To think it’s clear as day now that Brexit was a massive mistake and we need to rejoin the EU asap

[G3ran1um]

How can anybody still argue than it was a good idea?

I voted remain. But it really isn't as easy as saying we should re-join. We have to be accepted back first, and there could be many years before that would happen, if ever.
You can't just say "EU we made a mistake, please can we re-join"! It just doesn't work like that.

Indeed. It won't be 're-joining', there is no such thing. It will be applying to join, on the EU's terms.

Yes, we should rejoin. Get the coal mines and coal-fired power stations open again like Germany. Cheap electric for all 👍

I totally agree with you which is why I said I was not sure . Certainly would depend on what they do next. In my heart I am still a remainer just disappointed by this single issue.

We were all given the same information (including the lies) yet over 16 million of us saw sense and voted to remain!

UK should never have left but rejoining now would surely be extremely expensive and they wouldn't get any of the deals they initially had.

I don't regret voting to leave. I regret the absolute shit show that came next. Westminster did not cover itself in glory over Brexit. Too many of them were adamant they weren't going to leave and behaved accordingly, with the intention of thwarting the vote. Others used it as a political wedge (Sturgeon, I'm looking at you), it was a mess from start to finish.

You cannot have FOM with a non contributory welfare state between countries that do not share economic parity, it's bloody stupid and so has proved to be. Outside of London, the UK has some of the poorest parts of the EU and yet we were net contributors, banging millions into a fund to bring places like Poland up to speed. And the irony is that Britain, at US bidding, were the ones pushing for eastern european expansion. The French and Germans were rather more circumspect about enlargement and probably wouldn't have gone ahead, so we shafted ourselves a long time before we actually voted to leave.

CAP has been a disaster.
European fisheries policy has been a disaster.
FOM was a disaster.
With all our opt outs, we were never fully committed anyway. We should have been good friends and neighbours, but no more than that.

Those who are so desperate to rejoin: do you really want the straitjacket of the Euro, because I can’t see them letting us back in without it. To me, this is one of the biggest problems of the EU, that countries can’t set their own interest rates and have no means of reacting to economic crises.

I voted Remain and went on all the marches. I cried the whole day when we voted out as I thought it was such a big mistake. However we are out now - we had a few years to reverse the decision which we didn't do. I can't see a way in which we could re-join (if they would let us!) where it did not make things worse. Our economy is in the doldrums (like a lot of the EU) and I can't see how joining the Euro would help. We should have stayed in but had better governments. There was no obligation for FOM when Tony Blair decided to let it happen. It was only us and Sweden when all the other countries had a staggered entry into FOM which obviously meant that we were overwhelmed. I think there are advantages to not having to follow all the regulations and bureaucracy and we need to make the best of it. The European economies are doing badly (unlike the US) so maybe the EU will re-form into something else and we could join that organisation.

Yes it was a massive mistake, economically the uk may never recover.

However, I don’t think rejoining is possible for a very long time. There is no appetite for it in the EU or UK atm. Closer alignment though definitely.

If you can get access to an EU passport, that will help a lot. Weirdly, I’ve had conversations with several older Brexit voters in the last month who regret their vote and have managed to get EU passports for their grown up dc or dgc.

Also, we had a massive world pandemic DIRECTLY after we came out of the EU, so any effects from Brexit have been skewed. We have never known and never WILL know the true effects of Brexit, because the Covid pandemic happened just as we left the EU. So we can't see the true effect of Brexit, as we don't know what has been affected by Brexit, and what has been affetced by Covid (economically/financially I mean!) Covid has a lot answer for. Many things have been fucked up since that!

We are where we are though, and we will NOT be rejoining the EU - so people need to accept that and move on.

Always one who just loves to mix up COVID with Brexit ....handy that

They did happen at exactly the same time though. .... Fact.

And I am not 'getting them mixed up!' 🙄

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I mean it was obvious at the time, but even more so now.

It’s not ideal but it would be a small price to pay imo. The other countries in it seem to manage!

Ive already said that I didnt want to join the euro but see that now as the better opion than not being part of the EU.

We completey screwed ourselves over with this

Well, duh. But you won't convince those who were fooled into voting for it or those with various ulterior motives. Sadly.

Yes, for many people in the UK, the EU has outlived its usefulness, and is no longer fit for purpose. Quite simply, it isn't the original model we had joined back in the early 1970s. There was also less than 10 countries then, who were pretty much all paying in more than they were taking out... Indeed it would be the 1980s before the number of countries in it exceeded 10.

By the time we left, there were almost 30 countries, and only about half a dozen (including the UK) were paying more that they were taking out. We were bankrolling many other countries, and many MANY people (in the UK) who had been on the bones on their arse for a decade or more, were getting absolutely NO benefit from being in the EU. Is it any wonder that the majority vote was to leave?

But noooo, it's much easier to label people as thick, racist, flag shaggers. 🙄

These threads always go the same way, and it's tedious and dreary. We will never rejoin, and why on earth would anyone want to?! The EU is now a controlling and manipulative boys club, who doesn't care for the common man (or woman!) Anyone who thinks any different is deluded.

I know how this thread is going to go! So I'm done. I am off out to dinner with family in 20 minutes anyway!

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I agree.

I am not saying Brexit didn't affect us economically, but it's impossible to untangle the aftermath of Brexit from the aftermath of COVID. It's too intertwined.

I voted remain. But wouldn’t go back.
it’s not going to happen.

It would make more sense at this stage of the UK to join the EEA and/or EFTA and see how that goes.

Lots of benefits wrt travel and trade, fewer commitments.

I would personally benefit a lot from the UK still being in the EU but it is never going to happen. Having a capable UK government would probably be more useful than rejoining the EU but I'm not sure that is ever going to happen either.

I disagree. If there's an area where Britian has actually done better without the EU is defence decisions.
I didn't vote leave but the EU is not a functional.machine and if there's a single issue where EU members are not being petty in their dealings with Britain it's precisely defence because it too important.

The EU has lifestyle benefits for wealthy individuals and has also a chain of dysfunction that impacts many on the lower end in every country.
It's complicated, very complicated and so I abstained.

There is a fascinating stat in the Guardian today saying that of the referendum was rerun today and only people who voted last time were allowed.to vote and could only vote the same way as the did in 2016, Remain would win overwhelmingly - so many leavers have died in tbe intervening years. The older generation really did us dirty.

You weren’t. You just didn’t apply any critical thinking.