to ask how you’re preparing for Brexit?

[CircleSquareCircleSquare]

There is so much uncertainty surrounding what will happen with trade deals and goodness knows what else, that I’m starting to wonder about making some sensible plans.

We have put a stop to some planned works we wanted to do to our house, we have downsized to one car and we grow a small amount of veg. We keep some stocks of food in the house but we have a large family so I never feel like we’d have enough.
We have discussed not taking a holiday this summer and DH is taking every training course possible at work in order to diversify his skills should his industry go tits up.

I’m wondering what decisions you’re making in your homes for what could possibly be a really uncertain time for a few years.

The idea that Brexit is going to create jobs or increase salaries for manual workers who have lost out to unskilled immigration is really quite extraordinary.

well we're the 6th richest in the world. i think that's pretty powerful, don't you?

No. Not when people know you're desperate for a deal. Any deal.

Preparing for any eventuality is not scaremongering or panicking, it is being sensible and pragmatic.

I’m still in denial that this will happen tbh. We probably would have moved now if not for Brexit but we will be stay put as it doesn’t seem like a good time to sell our London house. Stockpiling food. However as I grew up 9 miles from the nearest shop that’s nothing new for me. Can’t seem to get out of the habit.

Remind me what position we were in before the Brexit vote?

The idea that Brexit is going to create jobs or increase salaries for manual workers who have lost out to unskilled immigration is really quite extraordinary.

As Vince Cable said the other day re. Corbyn, 'You cannot speak up for the poor and be complicit in making the country poorer'

He ain't wrong.

Exit from the ECtHR. European Courts of Human Rights
I'm going to play the devil's advocate here (I'm a very strong Remoaner). The European Court of Human Rights and European Convention on Human Rights have nothing to do with the EU. It was created by the Council of Europe, and I highly doubt that the government would pull us out of that (there are only two countries in Europe that aren't members of the Council of Europe: Vatican City (firstly because it is a theocracy, and secondly because it doesn't want to join) and Belarus (because it still uses the death penalty)).

Thx Faith that's what I meant! Long day, bedtime for me. But, it actually might be Brexit that's making me get sleepy, who knows, I blame 'them' or 'that' for my imperfect life.

DH is planning on us leaving the UK
I'm planning on us buying a bigger house when London prices crash
I've said I won't leave the UK until he has got a British passport

Remind me what position we were in before the Brexit vote? just about 5th. a tiny margin above France and now a tiny margin below France. so pretty much of a muchness.
And the fact that we are the 6th most powerful economy in the world is precisely why we won't have to accept any shite deal.

You are sticking up on food? Jesus, British people look ignorant on a good day but this is a whole step up. Chill out. Britain doesn’t need trade deals to trade. Most countries trade without being a part of the EU, most of them less well connected and less well regarded than Britain. Seriously, it will be fine. It’s bad timing (due for a global financial crash this year or next/trump because he doesn’t understand basic maths). But it really will be fine. I don’t know how much experience you have of life outside the EU but as someone in the know I can tell you that it can actually be really, really good. Much better than the way people are living in Britain at the moment anyway. As incompetent/economically illiterate as the current government seems Brexit isn’t going to be disaster by any measure. It’s definitely not something you should be stocking up on food over. Quite frankly this growing your own veg and buying tinned beans behaviour is verging on nuerosis (coming from someone that updates an official run away plan every five years). It’s Brexit ffs. Not WWII.

You are sticking up on food? Jesus, British people look ignorant on a good day but this is a whole step up. Chill out

Hang on, not all British people have lost all perspective and reason, there's still a bit of sanity left here!

We have a very healthy manufacturing sector, which is in demand for its quality and innovation as much as for the value for money. Plus there is no large company on this earth who would resist the option to try to sell to us, we are a large consumer of product and business isn't going to walk away from a good marketplace.

"It would be sensible to work towards reducing any debt and having 3-5 months savings for any rainy days/employment breaks/etc"

What about people on v low income already? On benefits, using food banks already - even if only occasionally - how are they supposed to manage?

"It would help everything if we all tried switching to UK produced where possible as those suppliers can start recognising the additional demand and upscaling production if possible" really? Do you know how little manufacture especially food is done in uk? Then there's ingredients - most food products require at least one imported ingredient.

amp.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2016/nov/17/marmite-is-the-first-sign-of-cost-of-brexit-for-food-producers

www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/retailandconsumer/11858442/A-week-of-buying-only-British-goods.-How-hard-can-it-be.html

Less than half of the butter eaten in the UK, and only one third of cheese, comes from milk produced on British farms.

That author found it was possible (just) but certainly doesn't sound cheap!

Plus have the brexiters noticed that most of the expats have said they have MOVED THEIR MONEY out of uk - if all expats do that - how much money is that? What position does it put banks and the wider economy in? (Not a criticism of the posters that have chosen to do that btw)

1 how we rank in wealth varies widely depending how it's calculated and by whom - on some lists we're 27th!

2 wealth does NOT necessarily equal economic leverage

"No. Not when people know you're desperate for a deal. Any deal."

OutyMcOutface how the fuck do you know? Are you a citizen of a country that has LEFT the EU or any similar alliance? You are 'in the know' about what exactly?

vandrew4 Wow, know me well do you?..
Well just to correct you dear, i'm a single parent from the east end, my great grandfather died in a workhouse in Stepney, my nanny of Congenital Syphilis, and apart from working in a shop, i also have 3 cleaning jobs and no holiday for 14 years! So f**ck off with your presumptions..
Just because my DS is on a bordering on OCD health kick (he has a learning disability) which means he counts calories and obsesses about his food, and yes, uses Olive oil instead of Trex means bugger all..

Your theory about manual workers losing out to unskilled migrants is also bullshit.. not aware of the many businesses panicking because UK residents don't want these jobs? They're having problems filling vacancies!.. Seriously, get your facts straight!

What does the UK have that other countries are desperate to get in terms of trade? We don't export much.

Negotiating a trade deal is a pain in the arse. What's in it for them?

Apart from visas of course, but not handing those out is the whole point of brexit.

Not trying to be goady, genuinely interested in people's answers.

Our relative negotiating strength will be hampered by the fact that other countries know we want a deal.
We will have more strength when negotiating with those countries and trade blocs who are economically smaller than us, obviously being smaller they have less money to buy our stuff and are may have less to sell us.
We are also hampered by the fact that we sell more services rather than physical stuff and we primarily sell into into Europe. It is going to be easier for us to buy German cars than it is for our banking services to be sold to Europe.
Solutions of one sort or another are likely to be found but pretending there are easy answers just isn't sensible.

jellykat jesus, calm down love!

I renewed my other passport that had expired (dual citizenship, British and one of a EU country). DH applying for Irish citizenship. Still need to sort out EU passports for DC. And we have back-up plans to move to a Scandinavian country if things will go worse than we think they will. Even though we'd rather stay where we are, we love living in Scotland.

Vandrew.. Why not have a go at not being so incredibly patronising and ignorant 'love'..

Laurie what is in it for them is what they can sell us. Of course we have to be able to afford to buy it.

outy I have lived outside the EU, twice now. I understand just how globally irrelevant the UK is. Just how little other countries care about what we think or do. The four blocks that get traction are US, China, EU and Russia. I don't think the UK will collapse but I do think we are needlessly condemning ourselves to global irrelevance, increased poverty and reduction in opportunities.

Short term was never going to be smooth or easy. You'd be a fool to think it was whether Leaver or Remainer.

It's the Long Term results that count & we'll be better off away from the creaking juggernaut of Europe.....

Really looking forward to Brexit cheers

You are sticking up on food? Jesus, British people look ignorant on a good day but this is a whole step up. Chill out.

I’m not British.
Yes I’m stocking up. Our supermarkets were empty of fresh food, meat, frozen and tinned veg from Christmas - Mid Jan.
My friend lives in a town near Oldham which was badly impacted by the snow, their shops are only just being restocked now after the snow. I’m not taking any risks that my children will go hungry.
I’m not talking a cellar of food but stocks of rice, oil, pasta and tinned veg along with soap and health essentials are not something I can mess with.

I have lived outside the EU, I know we trade with countries outside the U.K. do you think I’m that thick? I also don’t think another major economy has had to negotiate out of such a large organisation and set up trade deals in such a short space of time - there are no guarantees.

I hope to God nothing that is forecast by experts happens but if it does I don’t want my children to go hungry or my mortgage to go unpaid. I’m taking a bit of responsibility for my family, how is that anything other than sensible? Two family cars and a holiday a year are not essential for us, especially when employment and business matters aren’t certain (as a direct impact of the referendum outcome).