Is Brexit the biggest act of self harm to the IK?

[Ownedbykitties]

I heard it described as such on the radio last week and I have been mulling it over. Perhaps it is? Though I cannot quite get past the fact the our politicians and the government, who are paid to make these decisions in the best interests of the people and the country, asked the general public whether we should remain or leave. How could the vast majority of us hope to know the intricate details of either staying in or leaving, and if it would be a deliberate act of self harm to leave? Then to cap it all off, David Cameron walked away. Yet, for something that affects individuals personally, the politicians are asked to decide on the Assisted Dying Bill. I'm confused.

Genuinely cannot see it’s brought us anything positive.

It's actually worse, that was the most googled question the day AFTER the vote!

Hehehe

Yeah right. We've got our own Special Economic Decline - well done us.

Yes.

it’s another example of how much of a problem immigration is in the UK. Let’s be honest, a vast portion voted leave thinking it would stop immigration which of course was nonsense, like all the other “benefits” we would see, utter nonsense.

I was going to reply properly to this, but then I’m just a problem, so I won’t.

He also didn’t put enough effort into the remain campaign and highlighting the positives of being in the eu.. it was lazy of him.

The leave campaign were more passionate.

Boris was on the fence and opted to back the leave campaign eventually, if he’d swung the other way it may have ended differently as he is a pretty effective communicator and people did listen to him at the time.

I will just add I wanted to remain, and that post doesn’t express my opinions, just what I feel a lot of people based their vote upon.

You were done - I frequently have to remind my post office that NI is part of the UK!

Cameron definitely thought the status quo would prevail. Agree he was very lazy.

The leave side were perhaps more passionate, though let's be honest, a lot more willing to push straight up lies to achieve their goal.

Boris only ever cares about himself. He could see which way the wind was blowing and what bullshit he could spout that would make him seem like a 'man of the people'. He would have only backed remain if it was somehow good for him.

Where did you "hear" that and what specifically did you "hear"?
If indeed France and Germany ARE in economic decline then please explain how that is going to affect us and why it will mean that Brexit was a good thing?

I doubt you can, your statement is the kind of Daily Mail nonsense that Brexit supporters trot out with no basis whatsoever

I work in logistics- I just can't comprehend how people thought putting up customs barriers was a good idea- the scale of the time and money involved now is ridiculous. All I can think is that a lot of people ( and politicians) have no idea where we import our goods from.

It's now years since the referendum, we have had a succession of PMs and not one of them has grasped that we now need to ensure that we have what we need without relying on other countries who will in a crisis put their own interests first.

That this current government is going to put farmers out of business suggests they haven't got much common sense either.

Of course it was an act of terrible self harm, but it isn't as if people weren't warned. They simply chose to dismiss the warnings as "Project Fear" and now the rest of us have to live with the consequences.

And yes, it was a stupid decision to put the question to a public vote in the first place.

All those personal plans and opportunities lost too…

My young relatives and friends have been effectively prevented from studying or working in the EU. That rite of passage, open to our generation and much valued by some of us, was closed.

The thwarted retirement plans of those at the other end of life…

The premise of Brexit was that we could negotiate our own trade deals outside of the EU, which has happened. Unfortunately they are not favorable to UK businesses because we are an insignificant country negotiating alone, without partners, and Tory politicians who negotiated those deals are a corrupt shower of shite.

It's stupid that Labour won't mitigate the economic damage by rejoining the customs union.

Brexit voter here.

'Since the referendum, the UK economy has grown faster than those of Germany, Italy and Japan, and is equal with the French. The IMF is now predicting that the UK will have the fastest growth in the G7 in the next five years. Meanwhile, our exports have reached £870 billion, and we are well on target to reach our overall target of £1 trillion. That growth in trade is greatly assisted by our free trade agreements, now signed with 73 countries globally plus the EU.'

My husband is a Banker, almost all of my family and extended family work in the financial sector and all voted for Brexit. We are all very happy with our decision.

"How could the vast majority of us hope to know the intricate details of either staying in or leaving, and if it would be a deliberate act of self harm to leave?"

Many, many people repeatedly told the general public it was a stupid idea and people chose to ignore that because they found it patronising and like their concerns weren’t being heard. I’m a remainer, I don’t know what the answer is but people voted to ignore the advice of experts and leave because they felt the only person listening to them was Farage.

I don't know enough about the intricacies to really understand if it was a good idea.

However I would say this. Something of this magnitude should never have been just left to public vote, it should also never be a straight forward win because one side got more than 50%. The requirement for a win should have been set at probably 70%. There needs to be built in safeguards. Normally in business there will be a requirement for a clear majority for something big to change.

Yes.

And it really annoys me that there has been so much revisionism since, with people saying that they weren't told of the consequences etc etc etc.

The consequences were laid out entirely for anyone who would listen. But people either ignored it or dismissed it as "project fear" because it was more important to them that they be right about a perceived foreign threat than it was to acknowledge that they were opting to be poorer.

Absolutely this. It scares me that many people seem to be in favour of importing a much higher proportion of our food in future, too. The proposed implementation of IHT on family farms and changes to APR will significantly impact British food production.

Theresa May didn't help with, "Brexit means Brexit".

Brexit could have taken a 100 different forms, but she had to go and trigger article 50, without any discussion of the type of relationship we wanted with the EU.

It's possible that a Brexit could have kept the UK in the EEA.

The EU is our biggest and nearest trading partner, and we threw away all the advantages of that.

Yes, I think it is. It was the worst decision ever and there shouldn’t have even been a referendum in the first place.

Totally agree. It was wildly reckless to put to a referendum a decision where one of the outcomes would be catastrophic