We did not end freedom of movement. The only people we ended fom for is ourselves and our children.

[Kendodd]

I don't know why we would celebrate this.
The children of our EU friends living here still have their fom, when they leave school they'll be free to live and work in any one of 31 countries (I'm pleased for them) our children won't be. I've heard 'EU passport holder' is starting to appear on CVs now as it makes people a more attractive employee in certain sectors.

Oh and I grew up in one of the most deprived areas in the country on state benefits attending a failing school. I made use of fom in my youth and it gave me opportunities young people in my situation won't have anymore. It's not just for rich people.

Would you have even considered going over there, knowing you couldn't speak the language?
I did go over there knowing I couldn't speak the language. I didn't know much at the time but I knew they spoke German in Germany and I knew I didn't speak German.

UK citizens in the EU were allowed to vote but they either didn't receive the paperwork in time or their vote did not arrive in time. However this was only for people who had lived outside the UK for less than 15 years

What do you think would have happened if the interview hadn't been in English?
Well I guess I might not have got the job, although I might still have got it.
My first day I followed a German speaker around who showed me what to do, after that they put me on duty with an Irish girl who spoke both languages (she wasnt working day one).

@Judashascomeintosomemoney

Also, it seems the poster on the other thread complaining about VAT wasn't to stupid to pass any test, as your pp tried to imply No that pp has definitely misunderstood. They think having to pay VAT on goods coming from the USA (just one example country they gave) is only happening now and only because of Brexit. They’re not, er, very well informed. (the changes to Vat for countries outside the EU you mentioned earlier is only on how and when an importer pays it, to free cash flow, it’s not that suddenly vat is being charged where it wasn’t before).

Kendodd - so who is right? I think there will be a lot of re-marks requested in the referendum exam.

Happy days!
I had never even been abroad as a child, my family were poor, on benefits most of my life and I left school with no qualifications (I had quite a difficult home life). I was desperate to escape my circumstance. Somebody like me would never have had the money, skills or support to navigate an immigration system or even qualify for immigration. I grew so much in those years and learnt so much.

@Mamamia456

OP - You're looking at this from your own experience though. When I was younger I had no desire whatsoever to work and live in another country. It just didn't appeal to me, never even crossed my mind in fact. I don't know anyone else who wanted to do that either. We were more interested in working in London as that's where we could earn good money.

Indeed. The figures speak for themselves - have a look at how many British citizens live and work in the whole of the EU compared with how many British citizens live and work in Australia.

And for someone from my background, hotel cleaning was actually seen as a good steady job.

@Kendodd

I'll tell you who I think should have been allowed to vote, EU citizens in the UK and UK citizens in the EU. These people were hugely affected by this and had no say.

Why should EU citizens in the U.K. have been able to vote on whether or not the U.K. stayed in Europe?

I voted remain btw but I strongly disagree with your opinion on this.

OP your situation was quite specific and unusual - someone who’d grown up poor, and never travelled, yet had the ambition and guts to work abroad. We can’t really base policy decisions on such an unusual set of circumstances.

Kendodd - so who is right?
I think there will be a lot of re-marks requested in the referendum exam
Well, to be fair, I don’t think Kendodd has read the other thread so wouldn’t know what the OP of that thread was saying.

People in prison were not allowed to vote nor people aged 16-18 who can vote in local elections.

@peak2021

The migration requirements for non-EU citizens have not changed. The majority of net migration has recently been from outside the EU.

So the idea that ending freedom of movement would end or even significantly reduce migration was a myth.

Not yet but the government are looking to open up immigration from other countries, which will certainly make getting work much harder in my area (and I can no longer work easily in the EU).

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/feb/09/boris-johnson-to-lower-30000-wage-threshold-for-immigrants

I'm not saying people should not have voted to leave they believed it was the best thing based on facts. But I disagree with how it was done and who could vote and that it was only one advisory vote. I disagreed and left the country some people were not so lucky, I taught English there are now TEFL teachers being refused jobs due to Brexit. Getting jobs is going to be difficult abroad and in the UK.

Getting jobs is going to be difficult abroad and in the UK.
Yes, as I said in my op I've heard 'EU passport holder' now gives candidates an advantage in UK based jobs in certain sectors because of ease of travel for them.

I don’t disagree with anything you are saying Kendodd, but just by way of marking up the extent of the divides now - you obviously had a passport. I couldn’t afford that as a youngster. How did you physically travel?

And don’t waste too much attention on the YABU votes. No way of knowing what the proportions are, but mumsnet’s just been under ddos attack and is attracting more trolls than normal.

OP your situation was quite specific and unusual - someone who’d grown up poor, and never travelled, yet had the ambition and guts to work abroad. We can’t really base policy decisions on such an unusual set of circumstances.

I don't think it's that unusual. I'm not in touch with anyone from school but remember looking on Friends Reunited (remember that?) years ago, a good few people were living in Europe. My circumstances were very common at my school, for example, I didn't know a single person who didn't live in a council house.

you obviously had a passport. I couldn’t afford that as a youngster. How did you physically travel?
Me and a friend both got Post Office passports and hitchhiked to Europe.

What are post office passports? How did you get fed?

@Callingallmajortoms

I don't think people in care homes should have voted on Brexit no. Especially not dementia homes. I think 1.it is very unlikely to effect them positively or negatively and 2. Depending on the care home they could have been advised by the staff which way to vote (i.e leave for more money for the NHS)

At the care home I worked at the owner was a Tory voted and she advised them to vote Tory in their best interest however that vote would effect them and as much as I hate Tory their were things in their manifesto which was positive for them.

This is hilarious- we won’t allow them to vote but we will lockdown for near on a year, let education and businesses perish so a few hundred thousand live a couple more years!

@Kendodd

I'll tell you who I think should have been allowed to vote, EU citizens in the UK and UK citizens in the EU. These people were hugely affected by this and had no say.

Do general elections no affect them then?

You used to be able to take some pictures and your birth certificates to the Post Office, without appointment or anything, and they'd issue you a passport on the spot. They were only valid for certain countries, I can't remember how much the fee was. We got our passports and left the same day. Post Office passports don't exist anymore, I think it's a sign of how immigration rules everywhere have changed over the years.

This is the problem, these opportunities do not exist any more. I never heard of post office passports. Shortly no doubt you will begin to have to explain what council houses are, what long term tenancies were like, and ‘vat is thees ye olde concept of security’. I’m asking questions because I really don’t think a lot of people, even just 10 years older than me, have a real idea of how the lowest live and what barriers there are. Britain has changed so much in such a short time. I managed to get to Uni from a poor northern estate but I knew those whose parents needed their kids to work: plenty who were inducted into the underworld of drugs from day one. I knew youngsters at uni who hitch hiked to Europe. They invariably came from what looked to me like well-off backgrounds with stable security blankets behind them, parents who knew systems and would and could help. Anything - anything - that requires a cost up front is not accessible to those living hand to mouth. More and more people are in that position. Poverty is steadily moving up Britain’s hierarchy and it only becomes visible one it starts to hit the hereditary middle classes.

Oh and the passports were just cardboard with your picture stuck in.

@Judashascomeintosomemoney

Kendodd - so who is right? I think there will be a lot of re-marks requested in the referendum exam Well, to be fair, I don’t think Kendodd has read the other thread so wouldn’t know what the OP of that thread was saying.

Really? Well Ken was quick to point out I was wrong and the op of the other thread was right.