The problem with Brexit is we didn't Brexit hard enough

[Middlelanehogger]

The EU itself was just the start.

But there are still more institutions which still influence our laws and make it impossible to actually achieve "taking back control".

If anything, we've left the trading bloc (which had economic benefits) but stayed in many of the legal institutions (which retain control over us).

So which body do we leave next - the ECHR? The ECJ? Keenly awaiting responses 😘

I see the Independent has picked up Boris the pissed throwing a concession on beef.

Seriously Brexit people, that was the quality of decision making you went for. Someone who is drunk and easily manipulated into throwing his fellow countrymen under the bus.

www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/brexit-boris-johnson-australia-deal-b2350229.html

@Thebestwaytoscareatory I am from that area and the problem is with many unless it hits peoples back pockets in a very very obvious way then people go to the 'what have they done for us' kind of train of thought . It's one reason I moved away- a ginormous 'they get everything down south' kind of thing- Yep we do, massive mortgages, huge rents, and often far less investment. It was similar in south wales- again the 'what have they done for us' and when you look around virtually all capital investment was funded by the EU- be it roads, sports centres, university stuff , plaques to say so bloody everywhere.

I do think though that all the funding was quite uneven and focussed on cities

It doesn’t have to end up in their pockets to benefit them. New jobs and infrastructure benefit the entire community.

@Dreamstate nope sorry I still disagree- there's a lot of piss taking going on across the whole trades sector and not all through increased materials. Of course I know time is money and all that- travel, increased materials but there's increased costs and piss taking- you can't just say ooh everything's become so expensive without looking at why ! And in a service sector such as trades it's one of two things, materials or labour charges. I listened to a conversation last year on holiday , and a bunch of guys were laughing about the rates they were charging and getting away with due to lack of competition , materials were discussed , up about 30% on average- wages more than doubled. I'm all for fair wages, I'm not ok on fleecing the public-

If people are paying those rates, that's the new market rate... Doesn't matter what the old price used to be!

Not if other honest tradesmen aren’t charging those prices. We’ve just had a lot of work done to our house at prices that didn’t take the piss.

Is the area so well off and successful that it can turn it's nose up at £214m every 6 years or so?

But who funded the EU to enable it to earmark £214m over 6 years on certain projects in the East Midlands?

You are right in that you as the tax payer paid for them. The difference with now is that the UK government isn't interested in using your tax money anymore to fund projects that will benefit you.

You are right in that you as the tax payer paid for them.

I am glad you agree it was the tax payer who paid for these projects, not the EU, because lots think the EU were being kind and funding us. We handed over £20billion and they gave us back spending money and a blue plaque to put up to remind us they funded it.

So where’s all the money gone?

@Blossomtoes well that's genuinely good to hear as we were charged£415 to change a door lock. Took half an hour. The part was £115 - we checked. Problem was only 3 people could do it and all quoted roughly the same and it had to be done .

£300 profit for half an hours work- £250 if I'm being generous allowing for petrol and travel time (15 minutes away)

I feel for people who can't just pay sums like this when it's an essential job. It was quite a specialist lock and not one you could just do yourself without the right gear

So where’s all the money gone?

Have the EU payments stopped yet?

£20bn over how long?

If that proves to be unpopular with the electorate, we can vote for different government who will use our taxes in a way we prefer.

I was counting down the minutes until the paid employee of the Conservative Party showed up.

Have you not learned your lesson?

You have lost the ability to drive the narrative with your obvious obfuscations.

Reality has done that to you.

Reality was always invariably going to be the main antidote for Brexit.

And we haven't even hit peak damage yet. Thats coming over the next 12 - 24 months.

@SunnyEgg and it has cost 350 billion so far to leave apparently- personally I think that's a very poor spend of taxpayers money - with no obvious benefits to most .

Posted by Bloomberg - you know that notorious left wing group!!

Economics
Brexit Is Costing the UK £100 Billion a Year in Lost Output
Bloomberg Economics report marks third anniversary of split
Business investment is weaker, labor shortages more acute

£20bn over how long?

That was our contribution for 12 months in 2018. We handed over £20 billion in 2018 for that year and there was a rebate of £4 billion that they would give us back.

Then they earmark some spending money for us to projects they agree on.

So how much less are we paying in tax now we're not in the EU? Oh that's right, we aren't paying any less but now we aren't getting any EU funding either.

Or anything funded by the UK government either!

I believe they mostly stopped in 2021, other than any longer-term projects we had agreed to while a member of the EU, but may have read that wrong.

In any case, and as mentioned earlier, there's been a £21m reduction in funding available to the D2N2 LEP since EU funding stopped, so clearly the tories are not replacing lost funding with the money they have "saved" from EU membership. So where has it gone?

And it's not just there that money is missing they've also cut amount farmers received from EU farming subsidies by 22% last year and plan to reduce them by a further 36% this year (going down to zero by 2028). Despite promises that they would ensure these were replaced by new initiatives of equal or better valuesuch as the Sustainable Farming Inniative theyve failed to deliver. In fact of the £2.4b earmarked for the SFI they only paid out £10m last year, the equivalent of 0.44%.

Pretty worrying when you consider the government's own research revealed that these subsidy payments made the difference between a farm being viable or not in 42% of UK farms. But I'm sure we don't need to worry about growing our own food anymore seeing as it's ultra easy to import things post brexit....oh.

You clearly have little idea of how the financing works.

That £16bn goes into a large pot.

And we then got things like Horizon (£2.5bn for UK scientists)

But more importantly, th EU (via SM/CU) it also drove our long-term economic growth rate to hover around 2.5%.

Do you know what that long-term growth rate is now?

Its hovering around 1%.

Thats £100bn in lost out put PER YEAR, and £40bn in less tax revenue PER YEAR.

So we are now massive net losers.

And thats not even the worst part. These losses will also compound over time as investment gets routed to the EU and US, and not the UK.

Car manufacturing and farming will be decimated.

No "if" about it. They will be shrunk accordingly because they will not be able to export as they will become totally uncompetitive.

And in terms of the old EU regeneration funds, those fund were earmarked for specific regions using actual metrics.

Why do you think Cornwall and Wales got so much EU regional funding?

Because they were poor and the UK Govt never lifted a finger to help them.

Now, post-Brexit, are those same regions receiving more money from the UK Govt?

The answer is no. They are getting materially less as the entire country (as predicted by rational experienced people) is poorer.

And that is also precisely the future that awaits the UK.

Becoming poorer relative to our European peers given the economic headwinda caused by Brexit in combination with a deteriorating demographic profile (which even massive non-EU migration will not "fix").

Not all exponents of Brexit are racist, but all racists are exponents of Brexit. Joint venture. Can only hope for a day of reckoning.

Not true. My sil and BiL are horrible racists and hate Brexit with a passion.

I see the ultra amazing free trade deal with Australia is going down a storm over there, but probably not for the reason the brexiteers had hoped (from 5:18 in the link).

I also think Tory grandee Chris Patten gave a pretty good assessment of the situation on QT the other night which is worth sharing too.

https://twitter.com/Otto_English/status/1664365038935703552?s=20