The people of Swindon: do they regret voting for Brexit?

[EddyF]

With the closure of Honda - closing their Swindon plant, with the loss of 3,500 jobs, which the firm has attributed to Brexit, I wonder if the people of Swindon are having regrets since they were from the leave camp.

Reminds me of those who voted for Trump knowing his policies were targeted at them but felt they somehow were exempt. Like the Mexican man and his US wife voting for Trump then crying on the news he had been deported/couldn't get back in when he was out of the country.

I'm finding it really difficult sympathising with those who voted to leave by not looking at their own circumstances, but rather, other people. Majority of the people I have heard from who voted leave (from fb, and so on) they only cared about immigration. They thought leaving meant a 'clear up' taking hardly into account their own future and that of their children.

I'm sorry to the people in Swindon, but they did it to themselves.

And before people say "there wasn't enough information" there was enough to determine that we did not know what the 'deal' was.

I can't link article for Honda but it's everywhere on news sites.

themoomoo, Seriously? They would lie because it would be a bigger shitstorm by saying Brexit was the cause opposed to saying it wasn't. It's just common sense.

Yes Lady of course all remainers think that way....you see the flaw to your argument? You have just done exactly what you have said is wrong for others to do...hhmmm

I know most remainers won’t leave the UK, even the extreme ones, because they know where they’re better off.

Hell, yeah, I'm staying. I'm a strong remainer ('extreme remainer' is something of a nonsensical misnomer). But I'm staying right here in Brexit Britain for exactly the same reason as I voted to remain in the EU - because it is much more effective to try to change something which is fundamentally sound (the EU, Britain) but badly managed from the inside than from the outside. Brexiteers might hope us strong Remainers will go away but sorry! No such luck. I shall continue to be a thorn in the side of anyone who I don't feel has this country's best interests at heart.

where has someone said to leave the country? I've read lots of posts by remainers saying they will leave ( yeah right, course you will) but can't remember any where a poster has told anyone else they should leave

Mumsnet isn't the only social media site. Try facebook, twitter and other sites...You will see plenty of stupid comments like that.

Winning is so hard, isn't it.

misslanes well apparently flybmi were perfectly happy to say it was due to Brexit ( if you scroll far enough down the huge list of problems till you almost reach the bottom)

themoomoo Yes, I know that already, thank you. However, not all companies are the same. Just like not all people are the same. Some are savvier than others. And, I think I would rightly assume that Honda is much savvier and smarter than flybmi which I never heard of until I read this thread.

misslanes you'd never heard of flybmi? Really?

You've got to laugh at the term "extreme remainer" to describe someone who would be utterly delighted if we could keep the status quo.

themoomoo, Yes. Really.

I'm just surprised as everybody seems to be an expert on every aspect of European economics on here

The thing that I see most often in conversations about Brexit are people who voted to remain absolutely demonising the people who voted to leave, calling them "thick" and "intolerant" and "racist."

I'm a remainer, and there is some truth to that. However, the problem with Brexit is that if Remainers are correct (and it is increasingly looking like "Project Fear" is becoming "Project Reality", Brexit has done tremendous damage to the UK and will continue to do so. The negative consequences are very real, and the Brexit argument that was put forward in 2016 is starting to look very very hollow.

I'm reminded of something was posted on twitter a while ago.

FlyBMI is closing down, so it doesn't have to worry about being boycotted by ingnorant Quitlings. Honda still hopes to sell cars.

It's not really that hard to comprehend...

For the avoidance of doubt, staunch Remainer here however:

Only the other morning I was listening to Liam Fox talking about how badly the trade deals were going because the government and negotiating countries never thought No Deal was a possibility and during the course of this interview he directly mentioned the NEW EU-Japan trade deal which is only a few weeks old. Honda had not declared its hand at this point, but this is genuinely not really a Brexit thing. As someone mentioned upthread, the new EU deal allows Japan to build in Japan and directly export without increased tariffs. So weirdly in this instance it looks as if we have ‘un’ benefited (if there can be such a thing) from being in the EU for the moment.

But that is not to say all manner of businesses are not being horribly and directly affected by the uncertainty and that more unscrupulous traders who will be just fine will still use it as an excuse to lay off staff, increase prices and up profits.

2015 and before seems like a halcyon age these days.

Reposting because it was tiny last time

Yegads, still tiny - never mind

Enjoyable if tiny. Nowt wrong with that.

MuseumofInnocence Nice post, thank you.

Incidentally, I feel the same way about those who voted for Trump. My DH's best friends girlfriend is white and voted for Trump yet her boyfriend and all six of her children are half Mexican. I am also part Mexican and I choose not to think of her choices when we are visiting them. If I did, then I would be angry all of the time. Fortunately, politics and religion is always off the table. It spoils your meal, anyway.

CardinalSin, thank you!

It's sad that yet another car manufacturer is leaving the UK. We had a wonderful car industry before joining the EU & it's been shrinking for the last 40 years. All the brilliant engineers that this country have had in all industries have seen their jobs market shrinking due to cheap labour in other continents. I've lived in Sheffield all my life & our steel industry has shrunk to tiny proportions from what it was 40 years ago due to the cheap steel being produced in China, we no longer have a cutlery industry that was respected world wide, all the small companies that produced cutlery in Sheffield have been swallowed up by companies who bring cutlery in to this country to be packed & marketed here & due to stupid laws can still be stamped "Made in Sheffield" Its not only Swindon who are losing their manufacturing heart, it's countywide, it's the steel industry, coal mining, clothing, engineering, aerospace & ship building to name just a few. The 52% who voted to leave the EU didn't all vote for racial reasons, it's because our country has lost what was the heart of our country, our innovators, inventors, designers who were the envy of the rest of the world & created the manufacturing industry that was once the best in the world.

James Goddard charged. Rightly so.

Nat6999 I never knew that about Sheffield cutlery! How do I know that I'm getting the real deal then? Vintage and antique? When did this start? Thank you!

Its not only Swindon who are losing their manufacturing heart, it's countywide, it's the steel industry, coal mining, clothing, engineering, aerospace & ship building to name just a few. The 52% who voted to leave the EU didn't all vote for racial reasons, it's because our country has lost what was the heart of our country, our innovators, inventors, designers who were the envy of the rest of the world & created the manufacturing industry that was once the best in the world.

And how is this the fault of the EU?
Steel, coal mining, textiles and cutlery are too 'low-tech' for high-wage countries. The UK (or at least certain parts of it) hasn't managed to adapt to these structural changes that all Western countries have had to face. This is mostly down to the incompetence of successive British governments, nothing to do with the EU.

As for engineers, innovators and designers....again, very much a homemade problem! Other European countries like Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands or France offer much more rewarding career options for engineers and other STEM graduates (prestige and money wise).

Extreme remainer.? Oxymoron.