To wish Theresa May would just say sod it we're staying in the EU because ...

[Topanga1]

It's her job to act in the best interest of our country.

We NEED access to the single market and won't get that without free movement of people.

The peace process in N Ireland will be in jeopardy if we erect a border between them and Ireland. It's too high a price to pay.

The referendum was advisory so PM May and the majority of MPs who were pro-remain need to say 'thanks for the advice but we can't deliver what you wanted without wrecking our country so we're staying'

I do think May will want to be the PM that successfully removes the UK from the EU and "gives the people what they want".

You are undoubtedly right. The question is whether that is possible or not. The key is in the word "successfully".

Yep, not a great option cardi which is probably why it didn't end up on the voting card! But I really do believe that keeping freedom of movement and access to the single market (fingers crossed) are the most important parts of the whole debate. If we absolutely must leave (and I believe we do now that they made such a deal about the vote) then any way of keeping those two is worth the political fallout.

Theresa May has quite rightly said on more than one occasion that Brexit means Brexit. It's what Leavers believe IS in the best interests of our country. It will not happen immediately, new Governnment Dept to be set up etc but it WILL happen

Ask yourself this question: What if Remain had won by the same percentage and all the Leavers came on here crying that it wasn't fair, that the referendum was only advisory, that it was bad for the country, that the outcome should be completely ignored and insisting upon exit regardless? Wouldn't you find their constant whinging and demands really ridiculous?

I do.

Anchor we aren't really in control of the speed though, are we? Before Article 50 is triggered we can't negotiate anything, after we have 2 years. We can only have more if all member states agree. They won't, for reasons detailed earlier about needing to make exit from the EU look an even worse move than it already is.

The problem was the people heading up the remain campaign.

David Cameron is hardly going to say 'actually, the reason you're waiting 2 weeks to see a doctor is because of the cuts we've made, not those pesky immigrants...oh and all those things we blamed on the EU? Yeah, well, they were kinda our fault too. My bad. We've been lying to you all along, but trust me, we should really be staying in the eu'.

I also think there was the feeling that the Eu benefitted the wealthy - bankers, multi-national corporations etc. So the remain campaign trotted out loads of bankers and heads of multi-national corporations to tell us that remaining would be better and wondered why brexiteers wouldn't listen.

There should have been more focus on how being in the eu benefits the actual 'average' working joe to counteract the 'cost' of eu membership to the man on the street. 'The economy' is too abstract a concept - people should have been better informed about what it actually means for them

Theresa May has quite rightly said on more than one occasion that Brexit means Brexit.

But she has, quite cleverly, not said what Brexit actually means.

It's what Leavers believe IS in the best interests of our country.

Leavers will believe anything.

It will not happen immediately, new Government Dept to be set up etc but it WILL happen.

Maybe. Maybe not. Certainly not in the way most leavers are expecting.

^Ask yourself this question: What if Remain had won by the same percentage and all the Leavers came on here crying that it wasn't fair, that the referendum was only advisory, that it was bad for the country, that the outcome should be completely ignored and insisting upon exit regardless? Wouldn't you find their constant whinging and demands really ridiculous?

I do.^

I take it you didn't see Nigel Farage, on live TV, as the votes were being counted, saying that a 52-48 result in favour of remain wouldn't settle the issue, and they would keep fighting until they finally got the result they wanted?

I did.

Rorty I'm sure they would have Farahe said as much when he thought they would lose. He said 48-52 wouldn't constitute a mandate. I rarely agree with him, but I do in this case. The referendum was not set up properly because Cameron didn't believe he could lose - in fact didn't believe it would even be close. There should have been something about an absolute majority (of eligible voters) or a clear margin of those who voted at least (say 60%). This is too important to action in a tiny (not absolute) majority. Way too divisive.
And as I and others have already said, democracy means that people can campaign for what they want if a decision has been taken which they don't like.

I certainly wouldn't have expected the brexiteers to go 'oh, ok then' in the event that remain won.

And the indication was that they weren't intending to.

I actually think that she is doing the right thing. Although I'm firmly in the remain camp and so was May, albeit in a quite muted way, the country has voted and she is going with what the 52% voted for. For once, a politician is actually listening to the electorate. That calling the referendum in the first place was a stupid idea is another conversation entirely.
Don't get me wrong, I would love if she decided to stick with the EU but those people who voted to Leave (generally the more uneducated among us) are finally getting a voice. Thank god we don't call referendums every day in this country!

It's not really about the referendum as such now is it? More about our day to day lives and how they might be affected. I didn't think it was for me - I just wanted to know your opinion - which I still don't really. Oh well.

clash hit the nail on the head. They shot themselves in the foot. They were happy to put all our problems at the door of the EU, but then when it came to the vote were like 'but no look how great the EU is!'.

If the EU is so amazing why do other countries need to be discouraged from leaving?

One silver lining to come out of this might be that the Tories will no longer be able to market themselves as "the ones who can be trusted with the economy, unlike the feckless and irresponsible Labour party".

If only the Labour party weren't apparently hell-bent on self-destruction.

i find the parallels between refusing to accept the referendum result and refusing to accept Corbyn as leader fascinating. It's all because the public don't know what's good for them, right?

Why not try and envisage how things could work rather than writing off your children's future.

I don't vote Labour, Jonso. But I am concerned about Corbyn, mostly because I think this is a very dangerous time for us to have an opposition party which is completely missing in action and spending all its time and energy on in-fighting instead of actually holding the government to account. I also think there's a core of die-hard Corbynites who can't tell the difference between the ability to win the support of the majority of people eligible to vote in Labour leadership elections, and the ability to win a general election.

My plan for my children's future now involves not living in the UK, sadly.

Well, that's your choice. If you are leaving because of the referendum result, may I ask why? BTW I don't think it's Corbyn who is the 'in fighting' protagonist- and I suspect Corbyn will garner many more votes than Miliband, who had the party behind him.

Considering the amount of lies that have been exposed and the fact there was never a Leave plan, another referendum seems the most obvious solution.

Corbyn isn't capable of the Labour party. That much is clear. Personally I think he should recognise that and step down, but he won't because he's too stubborn. So Labour will either splinter (thereby splitting the left and strengthening the right) or become an irrelevant protest party for the foreseeable future.

My OH is from another EU country and we don't yet live together. Before the referendum, we were planning a future here because I have a good job and I was planning to buy a house. Now we are both doubtful about his ability to get a job here in a declining economy (a few major companies in the industry he works in are now reconsidering their position in the UK), and Italian, German and Dutch friends of mine working here have all been subjected to xenophobic abuse and told to "go home". He has rather gone off the idea of moving here and I can't really say I blame him.

*capable of leading the Labour party

EU countries have declining economies; slow growth and high unemployment is rife. Would you be able to get a job in the country he lives in?

From a more positive point of view, my European friends are desperate not to leave!

Love the sweetybumps mn remainer idea that leavers are uneducated....

I knew that the referendum was advisory, and so did everyone else who looked up the legislation. But a lot of people wont have done that.

We were/are a bit stuffed either way - if the eu wanted to keep us, they would have given cameron some of his concessions. They didnt.

Is the decision the right one? We will see in a few years. Same as if we had decided not to chance it.

Remainer here but I don't want democracy undermined. It feels like a desperate cry of "rematch!" When we've already had the shit kicked out of us for a championship.

special- it always amazes me how powerful the media is. The leavers are racist, uneducated thugs who didn't know what they are voted for is now well established- similar to the image of the vast majority of Labour members who voted Corbyn in are seen as raving lefty loonies.
What we forget is that Labour was very much against an EU superstate until the mid eighties, as it was seen as a step closer to globilisation,. KInnock did a Uturn when he, his wife and son saw the benefits of working within the EU (great retirement plan Neil) and Blair even pushed for the Euro!