To think blaming Brexit for all our current issues is outdated

[Bethatlass]

When Brexit was being voted on in 2016 Obama was president in the US, George Osborne was chancellor, David Cameron was prime minister, most people had never even heard of Wuhan in China. Since then we’ve had a trump presidency, a way in Ukraine, a global pandemic, massive political change etc. To put it into context my own DD was still in primary school when it happened and is now ready to go off to university in a matter of months. I’m not denying that Brexit has caused and contributed to some of the current issues. However, none of us could have possibly known about Ukraine or the pandemic when we were voting on it and none of us could have possibly known the change in politics we would have of those delivering it. FWIW I didn’t vote leave, although I was torn at the time, while I still think I was right to vote remain I don’t blame those who felt differently almost a decade ago. Therefore, Aibu to think that blaming those who voted for Brexit/Brexit itself for all our current issues is outdated.

What Liz Truss tried to do, but implemented badly, was to make the UK an attractive place for foreign investment in spite of Brexit, by reducing corporation tax. Even that idea failed.

Schrödinger's Brexit. Simultaneously it happened too far in the past to have any impact today, and not enough time has passed to see any positives.

If Labour had brought about something that was doing as much damage to businesses and Science and the economy as Brexit we'd never hear the end of it. https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/jun/25/what-have-we-done-six-years-on-uk-counts-the-cost-of-brexit

I’m pretty sure we can blame the lack of a functioning government in NI on Brexit, but you go ahead OP.

Honestly, I wouldn't bother trying to explain. This poster has had years to grasp this absolutely basic and easy to understand information. They still haven't got it, I don't think they ever will get it.

An American friend said to me just after brexit that he'd kill for an EU passport, he couldn't believe we had voted to take them off our own children. Not having an EU passport even affects our ability to work in the UK. A friend of mine has a TV set building company, they've always done a lot of work in Europe. He now only hires people with EU passports so they can travel easily.

@nomoredriving I have my reasons for not wanting to vote which are very personal to me. It doesn't mean I am weak.

A whole month? You're asking for the moon on a stick. It'll not be longer than a femtosecond.

JR-M says it will take 50 years for the full benefits of Brexit to kick in. So, given that it's a done deal and we all have to live with it, i'd be asking for a short- medium- and long-term forecast/roadmap of when and how these benefits are going to start manifesting themselves.

Because it's not going to be BAM! it's 2066 and here we are: Bloody Beneficial Brexitland.

I have been pondering Brexit a lot lately. It affects me in a few small ways that are annoyances but i can live with them (indeed, i must live with them) and i do wonder, in day-to-day life how much Brexit affects the person on the Clapham Omnibus (as it were. Mondeo Man, Stevenage Woman, The Wild Women of Penistone are all available)

Given the pandemic and the resulting recession and current banking/market crash that's going on, it is really difficult to separate out what are the effects of Brexit and what are just a result of the rest of the current shit-show. That benefits, of course, the Brexiters greatly because nobody will ever know.

DannyZukosSmile · Yesterday 23:58
100% agree. Blaming Brexit for everything that goes wrong / is going wrong is pathetic. But you'll never get people on here to agree with you. The majority of people here are remainers... I won't get into an argument with anyone about it on here. It's a waste of time”

What would that argument be? Please, what are the positives?

Sadly I'm now stuck on an island with enough people like OP that they can vote for a government. People with no grasp of how what they vote for impacts themselves and others. People incapable of thinking beyond the latest manufactured crisis.

Oh come on...men and women literally died for the right to be enfranchised and to access education. Here we are now with unprecedented access to information and allowed to think critically and this is the best you can come up with?

You do realise that Rees-Mogg is just making his predictions up? He certainly said none of that during the referendum campaign, why on earth should he be believed? You can ask for roadmaps all you like, there isn't one, none of them have any idea how to make it work. The last time one of them tried to do something radical they tanked the economy!

It isn't hard to separate out the impacts of Brexit at all. Many experts are doing that and reporting it all the time. There is no doubt about the impact at major transport hubs like Dover for example and how that is directly adding cost to products we buy and making it more difficult to travel for tourism. The issue is that we have a constant media and political drone casting doubt on whether Brexit can be blamed for certain issues or not to create doubt in voters' minds.

The idea that the best we can hope for is that there are "just a few little annoyances that we can live with" with "I'm alright Jack" attitudes from folk like you is ridiculous compared to what was campaigned about by the likes of Rees-Mogg and Johnson.

@Yolo12345 Yes, it's a personal choice whether to take part in voting.

To be honest, the only people worse that Brexit voters are non voters, I mean to not have an opinion is weak. Anyone who doesn't vote I don't even discuss brexit/politics with as I feel they've given up that right.

That's exactly it! The arrogance, ignorance and xenophobia of a certain generation has deeply affected the future of many, for the worse.

Please don’t tar us all with the same brush. There are a lot of us in “that certain generation” who were absolutely gutted when we heard the referendum result and let’s not pretend it was just older voters who thought leaving was a good idea.

https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/articles-reports/2016/06/27/how-britain-voted

@nomoredriving I don't vote for religious reasons as I am to remain neutral in politics.

I meant to comment on a thread about voting and whether we would change our vote now. I accidentally commented on the wrong thread, my mistake.

Outdated? We've only just left!!!

Is this a joke?

You're right, this was a generalisation on my part. I apologise.

outdated?

So many people said Brexit would result in a gradual decline in living standards in the UK. And that's exactly what's happening.

The shitshow that is the UK in 2023 is the reality of Brexit playing out.

Let's be clear on one thing.

The Tories are the reason everything is so shit!!!

And they led us out of the EU.

Blame the party responsible and vote another in.

The Labour Party are bizarrely pro Brexit and don't forget the Tory PM was begging people not to vote for Brexit. Don't blame the tories for this mess.

The Tory PM that you mention knew that Brexit would be a disaster for our country but he chose to gamble away our future by holding an unnecessary referendum because he was too weak to stand up to critics in his own party.

Subsequent Tory leaders then chose to interpret an incredibly close referendum result as giving them a mandate for a very hard Brexit.

I absolutely blame the fucking Tories for the mess that they have created. And everyone who voted for them!

Hear, hear, Mrs Bennett.

I was trying to be charitable. We know the impacts of Brexit on certain sectors, and we can make educated guesses at the rest.

I find it easier to talk to a bunch of people who apparently voted leave, and/or aren't really that well acquainted with what the EU did/does, in softer generalisations to ease into a more detailed discussion. Because otherwise it's "oh you're a remoaner" and ear blocking ensues.

I also think that unless you see the effects via work (maybe your company exports to the EU) or business, it can be hard to really understand (or care) just what the changes are. After all, many people lived their lives without thinking about the EU at all when UK was a member.

The reason i mention what JR-M said is that what i would really like to see in the UK is people asking that question of politicians: where are we on your road map of the next 50 years? because as we can guess, there is no answer as they neither know nor (seem to) care. But those questions deserve to be asked. Alongside: now we're not shovelling so much money to the EU, just where is it going? I know we can look up the answer to that, but i want to see politicians answering that question.

I'm still boilingly angry about the stupid referendum question and the lack of thought that went into it.
I would really love to know how it would have gone if the question(s) had been:
a) stay in the EU as we are
b) withdraw everything except the single market
c) leave completely

I suppose my (possibly vain) hope would be that people might then have researched what the SM is, and possibly voted for that. That's a Brexit I'd have found it easier to live with.