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?

🥱

The Brexit deal we got was the one Boris negotiated. Since when was he a Remainer? How did the Remainers who had no power at the time block anything?

But they are, or they claim wouldnt be voting for those dickheads. Trying to kindly explain things didn’t work so perhaps shocking them with the results of their own decisions willl…. I don’t see what other options are left, except taking away their vote which as angry as I am can see that isn’t going to work (though starting to feel like a good idea).

I also blame cowardly David fucking Cameron, if he’d had the balls to stick with representative democracy rather than allowing a referendum on an issue far too complex for most people to understand then flouncing off when he realised it had backfired we wouldn’t be in this mess. Hope he’s happy with how history will judge him.

I would say it hasn’t worked for the top 5% of earners either.

Business owners have found that their costs have gone up. Red tape up. The long awaited trade deals in our favour haven’t arrived, and some have actively harmed our competitiveness. Struggling more to access skilled labour and investment. I am tired of trying to make life better by creating good quality jobs and facilities. I am winding things up to retire early.

It is the vast majority of Europe, but yes let’s focus on the really important things, got anything to say there?

I've always wondered why lib dems have not capitalised more. People are so disillusioned with Labour and conservatives you would think they would be winning much more votes considering there are a lot of lefties. Is it due to upsetting students over the u turn on free uni fees? For another thread maybe.

@Keirawr go on then, explain why our distorted housing market is only a result of supply and demand?

Whilst you are at it explain why privatisation of higher energy companies hasn't led to higher costs.

I know how you feel. I want the 2024 election to be reversed and Labour to be booted out. Such is life...

How did you vote OP?
As I and everyone I know voted to remain. We joined the Common Market in the 1970s. It was madness to think we could stand better alone.
At the time, I said that the school bully was thumbing its nose at us (Russia, in the wake of the Salisbury Novichok poisonings) and we were waking away from our friendship group.
Imagine how we’ve all been feeling for years now?
But Farage continues with his lies, and people lap him up.
He is mini Trump, and as a Nation, we are sleepwalking towards disaster. Makes me so sad for my granddaughters.

It was a really short sighted thing to do.

I'm of French heritage and my French friends are all overjoyed with the way the boats are now arriving in the UK and are now no longer bottle necked in the camps at Calais. As the UK is no longer part of Europe, they feel it is no longer of their concern. My Italian friend feels the same way as she says the immigrants entering Italy are just on their way to the UK.

I'm not against immigration but I do think they had greater control and say when they were part of Europe... Now we have the housing crisis as all these people need to be housed and more are coming.

Everybody understands that. It's why the Tories just got hammered by Reform and why Labour MP's are getting twitchy.

What did you vote out of interest?

Me? You think little old me is that powerful? Shucks.☺️

If all it takes to get a Reform vote is calling someone "stupid" you can bet your arse the Reform campaign will target the not very bright by doing just that.

The vote Reform is chasing is easily manipulated fools, so they can manipulate them and it's easy. The gullible vote.🤷‍♀️

Just when you think the arrogance can't heighten any further. Critical thinking in education has been stifled in favour of only seeing things from the left's point of view. This thread alone, hell the very tantrum led title of it shows that anybody attempting to explain their reasons for voting Brexit or Reform is pointless.

I honestly think people who vote Reform are fantasists. Don’t want the WFA stopped. Don’t want benefits stopped. Think policies designed to lessen our reliance on fossil fuels are a bad thing. Blame immigrants-when previously it was the EU. Want a tax free threshold of 20k. But no coherent policies how to pay for that.

There are lots of good reasons to criticise Brexit. That’s not one of them.

Putin knew full well that the EU is powerless to stop him, just as much after Brexit as before. Look at Starmer’s laughable ‘coalition of the willing’. In fact there’s a strong argument that the EU would have done even less than it did had Johnson (post-Brexit) not championed Ukraine.

Germany is especially culpable for cosying up to Russia for cheap gas.

I wanted to stay in and voted that way. But, l suspect, like many instinctive but not rabid remainers I could see the faults in the EU. There are some major stresses in the EU’s social and economic position that could collapse it. On balance EU survival is more likely than not, I think, but the effect on EU countries frantically disengaging in a crisis would make Brexit look like a picnic.

We should have stayed in. But we should turn down the rhetoric against leavers.

Racist/stupid/gammon/thick 🥱 soundbites that still come trotting out 9 years later.

..don't want benefits stopped? Are you saying that targeting benefits is now a good thing? Somebody better tell Starmer he's got it bang on then.

I know this isn’t what you asked but I would really consider which career you DC is working towards with wanting to do a languages degree. My DC also considered doing a language degree but when they looked at potential careers, they decided to go down another route.
Their friend completed a languages degree and has really struggled to find work since graduating. They are now looking to do something completely different.
If your DC has a specific career in mind that needs a language degree, then great, but otherwise I would maybe look at doing something else.
Nowadays, there are so many people who speak multiple languages it doesn’t give the advantage it used to IME.

It isn’t as simple as just reversing we would need to reapply to be in the EU and would be much worse off then we were if we just remained.

I voted to remain but my life is currently the best it has ever been I can’t say if that is due to brexit or not. So far I have been on the loosing side of every vote I have ever been part of, that is the nature of politics you need to accept the voices of the majority not the minority. If you were to reverse it now there would have been no point to have a vote in the first place.

Only if they contribute more than they take out which doesn't seem to be the case when you factor in not just taxes and NI but the cost of dependents and the cost to healthcare, housing pressures, education, crime and all the other economic costs, let alone non-economic costs and changes to society and culture. So many people seem to see the UK as just a massive, faceless, sterile GDP machine not a place rich in history, culture and traditions.

I read that an individual needs to make £40k every year until retirement before tax to be a net contributor (themselves alone). And immigrants get old too and need care and money spent on them - it's a massive ponzi scheme which basically makes rich people and faceless corporations richer whilst everyone else gets poorer and society gets more fragmented.

I voted remain, and I don't think it would be that easy to get back in unfortunately.

Exactly.

Putin’s / Russia’s influence on Brexit were such that - especially combined with the breaking of other electoral rules - the result should never have been allowed to stand. It was a sham referendum - not even intended to be binding, but even as an advisory result, meaning due to the infractions.

And it did absolutely embolden the decision to fully invade Ukraine. He was going to do it sooner but Covid got in the way.

We absolutely do need to re enter now, as an absolute necessity for our national security, if not just the important economic reasons.

Voted Remain and went on all the marches. Complete madness to leave the EU but here we are. The whole of the world is facing huge challenges and most of them would not make a dfiference about our EU membership. One of the issues is the EU wanted to punish the UK by leaving to ensure that no one else left. I think it would be in the interests of both the UK and the EU if we rejoined but I am ot not sure whether the political willingness is there on both sides. Would the EU be able to give the UK some of it's previous benefits and would the UK be willing to accept that we made a mistake? Also not sure whether the Euro would be the right currency for the UK. i think there would have to be compromises on both sides and the people would have to look beyond the old 'national rivalries'. I think given the state of the world it would be in everyone's interests but I am not sure it would ever happen as the EU would want to see the UK punished and the UK population would not agree to rejoin on reduced terms.

Because they are generally ill educated like Trump supporters and hand onto his every word! Many believe that the councillors elected to KCC are able to stop the boats! UKiP the forerunner to Reform had control of Thanet and bankrupted it! Fortunately by the next election people will see how awful Reform are. The reality is the turn out for local elections was less than 30%. We need to have an Australian system where it’s mandatory to vote if you are of voting age or you get fined! To many people complain about governments but do t bother to vote!