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Original poster

How to stop brexit and make Britain great again

288 replies

SupportTheresaElseBoris · 09/10/2017 20:53

So Nick Clegg has a new book out called How to stop brexit and make Britain great again.

Aibu to think its time to just get on with brexit and stop this uncertainty? It didn't work for the lib Dems at the ellection and it now seems like dragging it on for as long as possible will make the worst of a bad situation.

OP posts:
SleightOfMind · 10/10/2017 12:30

She wouldn't even have to do that Seek.
She could just say that the evil EU were determined to punish brave old Britain for trying to leave and that she in her great capacity, as a stable caring leader, wouldn't impose such hardship on hard working families, children and kittens.
Therefore, with a heavy heart, she will stay in the EU and continue to negotiate the best deal for Britain!
In my dreams.

Theworldisfullofidiots · 10/10/2017 12:30

And actually the biggest issue is, it's going to destroy aspiration and hope.

SleightOfMind · 10/10/2017 12:37

If she showed even a hint of planning to stay in the EU if we don't get a good deal, the eurosceptics in the Tory party would have her out on her arse and replaced with Davis or Johnson before you could say onmishambles.
Personal ambition vs the suffering of millions? Hmmm, tricky one.

allegretto · 10/10/2017 12:37

If only Cameron hadn’t made this gamble or at least lowered the voting age to 16, I think that would have swung it.

Or even given British citizens abroad the vote - as promised in his election manifesto.

GaucheCaviar · 10/10/2017 12:45

last I heard Britain was still a Democratic. So you anti-Brexit people lost.

Britain was a democracy when it voted to join the EU. People bitched and moaned for forty years until they got a second vote. We should have just said "You Brexit people lost. Suck it up losers."

NikiBabe · 10/10/2017 12:48

Fuck Nick Clegg and the horse he rode in on.

His career was a colossal failure who is he to advise on anything.

shopthenewcollection · 10/10/2017 12:50

Hmm Nick Clegg has far more integrity than the rest of them put together.

NikiBabe · 10/10/2017 12:52

Britain was a democracy when it voted to join the EU. People bitched and moaned for forty years until they got a second vote. We should have just said "You Brexit people lost. Suck it up losers."

I wish people understood what they talk about.

Britain voted to remain in EEC in 1973.

We joined the EU in the early 1990s with no vote and therefore it was not a democratic decision. The government at the time just did it.

GaucheCaviar · 10/10/2017 12:53

Or even given British citizens abroad the vote - as promised in his election manifesto.

Yep. I'm a British citizen living in Europe, I wasn't allowed to vote. It's not like I'm on the European front line or anything Hmm And there are hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people like me.

user1471448556 · 10/10/2017 12:53

Art 50 is reversible. We can revoke it at any point up until March 2019. Certain people do not wish this fact to be made common knowledge as it is in their interests for people to 'give up' on opposing Brexit. Strange that the EU laws against tax evasion come into effect in April 2019. We need to ask ourselves - who actually benefits from Brexit? Who benefits from turning this country into a tax haven, where public services are stripped to the bare bones and if you can't afford to pay for private health care and private schools you're pretty much screwed ... and you won't even be able to escape and head to another EU country, because your EU rights will have been taken from you. The likes of Rees Mogg, Aaron Banks, Murdoch, Redwood, Duncan Smith etc. are rubbing their hands with glee.

Peregrina · 10/10/2017 13:09

The government at the time just did it.

Yes, but we used to pride ourselves on having a Parliamentary democracy, where our elected representatives had time to consider the issues and make decisions on our behalf. If we don't like what they do, we vote them out. 'They just did it' because that's what we wanted them to do i.e. Parliament voted not to have a referendum. See this BBC timeline for the history prior to the 2016 Referendum.

It's perfectly possible to govern by Referenda, but if we want to do that we should put proper legislation in place, not do as we have done, make up the rules as we go along. I am baffled as to why this Referendum is treated as though it binds future electorates for all time.

ShoesHaveSouls · 10/10/2017 13:09

Agree user. Brexit is the con of the century. Life is about to get very tough for an awful lot of people.

ShoesHaveSouls · 10/10/2017 13:15

*Although not for the likes of Mogg, Farage, Johnson, Banks etc. They'll be just fine.

histinyhandsarefrozen · 10/10/2017 13:25

Brexiteers are ringing Radio 2 and telling Nick Clegg how angry they will be if Brexit is stopped.

Tbf they really don't sound that intelligent.

user1471448556 · 10/10/2017 13:53

I think we're going to need another referendum on the final deal. Politically it is problematic to simply override, the albeit very slim, majority. If the referendum had been conducted correctly, with a minimum turnout and super majority required for major constitutional change, we would not be in this mess right now. Anyway - unfortunately it's not possible to turn back the clock, but it is becoming more and more evident that Brexit is going to be painful and harmful. I'm not up for 40 years of economic pain for either myself or my kids, or for anyone else ... in the hope that we'll eventually reach unicorn land ... I'll most likely be dead by then, and so the Brexiter pleas of 'It'll be worth it' don't work for me. Another referendum on the final deal might just give us the chance to exit from Brexit in a dignified manner ... and we can then seek to address the issues that led to the Brexit vote - we need to use the powers the EU affords us to control EU immigration, we need to invest properly in neglected areas of the UK, we need to acknowledge the good the EU has done and continues to do in the form of projects in deprived areas, the opportunities it offers us in terms of work, study and travel, the skilled individuals it brings to our shores and the ever more important peace and unity that it promotes.

ImminentDisaster · 10/10/2017 14:02

I genuinely don't think people realise how bad it's going to be. Most people think it will all be OK in the end.

Well, actually this time it's probably not going to be. If you haven't got a plan or are making a plan to survive the next few years then I think you are going to struggle. I would love it to be stopped but I don't think it can be. I think this country is screwed for at least 2 generations.

The people that say "let's get on with it, can't wait til we are out!" are the prime example of people who haven't the faintest clue what it entails and of the consequences.

squishysquirmy · 10/10/2017 14:04

Weighing in on the "link" between immigration and strained NHS services with the opposite angle:
I live in an area with fairly high immigration. It is a reasonably prosperous, young demographic.
The longest I have ever had to wait for a GP appointment at our excellent local health centre is 5 days. Normally I get an appointment within 3 days of phoning. I have also had good experiences of the local hospital.
I think the fact that there are plenty of medical staff (especially GPs) who want to live and work in this area helps enormously. Its not immigrants who are to blame for strained services; it is policy and funding.

user1471448556 · 10/10/2017 14:07

It can be stopped. It just needs to be evident that a significant majority of 'the people' are now against the kind of Brexit we are headed for. If you oppose it, make your voice heard. Write, write, write to MPs, PMs, papers, MEPs. Attend any marches, help out with leafleting. Talk to people ... remind them that Art 50 is revocable - we need to give politicians the courage to ask for a referendum on the 'deal'.

BowlingShoes · 10/10/2017 14:29

But polls continue to show that public opinion has not shifted that much, presumably either due to a lack of interest in the realities of Brexit or because people hate to admit they've made a mistake, or because they are wealthy enough that they don't care about any economic impact. Even leave supporters like Peter North, who continues to list a catalogue of disasters that await us if we continue down the no deal route, has said that on balance he is still pro-leave. That's why I am fearful of another referendum. I wonder if actually plunging over the cliff is the only way to show the British public what EU membership has actually given us.

Bornfreebutinbiscuits · 10/10/2017 14:32

Tbf they really don't sound that intelligent

TBF basing all brexiteers intelligence on a handful of people calling a phone in isn't very intelligent.

I think Nick Clegg is overly comfortable with renegading on deals - eg student grants. Maybe he needs to learn integrity,

user1471448556 · 10/10/2017 14:38

To be honest, I dread another referendum, but it may be the only way forward. If not, I need to start working on my personal Plan B - getting out of Brexit Britain ... unfortunately the leavers have made that far more difficult ... if only I had Irish ancestry.

Bornfreebutinbiscuits · 10/10/2017 14:38

Its not immigrants who are to blame for strained services; it is policy and funding

  1. Immigrants are not to blame for anything! The onus is on the host country to decide how many people it can cope with without affecting the life of its citizens. Not on the immigrants.

  2. Its not easy for the slow wheels of government and local government to put policy and funding into place when you have no idea how many people and when are coming into your country. Its an absolute fact when Blair lifted work restrictions, services in hardest hit areas had neither policy or funding. Some councils said the gov had their head count going down Shock

  3. ^^ people were thrown under the bus then denied the right and voice to speak out about it.

  4. you will never convince those people who endured that, that remaining in the EU is a good idea whilst immigration is not controlled. Their own gov of the time sold them out, let alone a further gov removed somewhere between Brussels and Strasbourg.

Theworldisfullofidiots · 10/10/2017 14:44

I have Irish ancestry bit my kids are too far removed.

user1486062886 · 10/10/2017 14:47

Surely we can’t have a another referendum on the final deal with the EU, how can you negotiate a deal with the other party, when they know a bad deal would be rejected, where would this end, a never ending round of negotiations with more uncertainty for how long ?

allegretto · 10/10/2017 14:54

But polls continue to show that public opinion has not shifted that much

Public opinion doesn't even need to shift that much as the vote was so close. Going on the demographic information from the referendum, if we held another one in 2019 it has been suggested that enough elderly leavers will have died (and younger remainers will have become eligible to vote) to give a different outcome.