To want Brexit be reversed

[BeKookySheep]

I don’t normally post about politics, but this has been playing on my mind for a while. I wasn’t super political before the referendum — just a mum trying to do her best for her family. But now, years later, I really feel like Brexit hasn’t delivered what we were promised. And I think we should seriously start talking about reversing it.

My eldest is 16, really bright, and had dreams of studying languages and maybe doing a year abroad. We looked into Erasmus a while ago, but that’s gone now. And the cost and hassle of studying or working in Europe is so much higher now. She asked me, “Why is it so much harder for us than it was for you, Mum?” And honestly, I didn’t know what to say. It hit me hard.

Everything’s more expensive — our food shop has gone up loads, and don’t even get me started on getting certain things for school packed lunches! Little things, but they add up. My brother runs a small business and he's drowning in paperwork just to send stuff to Ireland. And a friend of mine left the NHS because she felt so overstretched — they can’t recruit enough staff anymore, especially from Europe.

Brexit hasn’t made anything better. It’s just made life harder in so many small but important ways. And if something clearly isn’t working — and is limiting our children’s futures — why shouldn’t we talk about changing it?

We tell our kids it’s okay to admit when something’s not right and make it better. Maybe it’s time we took our own advice.

Would love to hear if others are feeling the same. Has Brexit made life harder for your family too?

It's not that hard. How many additional houses do you think we need for one million additional people per year? Clue, its the population of Sheffield plus Nottingham. Every year.

Multiply that by 5 for the life of the parliament. Compare that to Labour's house building target (which they are missing by hundreds of thousands). Based on those numbers, do you think the existing population's housing situation will improve or get worse?

Similar calculations position for public services etc.

Well, I think you can be optimistic, OP.

The PM is going to "Re-Set" relations with the EU

He can't say "Re-Join" but at the very least, it will be a massive step forward to re-joining without actually saying he has Re-Joined.

I think even a child of ten would understand this is the path we are on.

Brexit had made travelling harder.

But your food shop has gone up because everyone was squealing for furlough during covid so they could sit in their garden and watch Netflix. The £1 trillion borrowed and printed and during covid so healthy people could sit at home is why we have had inflation.

Your energy bills have gone up because we don’t produce energy at home like those countries who are largely immune from it due to producing their own energy. The net 0 scam means that we are shutting down oil fields, not allowed to produce our own gas and get taxed billions so government cronies can get their ‘green subsidies’.

We have high housing costs, because we don’t build enough homes and import nearly one million immigrants a year and then wonder why more people and same housing means more expense.

You are paying more than ever in tax because less than half the population is net contributors and nearly 10 million people of working age are claiming benefits rather then working full time or at all.

So reversing Brexit wouldn’t be a magic bullet. This country is cooked. Advise your daughter to find another way out. It’s only going to get worse.

Because they're desperate.

When people feel left behind, abandoned, and disenfranchised - as many do - they are willing to follow anyone who promises to make things better.
That's one of the ways that tyrants and dictators get into positions of power, whether it's Germany in the 1930s or the USA in the 2020s.

It is clear now, to all but the most die-hard xenophobe, that Brexit was the total disaster it was always going to be. No country ever, to my knowledge, has done what the British did to themselves in Brexit; effectively voting to impose economic sanctions on ourselves.

Many people now realise that enormous error, and that they were led along, and lied to, by a tiny section of people who are now very, very wealthy as a result of the colossal act of self-harm that referendum did, but the country as a whole is very much poorer and worse off.
Add to that the shockingly bad behaviour of Labour after the egregious Tories were ousted and you end up with exactly the situation we're seeing; people voting Reform because they are desperate for change.

But it's illusory, as these situations always are.

Of course I realise that.

Many people don't realise that and get terribly offended when you say it. No prizes for guessing which half they are in.

The point is that voting for Farage was never an indication of intelligence, but voting for more Farage at this point just looks like pure idiocy. The man has never delivered a single thing he has promised.

What benefits do you think will arise?

The retirement age will just have to keep going up until the concept of retirement becomes a distant memory?

You've hit the nail on the head, middle class belittling the working class as usual. Sorry Matilda can't study abroad but the majority of us have real world problems. It's a nice idea to welcome mass migration but it puts a strain on schools, NHS and housing but these issues they don't have to worry about they can probably pay private and send thier kids to nice schools. They think it's lovely migrants come over and work in care because it's beneath them to do such jobs (patronising or what). Mass migration keeps wages down, construction pay has increased a lot since brexit, money in the pockets of hard working people. I don't know anyone that regrets voting to leave.

You can't know many middle class people if you think the majority of them use private school, haven't been impacted by economic policy, etc. I don't even know what class I am but I don't want to work a care job, why does that make me a bad person?

"So reversing Brexit wouldn’t be a magic bullet. This country is cooked. Advise your daughter to find another way out. It’s only going to get worse."

This is very true. I've lived my entire life in this country, but never before have I been in a situation where I no longer recognise it.

Reversing Brexit, by which we really mean greater partnership with our friends and allies in mainland Europe, would help, but it won't solve the rot at the heart of this country.

@Azdcgbjml I suppose as it doesn't impact the current & upcoming retirees (who were more likely to vote Brexit) they don't care?

In Ireland and all of the things you listed aren’t just due to brexit, cost of living here is off the chart!! Saying that I am sorry that you all have to go through all the shit you’re going through as a result of a vote

Ireland would always have cheered - it just works better for us overall. Even if the whole debacle over the border laid bare that anti Irish sentiment in the UK is still prevalent.

But I think because it looks like the US will no longer be an ally, that changes everything. Ultimately more united Europe is, the better we will survive it.

That's just not true. Half of the members are way more gender critical than UK. Poland and Hungary spring to mind, but you can add on plenty of other countries.

To be fair, the vast majority of people in this country are probably still gender critical, but a great many of them would keep quiet about it, for fear of repercussions; or because the concerns about women's rights have been framed as 'unkind' and 'phobic', whilst taking those rights from women and girls and handing them over, to be added on to their own safe, existing rights, is painted as a victimised minority prevailing over injustice - with many even stooping so low as to juxtapose it with overturning centuries of outrageous racial injustice.

The TRAs have been far from slow in asserting their beliefs, and demanding that everybody else must share those beliefs too. Such is the power and influence that they have now, it doesn't take a very large minority of them to use whatever tactics they deem necessary to take over and staunchly assert their great dominance very quickly.

Oh the irony.

You said it an earlier post it isn't helpful to post misinformation.

However, that's exactly what's in your post.
Are you aware that the remove of VAT on sanitary products was stabled by the EU far before the UK lifted it? Are you aware that the EU directive in 2022 allows each member state set the VAT rate on sanitary products? Your statement that thevEU would never have allowed that is false & misleading.

The free movement of people vs the movement of illegal immigrants and lrgsl asylum seekers are very different agreements which Brexit voters appear to neglect. The free movement of people within the EU are typically net contributors rather than net costs.

The US imposed UK tariff of 10% vs EU 20%. A benefit for the UK you say? Technically yes as 10 less than 20. However has it occurred to you that the only reason for this is so that Teump has sone support in Euro. The remaining EU countries won't allow Trump use the UK so manipulatively and aa a result will reduce trade with UK. The UK will lose far more than they will gain. It's not a win, it's trade manipulation.

I feel the better way would be to rebuild relations rather than another referendum given how how Reform are riding at present

also Europe is changing rapidly at present let things settle when the rights isn’t so powerful before we consider a referendum

Being in the EU just didn't benefit enough people in this country. The benefits were mostly towards the middle-class whereas working-class people suffered the negative effects.

All those saying it has limited the opportunities for their children to study in Italy or work in Berlin. Democratic votes have always limited opportunities for certain sections of our society. But it's usually the poor and marginalised who get screwed over by the democratic voice of the people to elect yet another Conservative government that prioritises tax cuts and making profit out of providing basic services. Yet we don't call for the vote to be reversed when it's only the poor and socially excluded being disadvantaged.
Suddenly we have a democratic vote where it's not only the marginlised being disadvantaged and everyone who voted for it is now labelled stupid.
One thing Brexit did teach us is that there is a whole section of society who only believe in democracy if people vote how they think they should vote. They rationalise it by saying we were lied to and people didn't understand the issues. We are lied to before every vote, nothing new there.

Yeah, I was wondering thd same….!

So he's "considering Farage" because "he hates Lab and Con"? I'm glad he's got over four years to think about how flawed his 'reasoning' is and, hopefully, arrive at a better conclusion. I voted Remain and have voted LibDem most of my adult life and I could never vote for that grifting, snake-oil salesman, Poundland Trump wannabe.

I'm on NI and it's been a fucking disaster for us. As a region we voted Remain but that didn't matter to the millions of English fuckwits who blindly and often obnoxiously followed Farage and Putin's agenda.

Brexit made the UK weaker, poorer and more divided than ever. Slow handicap for the Tory Party.
👏

I see that the progressives and enlightened are out in force calling Brexit voters stupid and idiots. Did you smart people notice that Reform had massive electoral success just a few days ago.

Do you ever learn?

Are you prepared to laugh on the other side of your face when Reform holds the balance of power in parliament? Because that’s what happens when you keep calling the electorate stupid. The joke always ends up being on you, yet you never learn.

Your posts would make me laugh if I wasn’t crying first.

All those idiots who voted for brexit we told you all this would happen and you still voted for it. Serves everyone right & why on earth would Europe have us back, and certainly not on the favourable terms we had.

You all fucked it up for the rest of us by being selfish racists, so excuse me if I don’t feel sorry for you now you’ve noticed your kids have fewer opportunities. You’ve made your beds so time to lie in them.

I’m so angry with you all.

Obviously it "should" be - it's clearly had no benefits at all and the majority would not now vote to remain.

Unfortunately there are no easy ways to reverse it - the EU wouldn't start negotiations now with the possibility of a Reform or Tory government.

We should certainly be pressing the government to obtain a better Trade Deal and restore things like Erasmus though. The LibDems have a policy to rejoin the Customs Union which would be a start - consider voting for them unless it would help Tories/Reform get in.

Oh dear. Learnt nothing from the experience then? Calling voters stupid. Hope you’re ready for Reform.

You can still do a year abroad with many university courses