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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

AIBU to think a lot of people don't realise the extent to which the small boats crisis is a direct consequence of Brexit...

169 replies

Greeygoooose · 26/02/2026 15:23

...and that it's just one of the many ways in which right-wingers voting for Brexit was indistinguishable from turkeys voting for Christmas?

OP posts:
JacknDiane · 26/02/2026 15:27

They are idiots who wont learn.

Notbymychinnychinchin · 26/02/2026 15:37

Most of the problems we have are brexit related. The EU wasn’t great but we had more power together as Europe. I remember remainers saying Europe would be happy to send immigrants onto the UK as it would mean they could wash their hands of them and it’s no coincidence that numbers increased after brexit.
Trump and China wouldn’t be able to bully the UK if we were part of the EU. Without the UK the EU is weaker.
Farage doesn’t have a plan or a clue how to deal with real world issues so he targets immigrants. A lot of business people wanted to be freed from EU red tape but wanted access to the EU markets and they disappeared pdq to other parts it the EU like Poland when we lost that. So many companies choosing to build factories in Europe.
We have food and medicine supply issues as we are back of the queue now.
We can’t rejoin now though.

Greeygoooose · 26/02/2026 15:45

We can’t rejoin now though.

Certainly not on the same terms we had before. Perhaps my kids will get to be EU citizens in their lifetimes though.

OP posts:
Work9to5 · 26/02/2026 15:52

YANBU but the world has moved on a bit since Brexit. European countries are leaning more to the right; so many of the African nations are at war or having economic crises. There are a lot of non Brexit reasons for people being on the move. I'm not convinced that immigration wouldn't be an issue if Brexit hadn't happened due to the numbers.

I don't know if immigration would have been managed any better without Brexit as I've no pre Brexit experience.

grimupnorthnot · 26/02/2026 15:54

Greeygoooose · 26/02/2026 15:45

We can’t rejoin now though.

Certainly not on the same terms we had before. Perhaps my kids will get to be EU citizens in their lifetimes though.

We can always rejoin, but we would be on far worse terms than before becasue we had so many exemptions

But really, the small boats are a tory made crisis made for political reasons and nothing else - France offered a simple solution, we refused..

Would still love us to rejoin

grimupnorthnot · 26/02/2026 15:55

Greeygoooose · 26/02/2026 15:45

We can’t rejoin now though.

Certainly not on the same terms we had before. Perhaps my kids will get to be EU citizens in their lifetimes though.

Thankfully, my kids have both British & EU - though they didn't get their EU passports till Brexit - and they made sure they showed their brexit voting grandma them

CreepyCrepePaper · 26/02/2026 16:05

They only hear what they want to hear.

LlynTegid · 26/02/2026 16:07

I would have a bit of respect for those who voted Leave if they acknowledged it was a mistake and that the small boat migration has been one of the unforeseen consequences.

Greeygoooose · 26/02/2026 16:09

LlynTegid · 26/02/2026 16:07

I would have a bit of respect for those who voted Leave if they acknowledged it was a mistake and that the small boat migration has been one of the unforeseen consequences.

I honestly think a large proportion of them simply aren't capable of understanding.

OP posts:
ExtraOnions · 26/02/2026 16:11

They don’t care… we always had control of our borders, and we had more powers to stop “small boats” and remove people pre-Brexit.

Boomer55 · 26/02/2026 16:27

I didn’t vote for it, but the small boats aren't a consequence. They have just taken over from lorry journeys.with hidden migrants.

GeneralPeter · 26/02/2026 16:28

Greeygoooose · 26/02/2026 15:23

...and that it's just one of the many ways in which right-wingers voting for Brexit was indistinguishable from turkeys voting for Christmas?

You’re not wrong exactly, but Brexit wasn’t a clean left / right thing, and nor is attitudes to small boats.

So it’s a “right wingers” voting for Christmas in roughly the same pattern and numbers that it’s a…

…lower classes voting for Brexit thing, or a
….uneducated people voting for Brexit thing.

(ABC1 vs C2DE, or graduate vs non-graduate. Splits roughly 60:40 to 70:30).

EmeraldRoulette · 26/02/2026 16:29

EU countries are having the same problems.

editing to add - did Schengen get suspended over the summer or something? Because of the small boat crossing across the Mediterranean and the ease with which they could get into other countries.

Maybe it's one of those things they were thinking about doing, but they didn't actually do it? I can't remember.

WhoDatDen · 26/02/2026 16:31

Arent there more illegal immigrants landing in the EU, hence more will head for Britain. If we were still in the EU we would have to accept a large percentage of these immigrants as per the rules or face a hefty fine. We might not see the boats but we would be housing them. I don't think it is as simple as you make out especially since 2015 when Germany opted to welcome all immigrants and destabilised Europe. Again.

EasternStandard · 26/02/2026 16:34

Boomer55 · 26/02/2026 16:27

I didn’t vote for it, but the small boats aren't a consequence. They have just taken over from lorry journeys.with hidden migrants.

Same and this. EU countries are struggling with the same migration issues.

Bringemout · 26/02/2026 16:35

Yeah think this one is a bit of a stretch too. I didn’t vote for brexit but not everything is the consequence of brexit.

EmeraldRoulette · 26/02/2026 16:37

Also, I think there was a big crack down with lorries so it's much less possible to do that now

So the next thing is boats. Agree with pp, can blame Brexit for a lot of things but not this.

Didshejustsaythatoutloud · 26/02/2026 16:38

What utter poppycock 😂

FreshInks · 26/02/2026 16:42

It wasn’t only right wing people voting to leave. I work in an industry where a lot of people tend to be left wing and quite a few voted leave. There are also right wingers that voted to stay ie David Cameron et al.

BatchCookBabe · 26/02/2026 16:42

No. I do NOT agree with this!!!

Blame Brexit for some things, sure, some problems are because of Brexit! But all the boats coming across the channel are nothing to do with Brexit!

Bit of a leap there @Greeygoooose 😂

.

hedgeknight · 26/02/2026 16:46

BatchCookBabe · 26/02/2026 16:42

No. I do NOT agree with this!!!

Blame Brexit for some things, sure, some problems are because of Brexit! But all the boats coming across the channel are nothing to do with Brexit!

Bit of a leap there @Greeygoooose 😂

.

Edited

Full of mostly economic migrants

Can you back up your statement with facts on that?

Icanthinkformyselfthanks · 26/02/2026 16:47

Greeygoooose · 26/02/2026 16:09

I honestly think a large proportion of them simply aren't capable of understanding.

@Greeygoooose , do you realise how arrogant you sound?

TooBigForMyBoots · 26/02/2026 16:50

BatchCookBabe · 26/02/2026 16:42

No. I do NOT agree with this!!!

Blame Brexit for some things, sure, some problems are because of Brexit! But all the boats coming across the channel are nothing to do with Brexit!

Bit of a leap there @Greeygoooose 😂

.

Edited

When were in the EU, we had the power to return them to the EU country they'd been in previously. It was the Dublin Accord(?)

YANBU @Greeygoooose.

Crikeyalmighty · 26/02/2026 16:52

@Notbymychinnychinchin the main reasons we can’t rejoin ( my son has friends working in parliament in various parties ) are that the EU are reluctant to allow us in to the EEA or EU due to a high chance of Farage getting in and the more that the centre and centre left split the vote the more likely it is that Farage or a Reform /Tory alliance would get in - it’s one reason the greens have pissed me off - it’s not as if Labour aren’t big on green issues either -they are. So all you are doing is playing on mainly a younger vote without a lot of real world experience and some rather unrealistic ideology. It’s absolutely no good positioning yourself as’pro EU and will get back in - the EU have to agree and their big concern is the sheer cost to member states if Farage and co just tear it all up again - not only did it cost the Uk a total mint, it cost the EU a mint too changing everything from regulations to airport situations etc . I’m afraid vote green get Reform is a very likely outcome.

the other biggie the gvt are concerned about is too many higher tax payers who are paying tax in the UK choosing to go elsewhere within EU if they could and the country isn’t in a great place financially to withstand that .

Jmaho · 26/02/2026 16:53

So how do you explain the huge increase in migration in pretty much the whole of Europe?

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