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.

Every time I see your posts surferjet I always have in mind that you are a Russian shill with wild bleach blonde hair who wears black turtlenecks all of the time.
I, of course, will never know if this is true or not, but this is how I view you and your posts.

That is it. Nothing more.

I just had to finally say it.

Brexit is not the cause of the Honda relocation but it's an aggravating factor.

@weallknowdave
I realise I should have given a bit more context to my thought.
I think the Honda closure is the perfect example of what's to come: there are huge shifts in the car industry (and others) making it ever harder to compete in the first place. It's likely honda was thinking about its future strategy anyway but with a challenging background (shift away from diesel etc) as 'root cause' AND brexit into the bargain, that's when they decided against keeping production in the UK.
It's too simplistic to say brexit is literally the root of it (though sometimes it is), most likely we'll see investments shifting away from us because of brexit on top of everything else.
It's like at a time when we should be most competitive, when everyone is training for the Olympics, we've decided to voluntarily break a leg. It was going to be hard enough as it was and now brexit makes success even less likely iyswim.

There is a lack of understanding in some posts that business decisions are complex and often based on more than one issue. In the case of Honda several has joined together including Brexit.
As quiet says in some cases it will be the final nail in the coffin rather than the coffin itself. The global financial outlook is currently weak, it's not a good time to tear up our countries trade links. The business secretary himself is pretty clear on damage.

eandt.theiet.org/content/articles/2019/02/no-deal-brexit-will-be-a-disaster-for-uk-manufacturing-says-business-secretary/

@LadyBunker

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." Saying things like they wouldn't even want to share a meal with a leave voter, let alone a friendship. Sorry, but doesn't this just smack of the ignorant, divisive attitude that the remainers accuse the leavers of? Isn't the way these remainers talk and act about leavers the very thing they profess to loathe about leavers? Except they assume every single person who voted to leave did so because they hate foreigners and want them deported. That's just as bad in my book as assuming all migrants are benefit cheats or all Muslims support terrorism, and it's a horribly hypocritical way of thinking. Those of us who voted to remain aren't above those of us who voted to leave. Those of us who voted to leave aren't all racist. And not all of us who voted to remain are mad, liberal hippies. For goodness sake. Accept that people voted for all sorts, not "Go home, Johnny Foreigner." But for education, industry, the NHS, the armed forces, border control, laws, sovereignty, control of lands etc...... whether for or against! It's not all about migrants.

Excellent post.

@MuseumofInnocence

I am a remainer, and there is some truth to that.

Thanks for proving LadyBunker right. And proving MY point that some remainers are judgemental, rude, and ignorant. (And a lot more thick than most leavers!!!)

@steppemum

The 1.4 million young people is such a red herring. Of course there are, just as there are fewer old people, as some have died since 2016.

Shall we just revote every 12 months until the democratic balance has changed enough for you?

LOL, this X 1000. And so typical of the dumb statements that the remoaners churn out. And they have the nerve to call the LEAVERS thick. PMSL!

Oh and if there WAS another referendum, anyone who was over 18 in June 2016, and couldn't be arsed to vote then, is not allowed to vote.

Couldn't be arsed then? You don't get to vote next time.

Imagine if there WAS another referendum and the LEAVE vote won again? There would be a remoaner meltdown. They'd all need therapy.

AWWW, and BREXIT WAS NOT THE CAUSE OF THE HONDA 'CRISIS'.

Suck on that remoaners!

And proving MY point that some remainers are judgemental, rude, and ignorant. (And a lot more thick than most leavers!!!)

Pot and kettle springs to mind.

You do seem to be rather angry redandyellowandpinkandgreen99 - you won, remember?

Angry moi?

On the contrary my little piece of fluff.

I could not be HAPPIER right now.

Funny how such happy Leavers resort so quickly to insults then.

Oooh, so much winning.

MissLanesAmericanCousin

It’s nice you think a lot about me.
& that you see me as a sexy spy type.

Suck on that remoaners!

And meanwhile, back in reality, the rest of the world thinks... “well they seem like a right bunch of twats” and move their business away from us. It’s difficult not to agree with them.

Never mind, I’m sure scone exports and unicorn herding farms will see us through.

It just seems so strange that in this time of "global pressures", that out of its entire worldwide operations, Honda should choose the first and only factory it has ever closed to be the one in the UK, 6 weeks before Brexit. Such an odd coincidence .

Just seen a live report on Channel 4 news Whole families work there. Whole families about to be thrown onto Universal Credit.

My mother's family were from Sheffield, and many of them worked in the steel and cutlery industries. I am quite sure that these industries were going down the pan before we went into the EEC due to competition from the Far East. Admittedly things were particularly bad in the 1980s which killed many struggling firms off.

Well, to be fairsurferjet, I only think of you when I see your posts, not any time before or after.

As to the last, of course, aren't all russian spies sexy?

Whole families thrown onto UC and yet we have posters who couldn't be HAPPIER. Either they have private means, as so many of the leading lights of Leavers have, or else they are hard faced fools.

Oh and if there WAS another referendum, anyone who was over 18 in June 2016, and couldn't be arsed to vote then, is not allowed to vote.

Couldn't be arsed then? You don't get to vote next time.

Sounds like a dictatorship.

If the country had been ruled for the benefit of those that live here instead of those that wanted the United States of Europe,and companies who wanted cheap labour topped up by tax credits all this would not have happened most likely.
We are fucked regardless of Brexit.Look at cost of housing,nhs schooling,all the things that have got worse in the last twenty years plus.

Look at cost of housing,nhs schooling,all the things that have got worse in the last twenty years plus.

Given that these are all within the remit of Westminster how do you expect leaving the EU to help? Do you expect May to find another magic money tree as she did for the DUP, or even better a magic money forest? Do you expect those sterling proponents of Leave who are busy shifting their assets out of the UK to dip into their pockets and start writing cheques (or bank transfers these days) for the millions required to invest in the said areas of housing, health, schools?

I for one don't - they are greedy, selfish and only interested in No. 1 and it's the greatest pity that so many people have been taken in by them.

It is sad to read on here such horrible
Posts - where people
Say they are glad people Are
Losing their jobs - that they are getting what they deserve. Whatever people
Voted for - they didn’t vote out of spite - it wasn’t to try and get one over on others or to cause unemployment - they voted for a better life - maybe they made the wrong choice - we will soon find but that wasn’t their intention . We all have families and want the future to be a better place. This is why I hate
Politics and politicians - they are not about doing the best for our country - it’s just about getting one over on the other party all the time. I hope whatever the outcome of brexit that we still manage to stay a prosperous
Country that can
Provide for
Others. Try and be nice
People - we are all in this together no
Matter who you
Voted for

instead of those that wanted the United States of Europe

Those people never existed. The blame for the shortcomings in vast parts of the uk lies squarely at our governments, but you have been fooled, like millions of others into placing the blame on the eu.

You’ve been conned. The answer is not a sledgehammer and you think that smashing it all up will somehow make things better. The penny will drop sooner or later but by then it will be too late.

I personally would not be too sorry if Rees-Mogg, Johnson, Farage, Davis, Fox and Philip May all suffered extreme financial hardship. It's ordinary people who are going to suffer.

But even if those in Parliament were to be voted out at the next election, they would still coin it in directorships. What was that about Johnson giving a talk at JCB the other week, for £10,000 - what does the man who glibly says F* business know about running a manufacturing business? I doubt whether he can do much more than tie his shoelaces.

We are fucked regardless of Brexit.

I sympathise with this as I just walked around my home town and it is a mess. However, the leaders of Brexit want to emulate Singapore (probably not possible due to the population size difference) or the USA. What worries me is that Singapore has one of the largest income gaps in the world. Wealth is disproportionately spread among wealthy foreigners while native Singaporeans live in poverty. The poor in USA don't seem to fare very well either.

Peregrina true,was within the remit of Westminster.
But they have only ruled for themselves and the rich.
We are running on so much tick,tax credits,benefits,loans,car loans,it’s all going to blow.How are we in such a state with interest rates so low and quantitative easing.

But they have only ruled for themselves and the rich.

How are you expecting them to have a personality transplant?
To me it seems that ordinary people have got to get more active, start getting involved and start voting for the things they want to happen.

Doesn't always work though, ask Scottish people if they voted for the government they've had for years

Honda insisted its decision to pull out of the UK was not connected to Brexit, instead blaming the need to invest in electric vehicles and the small number of cars it sells in Europe as it confirmed the decision on Tuesday.

Takahiro Hachigo, Honda chief executive, told a press conference in Tokyo that the decision “was not informed by Brexit”.

://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2019/02/19/honda-says-brexit-not-blame-swindon-factory-closure/

In other news, my car failed its MOT today and the mechanic insisted Brexit was to blame.

The majority of British voters voted to leave the EU by the largest mandate of any election ever, however fanatical Remainers seeking to blame absolutely everything that goes wrong on the result do themselves no favours.

If we had a competent, visionary PM who actually supported the democratic outcome of the referendum we would be swimming in trade deals and the benefits of leaving the corrupt, unaudited, undemocratic European States of Europe would be well understood.

Before the middle-class, aga-owning Remoaners on this thread blow a gasket, there really is no need to throw a hissy fit. The ruling elites will find a way to keep us in this failing, ailing institution, make no mistake. So you will be able to keep paying your cleaners £10 an hour (the same as they were being paid 20 years ago), have loads of cheapo Eastern European builders to dig your basement conversions (who cares if they are living 10 to a room and pricing British builders out of work) and life will go on just the same.

"As for those pesky, uneducated, thick, racist Northerners in Boston and Gateshead who didn't know what they were voting for, who can’t find a job, can’t get a doctor’s appointment, a council house or a school place for their children, it's pretty disgusting they have the right to vote at all, frankly". (As overheard in the artisan organic charcuterie in Chiswick).