank you

@Littleoakhorn

Yes. If I had known just how poorly run it was then I would have never even been ok with us coming here.

But my husband and I had visited London before so we knew the UK and we were perhaps foolish on believing it would be easy. I’m surprised we lasted this long because almost immediately my husband was unhappy. “This wouldn’t happen in Sweden” was almost daily. I told him well we are not in Sweden we have to accept this is how things are here.

I’m not saying Sweden is perfect, but we do have a very well run and governed land I believe. I still can’t believe how chaotic it is here. But Brits don’t see it because they don’t really see how other nations are run.

There have been so many things here with how things are run that my husband and I are really looking at one another saying this would not happen in Sweden. And we are really shocked how no one complains here.
So all in all we are happy to be going home. I’ve enjoyed some parts of being here. But I will feel more relaxed when we are back home.

Lots of people feel happier at home though. I lived in Germany briefly and I could have kissed the ground when I got back to Dover. There was nothing actually wrong with Germany, --apart from their rank chocolate and the bank charging to get my own money out of the account and
having to get to the bakery at the crack of dawn--, some of it was nice but I preferred my own country.

I won't vote for any party which refuses to acknowledge biological reality.

True, the Conservatives have very much got to grips with biological reality