To be getting more not less depressed about Brexit as time goes on

[teneastereggs]

It all seems so pointless doesn't it, I feel sorry that some- probably many- people were duped into voting for it, I feel annoyed that the 48 percent who voted remain have been completely ignored, annoyed about all the divisions it has caused our country and all the rows, and overall just really fed up with the state we are in now. I thought it would be getting better by now but actually feel worse about it now than I did at the time.

I think there was a lot bubbling away under the surface, but no one wanted to acknowledge or listen because anyone who said anything or expressed any concerns was dismissed as being racist and "Daily Mail" readers. It doesn't go from no one pre 2015 not giving a fuck about the EU to just over half of voters voting to leave it in 2016 if there were no issues or no one gave a stuff.

I disagree. I think that the whole thing was whipped up by the likes of Farage and Gove and the media. I don't think people were that bothered. I never heard anyone ever mention it.
Now I have friends in a band (small fry...they're not Coldplay) who can't sell CDs into Europe any more because the tax/import dutie make the cost prohibitive and touring is a massive headache due to visas and the dreaded carnet, which means they could be stopped at each border and have every single item of equipment checked.

It was certainly made vocal by Farage and the media but the issues were building and bubbling under the surface... I certainly heard plenty of people mention it, especially since 2004/5, and they certainly weren't all racist, daily mail voters. I guess it boils down to where you live or who you talk to?

Does anyone have a link to info that would explain the possible workers rights that may be taken away in the U.K.? (I’m not in the U.K. right now and Google is bringing all sorts of things).

https://www.libertyhumanrights.org.uk/issue/what-is-the-echr-and-why-does-it-matter/

https://inews.co.uk/news/women-to-be-worst-hit-by-torys-bonfire-of-eu-employment-rights-after-brexit-report-claims-2087000

The erosion of employment rights was always on the cards with an unshackled Conservative government. Its all about the shareholders and getting directorships when no longer an mp.

I know how you feel OP and we can’t ever go back to the position we had even if we get accepted back in in the future. We’ll have to join euro and I like having our own currency.

I don’t like that we can’t be honest. Political parties like labour are reluctant to talk about it as they’re scared of being attacked for it and igniting divisions again.

I don’t like how some pro-EU supporters talk about all voters for brexit as there was a lot of misinformation at the time and bad half hearted campaign from remain who I think took it for granted that they’d win.

I think there was a lot bubbling away under the surface,

I think there was too, but it was general grumbles due to the state of things in the UK, people were starting to realise that the Government wasn't working in their favour, austerity was really noticeably starting to bite, the Government realised this too and quickly came up with a useful scapegoat, the rest is history.

I voted to remain as “sovereignty” would just mean handing over complete control to our government to screw us over, which is exactly what is happening.

Madness there wasn’t a threshold for an overwhelming majority. A 52/48 split is far too close.

To those saying “move on, get over it”, everyday there’s stories of businesses really suffering because of it and there’s worse to come. What do you say to them?

When you look at parties such as UKIP in 2010, for example, although they didn't win any seats until 2015, the amount of votes they received in that election had doubled since 2005. People were definitely making noises way before even the Tories came into power , and it continued until 2016, I remember it clearly. Only by then people had been ignored for so long and basically written off as racists so it exploded via the Brexit vote. People who think no one gave two hoots about the EU prior to 2016 were either blind or in circles who weren't affected in any sort of negative way. As I said, people don't go from not caring, to half of people voting leave if there weren't issues (dating back a decade) beforehand. The people still angry now about Brexit are clearly those who either didn't realise or chose to ignore those people who were getting more and more angry with the EU in the decade building up to the Brexit vote. The fact people on this thread actually think no one even gave a toss about the EU prior to the vote clearly shows the difference and divide in peoples lives and circles in the UK, which also shows the divide was there, Brexit or no Brexit.

The fact people on this thread actually think no one even gave a toss about the EU prior to the vote clearly shows the difference and divide in peoples lives and circles in the UK, which also shows the divide was there, Brexit or no Brexit.

I think it's that people cared about immigration and immigrants using resources, getting jobs etc, rather than caring about the EU. Farage might have been trying to sell the problem as an EU problem but I dont think many people cared about the EU itself that much. And what they were voting for wasn't laid out clearly, as it hadn't even been decided, and things like the impact on the good Friday agreement weren't made clear enough.
On top of all of this, hasn't immigration actually gone up anyway? And what about the NHS money on the bus lies.

I think this all ties in to what Hugh Grant said about everyone being afraid of the press. Largely Murdoch, but Dacre also.
Anyone who comes out against Brexit will be crucified by the press. 'Enemies of the people ' etc.

Those were factors but not all. I was really interested in politics then (now I'm more disillusioned) and used to watch question time every week during the mid 2000s to 2010s and listened to the various people around the country from regular jo to business owners expressing their worries/concerns and what they were experiencing at the time. Brexit was no surprise at all! But only to those who actually listened rather than just thought no one was talking about the EU or dismissed them as racists. If Brexit was a surprise because apparently no one gave a toss about the EU then you weren't listening.

Those were factors but not all. I was really interested in politics then (now I'm more disillusioned) and used to watch question time every week during the mid 2000s to 2010s and listened to the various people around the country from regular jo to business owners expressing their worries/concerns and what they were experiencing at the time. Brexit was no surprise at all! But only to those who actually listened rather than just thought no one was talking about the EU or dismissed them as racists. If Brexit was a surprise because apparently no one gave a toss about the EU then you weren't listening.

Comes across a bit patronising. I also followed the news and current affairs at the time quite closely and yet disagree with you.

Honestly I think you need to move on. It's a political change, it's happened, it's not the end of the world. It's really too soon for anyone to have a clear idea how it will come out in the end. But probably it will be fine, just like it would have been largely fine if people had voted the other way.

I think also you might be putting too much weight on Brexit as a cause of problems. There are a lot of other things at wok globally that are making life difficult for many people in many different countries.

Angry with the EU? If they were it's because they were lied to about really what was negatively affecting their lives.

Much easier to blame the 'other', like immigrants or people in Brussels, than actually change things that make people's lives better. Building houses people can afford to live in; making health services a priority; improving the state of education so it really trains people to have a career in something that they could learn the skills for, rather than teaching them a lot of esoteric stuff that doesn't interest them and is only useful if you want to be an academic or move in dinner party circles. Reducing crime.

But those things are difficult. Much easier to make people angry or afraid about foreigners. Also many of the current ruling class benefited from Brexit unlike most of the rest of us. They want to run down the NHS because they want to privatise it. They want fewer safeguards for workers' rights because they and their ilk benefit from exploiting the low paid (the bureaucracy they talk about is often laws which protect the worker or the environment but stand in the way of profits, which is what they care about most).

The divide is only there because people were lied to, repeatedly, by the right wing, the left wing and much of the media. And it was all fuelled by self interest.

Then we'll agree to disagree. This thread has opened my eyes though as to why certain remainers are so angry, they appear to live in very different realities to a lot of the normal working class folk and the fact some didn't even think anyone gave two hoots about the EU prior to 2016 just because their circle weren't talking about it (probably because it wasn't affecting them badly) is an eye opener.

Thank you for this thread, it's certainly clarified what I needed to know.

That only works if you believe that they really knew what was detrimental to their lives.

It's easy to manipulate people with a constant flood of negative information. The media and this government are excellent at it.

Well said. It would be bloody lovely to be able to get on with life without thinking about Brexit. For those of us whose work has been directly impacted, it’s not that simple. The complications of Brexit go on and on and get worse rather than better, though I hope that might change under Labour.

i also find it a bit much to have had these unwanted consequences foisted on us and then to be told to shut up about it. Why the hell should people shut up. It’s our democratic right to say things as we see them.

Nobody’s forced onto the Brexit threads after all. If you don’t want to hear of peoples’ annoyance there are thousands of other threads.

People were talking at the time of their real life experiences, not what was being fed to them by the media. But no one was listening for a decade, until they had to listen via Brexit.

Yep. The bureaucracy thing was such a con. Leaving the EU has massively increased bureaucracy (as in filling in pointless forms) and reduced the kind of regulations that improve people's lives, like clean rivers and workers' rights, which is what those champions of Brexit lied about being bureaucratic red tape.

People were talking at the time of their real life experiences, not what was being fed to them by the media. But no one was listening for a decade, until they had to listen via Brexit.

Even if that were the case, it has made those very people far worse off. So it didn't work.

"i also find it a bit much to have had these unwanted consequences foisted on us and then to be told to shut up about it. Why the hell should people shut up. It’s our democratic right to say things as we see them."

That's how lots of people felt in the years leading up to Brexit, yet no one listened. Now the shoe is on the other foot it's a different story.

What real life experiences? The things people said to me were about red tape(lies), wanting things to be different (wtf), wanting less immigration (didn't work).

I don't believe you that people weren't affected by the media. People may have been angry but they were angry about the wrong thing, as I've explained