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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To think that at some point people will have to say that Brexit was never a good idea

213 replies

heatissweet · 07/09/2022 16:34

We are sinking as a country and only a very few people are better off since Brexit. It seems to me like an experiment that hasn't worked. AIBU to think that it's odd that it's hardly mentioned as one of the reasons why everything is so bleak right now? Even Liz Truss thought it was a bad idea at the time.

OP posts:
HakuSansTan · 07/09/2022 19:03

Florenz · 07/09/2022 18:52

So tired of people going on about Brexit. Being in the EU wasn't of benefit to enough British people, if it was, remain would have won. For all the people going on about losing the freedom to study, work all over the EU, the amount of people that actually did that is very small, far less than the amount of people negatively affected by downward pressure on wages due to unfettered EU immigration, plus all the pressure on housing, public services etc.

Maybe just maybe, if remainers had cared more about people outside of their immediate social circle, they'd have realised that a hell of a lot of people did not like being in the EU at all, there probably wouldn't have been referendum though if that was the case. Cameron only had the referendum became he thought it was a certainty that remain would win.

You are tired yet pop up with your usual trite and bilge.

What is it this time? Remainers should have looked outside their social circle to realise most people didn't like being in the EU and Cameron only called the referendum because he though remain would win.

I prefer my average Brexiter not to hide behind posts like yours. It is something you always do. It is transparent and cowardly. Own your Brexit badge.

Starfishswimmer · 07/09/2022 19:04

I blame the media Brexit

TooBigForMyBoots · 07/09/2022 19:08

Where I live:
Most NI Unionist Leave voters regret it. It's made business more difficult and destabilised the Union. The ones who don't regret voting Leave are a lot more wary about what it will actually mean. Brexit is not Done!
The paramilitaries and Ex paramilitaries who voted Leave do not regret it. It has destabilised the Union and provided smuggling opportunities.
The racist Leave voters are raging.😆😆😆
My Leave voting SiL doesn't regret it. She disappeared down the Qanon/anti-vax rabbit hole during lockdown and has yet to emerge so we don't discuss politics much.

Florenz · 07/09/2022 19:10

The benefits of Britain being in the EU were not spread around equally. Middle-class/rich people benefitted from us being in the EU, working-class people did not. Middle-class/rich people are more likely to be highly educated and have the money and connections to be able to work in foreign countries, because they have skills that are in demand, they benefit from having more opportunities, being able to have more employers competing for them. Working-class people do not benefit from any of this, instead they suffer as they have to compete with immigrant workers who will "work harder for lower wages". This is why Brexit won. Why people can't accept that is beyond me.

bellac11 · 07/09/2022 19:11

Exactly, the issues for NI and the Republic havent even been touched on yet

There is a huge reason why the vast vast majority of business owners voted and campaigned to remain. Brexit has not been good for business.

Original poster
heatissweet · 07/09/2022 19:17

The benefits of Britain being in the EU were not spread around equally. Middle-class/rich people benefitted from us being in the EU, working-class people did not.

I think that's too simplistic, because of things like EU subsidies to certain areas, sometimes deprived areas. And anyway, one thing is certain is that working class and poorer people have definitely not benefitted since we left!

OP posts:
TooBigForMyBoots · 07/09/2022 19:20

Among the Left leaning Leave voters some don't regret it. Others regret it because of what has happened since, Covid, war etc.

ZaphodDent · 07/09/2022 19:25

UWhatNow · 07/09/2022 17:11

You can’t possibly say that brexit has failed - we are still going through the process. Turning the ship will take time. The final analysis won’t be able to be judged for at least another 5-10 years.

This is so annoying. We were told Brexit would be so great that we could immediately start giving the NHS £350M a week. Sunlit uplands, we were told. Have our cake and eat it, we were told.

The next ten years will see my 2 DC starting their career and hopefully settling down. A vital time in their lives. Wish someone had warned me about this in 2016!

Flutterbybudget · 07/09/2022 19:36

The Brexit espousing campaigners started off with “it’ll be wonderful”, £350 million to the NHS, freedom to control our own borders, freedom to create our own laws, no one can tell us what to do, we hold all the cards etc
It then became, “we survived the Blitz”, “the EU are being awkward” etc
Now it’s “none of our woes are anything to do with Brexit at all” “there’s a war” “Covid” etc
Heck, even Nigel Farage is complaining that “this is not the Brexit I voted for”, except it IS the Brexit that he and millions of others voted for, it’s the Brexit that “project fear” predicted, it’s the Brexit that those who voted against it feared.

So basically, no, I don’t think the majority of people who voted for Brexit will ever admit that they made a mistake, there will always be someone or something else that they will blame for the complete and utter clusterfuck that is Brexit

Antarcticant · 07/09/2022 19:37

TotallyScouting · 07/09/2022 18:42

Not yet 40 not 49! 49 is a bit ancient 😂🙈

49 'ancient' ? I should hope you rethink that in 9 years' time otherwise you'll be in for a dreary middle-age.

TooBigForMyBoots · 07/09/2022 19:41

Florenz · 07/09/2022 19:10

The benefits of Britain being in the EU were not spread around equally. Middle-class/rich people benefitted from us being in the EU, working-class people did not. Middle-class/rich people are more likely to be highly educated and have the money and connections to be able to work in foreign countries, because they have skills that are in demand, they benefit from having more opportunities, being able to have more employers competing for them. Working-class people do not benefit from any of this, instead they suffer as they have to compete with immigrant workers who will "work harder for lower wages". This is why Brexit won. Why people can't accept that is beyond me.

That is your perception @Florenz, it is far from reality. The EU funded infrastructure such as community centres and many programmes for deprived areas, disabled people and the elderly and provided grants to many charities. When we were in the EU, working class and poor kids could travel to Spain/Greece etc and get a job for less than the cost of a train fare from London to Manchester. Many of them did.

PM Johnson's Leveling Up policy was supposed to replace the money deprived areas lost when we left the EU. It isn't even close to what we had before. Lower middle class and working class kids have been shafted by the removal of FOM. The rich are fine by dint of being rich.

SofiaSoFar · 07/09/2022 19:43

feedyourheed · 07/09/2022 17:44

For those of us who wanted to be free of EU law, free of the destruction of our industries (too late sadly) and increasing federalisation then it will never have been a bad idea to leave.

All remain voters care about is easy transit through the EU, not having to fill out forms etc. So many remainers don't understand what they were REALLY voting for if you ask me. Very few knew much about the EU, other than that they were besieged by media outlets telling them we depended upon it for our very survival.

"Free of the destruction of our industries..." ???

Are you serious?! Have you seen the news at all since Brexit?

Forget Covid and Ukraine, even without those it was already catastrophic for many industries.

And now with the utterly laughable 'trade deals' - including the New Zealand one our heroic new leader eulogised but which NZ farmers actually thought was a joke as it's so heavily weighted in their favour(!) - more industries will be brought down in the near future.

I can barely believe what I'm reading from some people in this thread. Is there a parallel universe some of you are living in?

UnnecessaryFennel · 07/09/2022 19:48

And all the signs are that levelling up has effectively been shelved by our new PM. No minister for it, and IDS apparently has 'never been sure what it meant'.

But yeah, everything's totally fine and dandy in brexitland.

bellac11 · 07/09/2022 19:48

It can only be a delusion

baffledcoconut · 07/09/2022 19:50

I was in France the other week and the supermarkets are well stocked. Petrol
is much cheaper than the U.K. and on the whole life seems a lot better…

Crankley · 07/09/2022 19:50

No, because it's simply not true.

UnnecessaryFennel · 07/09/2022 19:51

We're exporting chicken to KFC in Mongolia though! Grabbing ourselves a nice juicy share of that £10 MILLION market!

Woohoo! Sunlit uplands! Who needs the EU???

RocketPanda · 07/09/2022 19:52

Anything that destabilises the peace in NI and threatens The Good Friday Agreement is not a good thing. Peace means so much to the people who lived through it. I know from relatives who are living there they feel shit on by the mainland leave voters especially who, despite plenty of articles about NI and Brexit at the time, chose to ignore the warnings. No matter where your loyalties lie NI is part of the UK, I wonder how leave voters sleep at night knowing what they have done.

Fairyliz · 07/09/2022 19:53

Chevyimpala67 · 07/09/2022 16:58

The facts are that we are now below India and are the world's 7th largest economy- down from 5th in 2016.

We have the lowest growth of all G7 nations.

Once the ukraine war is over and the global recession recedes the true damage to the UK will be clear

Can anyone explain how this means we are doing so badly? A quick google suggest we are the 21st biggest population in the world (India is 2nd) yet our economy is the 7th largest in the world.
Doesnt this mean overall as a country we are doing quite well, albeit worse than a few years ago?

bellac11 · 07/09/2022 19:55

UnnecessaryFennel · 07/09/2022 19:51

We're exporting chicken to KFC in Mongolia though! Grabbing ourselves a nice juicy share of that £10 MILLION market!

Woohoo! Sunlit uplands! Who needs the EU???

You forgot the seed potato deal with China

bellac11 · 07/09/2022 20:00

RocketPanda · 07/09/2022 19:52

Anything that destabilises the peace in NI and threatens The Good Friday Agreement is not a good thing. Peace means so much to the people who lived through it. I know from relatives who are living there they feel shit on by the mainland leave voters especially who, despite plenty of articles about NI and Brexit at the time, chose to ignore the warnings. No matter where your loyalties lie NI is part of the UK, I wonder how leave voters sleep at night knowing what they have done.

It puts this at risk certainly but did your relatives support the DUP who bolstered the Tories and were big advocates for the leave campaign?

Fair enough if they didnt but large numbers did yet also voted to remain.

RocketPanda · 07/09/2022 20:02

My relatives and nobody they know of any religion would never have anything to do with the DUP. Age range from 18 to 74.

bellac11 · 07/09/2022 20:03

Fairyliz · 07/09/2022 19:53

Can anyone explain how this means we are doing so badly? A quick google suggest we are the 21st biggest population in the world (India is 2nd) yet our economy is the 7th largest in the world.
Doesnt this mean overall as a country we are doing quite well, albeit worse than a few years ago?

Show quote history

We are a wealthy country, no one is debating that

But we are regressing in a huge number of ways which is not matched (or can be explained by) covid or the war because if they were the only contributors then we would have a similar growth model to the rest of the EU, we dont.

All the countries in the EU and around the world globally are being affected by the pandemic and to a lesser or greater degree the current war but our decrease and downgrading of our growth, influence, power, prosperity is due to Brexit.

And it will only get worse

TooBigForMyBoots · 07/09/2022 20:03

Our downward trajectory is continuing @Fairyliz. The UK is doing worse than it was. In 5 years, 10 years we will have slipped even further.

Fairyliz · 07/09/2022 20:13

TooBigForMyBoots · 07/09/2022 20:03

Our downward trajectory is continuing @Fairyliz. The UK is doing worse than it was. In 5 years, 10 years we will have slipped even further.

@TooBigForMyBoots
But you don't actually know this do you its only an opinion.

If indeed you can accurately forecast the future there must be a way to monetise this skill.