To think Brexit has robbed us of so much?

[elzober]

A friend of mine from America recently obtained citizenship of an EU country due to family links. She's now ready to look for a job and open to anything as she doesn't have a degree but worked in the family agricultural business back home. She's fluent in English.

A few years ago I would have been able to invite her to stay with me here in the UK, help her get established and set her up to apply for one of the many jobs over here. But now I can't do any of that.

The ridiculous part is I know local businesses that are really struggling to recruit, can't find people locally and have struggled with the lack of EU workers since Brexit. Particularly in hospitality, agriculture and travel.

Why did we close the door to people who filled these vacancies and contributed to society and paid taxes?

She would have been a decent tax payer, nice member of the community but she's not allowed in.

She's probably going to Ireland now as apparently there's lots more opportunities there since we became an isolated island.

I will never forgive the Conservatives for this shambles. Don't get me started on the fact that a British passport is now worthless and we've lost our right to live in 27 countries. Madness.

All the politicians that voted for this have probably never been on a U.K. beach holiday in their life so don’t care.

Do you really think that fruit picking wages are going to rise? The produce will rot in the field, as it is now, or workers will be shipped in from much further away leading to a much higher risk of modern slavery/exploitation.

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/aug/14/why-uk-farms-recruiting-fruit-pickers-from-7000-miles-away

It was the result of the referendum, Tory fault. This scrabbling round trying to blame others is desperate bullshit and failure to take responsibility. But that's the Conservative Party for you.

Increased wages isn’t going to make British workers suddenly decide to go and pick fruit. These farms are often a long way from where British workers live so you have to stay in the farm accommodation. People don’t want to do that. Hence why the work went to people who were happy to come to the U.K. and work on a job with accommodation provided so they could save some money to send home.
Its naive to think all these jobs would be filled by British workers if the wages were higher. Plus if the price rises too much no-one buys the fruit anyway. How much would you be willing to pay for a punnet of strawberries before deciding not to buy them?

If Brexit is supposed to increase indigenous employment and improve t+cs/wage levels, then why is it that a small EU country like Ireland has vastly better pay and conditions than the UK, and far better social supports too.

Being in the EU does not mean cheap labour. That is/was a UK Government backed policy, i.e. they didn't interfere and let low slave wages and conditions persist.

Anyway Britain's loss is Ireland's gain. Apart from the hatchet job being done on the NI protocol of course. That would be because NI is thriving in a contrived "Single Market", and that cannot be allowed in isolation to the demise of the rest of Britain, now can it?

You can’t blame any other party for Brexit. It was 100% the Conservatives. They felt they were losing ground and votes to UKIP so David Cameron promised a referendum. Then just before campaigning was due to start, Boris Johnson switched to support the leave campaign looking to get another chance at leadership. Neither of them were actually in favour of Brexit!

To get a job in the EU your employer has to prove that they have advertised that job and there is nobody suitable or willing to do it in the whole of the EU before they can look outside the EU. How many of us have qualifications that no other person out of the 250 million in the EU have? Not many. Either that or are you willing to move to a place nobody else would want to live.

Whatever people say, the leave voters are racist and wanted to stop Polish immigration and from other countries in that region. That’s why we’re in this shit situation.

Quite

All these people moaning because they can’t get their slave labour any more…. What a shame.

Anyone can apply for a visa - I have just got one to go to the USA
Salaries have increased since Brexit is that a bad thing - to me it is not - other are fee to disagree of course

"You can’t blame any other party for Brexit. It was 100% the Conservatives."
No there were many Tories who wanted is to stay Osborne said house prices would fall by 18% at a stroke of we left
If was very cross party

"Being in the EU does not mean cheap labour. That is/was a UK Government backed policy, i.e. they didn't interfere and let low slave wages and conditions persist."
As someone who owns a company who build houses I can assure you it did - EU builders were prepared to work for musch less

Brilliant post!

All these people who 'won't forgive' and can't move on. Why can't you? We've lost some of the ease but not the ability. I work for a European company and voted to remain but, that's not what we got. Whinging about it achieves nothing and it's tedious.

As for the ludicrous yearning for someone who voted to leave to come onto a thread and 'admit their mistake'? How arrogant and self-serving... and I'm glad that nobody's entertained it.

Many of us didn't get what we wanted. We shouldn't even have been given this as a referendum vote but, we are where are. Time for resilience and revising plans now. Not this endless whining and navel-gazing.

That's awful though. Even when we were part of the EU, it was awful that employers had to prioritise EU members and basically exclude the rest of the world. How many talented, willing people from say New Zealand/Australia/The US/Asia were being side lined in favour of EU citizens? Employment should be about the individual applying and how suitable they are, not about whether or not they're part of a "club."

Can Polish people not get a visa to work here then? Is there a 'block' somewhere on who can and can't apply?

There are racists certainly but also some wilfully stupid people.

So much of impoverished Wales voted out though. I just can’t picture it that they were all honking hooray Henrys singing prom songs about empire. It was fashionable at the time to sneer at them as “turkeys voting for Christmas “ and bang on about how only educated people should have the vote (which is something the same people abhored when it was used in the southern US). But I really would like to read a better analysis of why. There has been one good book, and that’s it really.

Yes we will rejoin in less favourable terms eventually. In the meantime we really should be more interested in understanding the real thought processes that led WC people, disadvantaged people, swathes of people from impoverished areas to reject the EU project, despite benefiting from EU funding. I’m not at all sure I know what the answer will be if we ever get at it.

It has, if/when you or a loved one needs the NHS, you'll find it very much understaffed, as 1000s of highly qualified EU workers left, same with Dentistry. many left because Bojo's WA doesn't recognised qualifications.

Think on that when you can't even get a private appointment.

Its also robbed us of the ability to control our own borders, compare number of migrants crossing the channel this year - 20k so far, to those crossing in 2016 (a few 10s) & we can't any back to mainland europe now.

win win win!!!

Was that because the UK authorities did not check minimum wage levels? Or were/are there any at all implemented under EU directives pre Brexit? Is there a statutory minimum wage? If it is not paid, what are the consequences for British employers?

I can see why self employed brickies/carpenters/plumbers from Eastern Europe could undercut, but I would have thought that employees had protection under employment legislation.

Anyway I'm no expert, but I can see a difference between EU and non EU employment laws.

I don't think that I'd vote to re-join in the future and I don't think I'm on my own there. We shouldn't have left but now that we have, we have to re-build on our terms.

I would be very sure the same principle would apply to visa applicants to Australia and NZ etc. Points systems and so on....Correct?

Yes, it's awful. I'm glad we don't have these "special club" rules now and can hire who we want from wherever we want.

Because at the end of the day, this tale people were told that their decline in living standards relative to the rich was all the EU's fault, has proved to be a complete lie.

And it's not six years after the fact. Brexit only came into effect 18 months ago, and it's proving a complete mess, as soundly predicted by even the government's own analyses.

@Rosewaterblossom We could recruit from where ever we wanted when we were in the EU, whats the gain here?

@HinchcliffeandMurgatroyd a major factor in voting Brexit was Austerity. Funding of public services was cut to the bone. People thought it was because too many migrants, too few services. But it wasn't, it was because the Tory government decided that low and middle income earners needed to bear the brunt of the costs of bailing out the banks.

Other factors were:
Racism/Xenophobia
Destabilisation of the UK.
God told them.
Ideological opposition to the EU.
Crisis Capitalists seeing a quick buck.
To piss off middle class people.
To piss off the "Metropolitan Elite".
Saw serious smuggling opportunities - illegal Crisis Capitalists.

Essentially the Leave Campaign lied and lied and lied.

Something wrong in your life?

That's the EU's fault that is.
Vote Leave and be free from whatever ails you.