To want to leave the UK

[vickisponge98]

Am I the only one that wants to leave this country? My salary hasn’t increased more than 1% per year in the last 7 years… I hate that the UK voted Brexit… I read today the financial shocks of the autumn budget are worse than the 2008 crash?! Why aren’t we more angry?!!

@Gem123J I moved to Canada in 2013, I spent some time in Ontario and some in Alberta before moving onto BC. I would recommend visiting if possible before making any decisions. Alberta is ridiculously cold, while I was there I experienced -40 with windchill and I just found the province very limited in terms of things to do/places to see.

BC is where a lot of Brits end up, due to the climate being more akin to the U.K. and of course the amazing scenery, if you’re into the outdoors there is so much to do here. But then it’s pricier than Alberta, although house prices etc have gone up a lot there too.

Good luck wherever you decide to go, I don’t regret moving here, the pay far exceeds what I was getting in the U.K. Also, if you have children and are not overly liberal, then Alberta is a more conservative province which would probably be preferable when it comes to education. I personally wouldn’t send my children to public school here in BC.

@Mrstwiddle

thanks, that’s given me some things to consider.

We don’t mind the cold but obviously we don’t know what Canada cold is like yet! We are thinking of visiting in the Summer next year and then winter the following year so we know what we’re in for, but maybe we’ll think of visiting another province before we settle on an area.

Thanks for all your help :)

Yes the us and oz can be expensive but Australia has a much higher rate of pay and the us is cheaper to live in overall … the quality of life in the UK absolutely sucks.

We are leaving - it isn’t just cost of living or brexit - I’m prepared to pay more to live in a country with functioning healthcare, better transport links, better education and controlled migration. I am sick of DH and I paying a fortune in tax to prop up failing systems we can’t access, and supporting all the economically inactive people in the country (genuine claimants I have no issue with but people gaming the system). I hate the current Tory government but don’t fancy sticking around to see what Starmer does either.

To where?

Yeah I think deterioration is a global problem. Civilisation reached a peak and is sliding at the moment. Horses for courses but I prefer somewhere I'm local - I've lived abroad and it was exhaustion being foreign.

I was going to say whereabouts are in the UK as where I live we have regular buses every 10 minutes into our city, trams every 15 mins - excellent transport links. Took my father to hospital for a CT scan on Sunday, excellent service by the NHS. Clean, tidy, polite staff, we waited at the hospital for 30 mins in total. Cannot knock the NHS for his treatment or mine. I'm being treated at an NHS health centre for a separate issue.

Maybe you would be better in a country where you have to pay for medical treatment. Cash is king after all. Any ideas where you are going?

We are all fed up of the bludgeoning illegal immigrants fleeing France in boats, but how do we stop it?

I have no problem with the benefits system. It is there as a safety net for those in times of need. Yes people take the pee, but I would sooner it be there, than not.

Canada is the same - everything is super super expensive and just going up

We are moving back to DH home country, and we will have to pay partially. The good news is we have both secured jobs with premium health cover. I’m glad @OoooohBobMonkhouse youve got excellent transport links and have been served well here. I’m in North Yorkshire and it is appalling if you don’t drive. I’m also glad you have been well served by the NHS, after witnessing my fathers and best friends treatment for cancer - well it has been one of the prompts to go if I’m honest. Both were no age. I’m also a fan of the benefits system but it’s not the safety net it’s meant to be anymore. Immigration - many ways to address it but no government has the balls to do it so over population (both legal and illegal) and poorer services will continue to prevail. I love the Uk but I can’t stay.

Escape - ‘the quality of life in the uk sucks’ 🙄. Tell that to large swathes of the world- the countries at the front line of climate change, those in war zones, working in sweat shops, no women’s rights, no access to contraception, restrictive religions, famine, living in vast shanty towns or refugee camps…

@Fieldfly it isn’t a race to the bottom, the Uk is currently better than a third world slum - if you could go to a country that had better outcomes in every meaningful way - education, health, social mobility - wouldn’t you take it?

whizzbang - no. I’ve been to lots of countries, and some have aspects that are better than uk - we’ve had to use French hospitals twice and they were amazing, Scandanavian countries are fab, so liveable. But I love the UK - all my family are there and I couldn’t bear to miss them and May in the English countryside! Many other countries are experiencing inflation and the other problems that we are but these aren’t reported in the press - friends in Spain, France, Germany all saying the same things. I, personally, don’t have a bad quality of life. DCs are at good state schools, I live in a beautiful area. I’ve been abroad for months at a time and always missed home by the end. NHS is my main concern - we need to be brave enough as a nation to stop trying to ‘protect’ it and acknowledge that the current structure is unsustainable with our aging population and move to a different model. My other concern is Labour getting in and the havoc that they will cause.

I moved to West Australia. Cauliflowers are $4 or 2 pounds in my nearest Woollies. I live 40 minutes by train from the city center, fares are capped at $5 maximum per journey, or $4 with a Smartcard. You can buy a 4 bedroomed house with a double garage and a pool, with the beach 5 mins drive away for under 300,000 ukp, although its more expensive near the city. My power bills average $30 a week as I have solar. And I get paid about double what I would get in the UK. Yes prices have got higher here, but we are much better off here than we were in the UK and Ireland (we have lived in both). And the weather is bloody amazing too! I wouldn't move back for a million quid.

I feel the same as you. Although we have another set of passports which does feel good to have. I prefer here (London) atm still.

‘My other concern is Labour getting in and the havoc that they will cause.’

Can it be much worse than austerity and the Truss/Kwarteng attempt to sink the economy and short the pound? WTH am I reading?

Totally agree with you about house prices in the UK which are bonkers. We've looked at moving to West Norfolk to be near the sea, but would need an extra £100k to get same comforts as our East Midlands place, but with added sea. I am staying put.

To get a massive house with big pool by the sea for under £300k is a win for Australia and I can see why people would flock there. Plus you wont need gas central heating so another big win for Oz.

Travel prices in my East Mids town are capped at £2 per journey. Caulis from Tesco are 95p.

I've wondered about Australia before but it always seems so far away from those I love.

However this is the problem for me. I'd love the incessant heat for about 3 weeks and then get so fed up of it and turn into a whinging pom 😂and not forgetting, Oz has much bigger and better spiders, snakes and creepy crawlies which means I would not touch the place with a barge pole, but I wish you all the best.

Smoothcat - I don’t trust Labour to manage the economy properly, they didn’t last time. I don’t agree with their financial policies, this is not an outrageous or shocking viewpoint . Tories aren’t perfect but Labour are dreadful (not to mention their dreadful record on women’s rights). Different people have different opinions!!

@Fieldfly i totally agree with you on the NHS and Labour. Being so bloody politically homeless is also prompting the move to be honest. The current crop of politicians are an absolute shit show.

I really really doubt that anyone in the Labour Party could do as much damage to the economy as Liz Truss. And Jeremy Hunt with his fiscal drag is taking millions more people into the higher tax bracket than should be there.

A friend of mine live on the Costa Del Sol. All of the public transport has been made free there, in an atttempt to boost the economy. didn't Germany do something similar recently, a 9 euro monthly travel pass. Why can we never do something as radical that will benefit everyone in this country?

Am I the only one that wants to leave this country? My salary hasn’t increased more than 1% per year in the last 7 years… I hate that the UK voted Brexit… I read today the financial shocks of the autumn budget are worse than the 2008 crash?! Why aren’t we more angry?!!

I might be taking this too literally. But where do you want to go?

And where CAN you go more to the point?

Totally agree

Yeah, that the Tories have sunk the economy is not actually a matter of opinion. Brexit, the Truss/Kwarteng sell-off and austerity have seen most people begin to feel a downturn in their quality of life. Managing the economy well was always their calling card, now not so much.

I don’t remember any particular havoc caused by Labour, they probably weren’t prepared for the havoc caused by the banking sector, sub-prime mortgages etc. but it wasn’t caused by policy. The NHS has staggered on this long due to investment made during that period.

Globally the 0.1% are getting wealthier. The middle class everywhere as a result is being eroded.

And, as I've said elsewhere, rather than using even a part of their wealth to benefit society ( honourable exception Bill Gates, who's giving most of his away),. they're building bloody spaceships.
When the vaccine programme was running Elon Musk or Jeff Nezos could have vaccinated the world without noticing anything missing.

Bezos