Are leave voters happy with how this is playing out so far?

[Bearbehind]

Inpsired by Boris Johnson’s sister’s Tweet about people saying we are where we are but nobody having a clue where that is; which group of Leave voters are happy with how things are panning out?

From what I’ve seen the Leave voters seem to fall into these categories, in no particular order:-

1. People who heard nothing more than the word ‘immigration’ and voted based on all the borders being closed and every immigrant being deported on Friday
2. People who believed the nonsense touted by the Leave campaign about £350m for the NHS etc
3. People who voted as a protest to get their voice heard
4. People who believed leaving the EU was a good thing for their own spurious reasons (to get our own back for Eurovision, to get UK tomatoes, to not have to watch the Euros football, to stop the Germans stealing our sunbeds etc) but had no idea of the other consequences
5. People who truly believe we should not be governed by unelected bureaucrats in Brussels

Taking each group in turn, I can’t see how they have got what they want

1. Doesn’t even merit a response as it was such an appalling reason to vote
2. These have been proven to be lies as soon as the vote was over
3. This was a self defeating protest as it handed the control to the very people they were protesting against
4. Some of those people are now worried about job loses, the value of the pound, the drops in the stock market as they didn’t foresee that
5. There is no plan to get out of the EU- Boris seems to think we can have our cake and eat it but the EU aren’t having that

Is there another group of people who are genuinely happy with the way things are shaping up?

Again, your MP will be voting on this - you can write to them and make your views clear. I would imagine that most MP's will vote according to what sort of constituency they are based in, as they will be looking at re-election in a couple of years time.

Not all MPs will vote to trigger Article 50 regardless of the Referendum.

I can't see how they can back out now. I think they have soured their relationship with the rest of the EU too much.

Only some sort of crisis elsewhere could change things, I think.

It's not a question of 'backing out' rather than having to go through the democratic process - Parliament is sovereign. The Referendum is an opinion poll.

Just as the country is divided so are the MP's I would imagine.

Interesting times indeed.

I've been travelling for work the last few days and I have to say, the media outside the EU is presenting a much less apocalyptic view. I feel much more hopeful. Many seem to agree that while there will be a downturn and a period of uncertainty, we are nowhere near a Lehman Brothers-level crisis of 2008. Most of what has happened so far is a result of overconfidence in Remain winning, and the uncertainty. So that is encouraging. The consensus seems to be that much of the outcome will be determined by the actions of the Central Banks (although they have been making one bad decision after another since 2007- which is what I believe the 'had enough of experts' comment meant, just expressed poorly/arrogantly), that rather than becoming 'little England' Britain is leaving 'little Europe' and turning outwards to the rest of the world and emerging markets (arguably resulting in more diversity rather than just welcoming white European immigrants), and that the vote makes sense in light of the systemic problems with the EU ('the EU is never going to reform and it's time to stop pretending otherwise', Britain needs to be all in or all out for the EU to grow, etc). There is also thought that Europe will be harder to hit due to the eurozone crisis, but that it was a sinking ship anyway. To be honest, I'm disappointed with the doom mongering the BBC in particular is doing. It's irresponsible. A panic will just cause further financial chaos and worsen the situation. The lack of government is a big issue, but that is the fault of the cowardly politicians.

So Anna do you think that those who voted Leave on the immigration ticket are going to be happy when we see the country letting in Asian immigrants to take the place of the eastern Europeans?

Don't say that because Gove and Johnson didn't say they would cut immigration, it wasn't the issue because a significant number of people believed it was a pledge.

Thanks for that anna. As someone who is in the UK it's interesting to hear foreign media/news. Although I can read articles from the foreign press it's not quite the same.

Glad you feel better Anna - but it doesn't change anything.

Parliament is sovereign. The Referendum was an opinion poll.

We are still in the EU.

I second that Waitrose!
the post from Anna275 with a dispassionate perspective on the situation is very helpful

I think many of us feel caught up in the maelstrom and it's hard to take a step back

anna, are the articles you refer to outside the UK assuming that we have a plan for what happens next though?

Granted, it's not a massive assumption to make but unfortunately for us it is actually a step too far.

How widely is it being reported that we haven't got a clue Brexit will look like?

That's interesting anna which countries were you in?

Also I'm sure I read somewhere that the Leave camp were forbidden from writing a plan in the event they won. Unfortunately I can't remember where!

Who would forbid them and why???

Captain I think I read that something on MN that The Telegraph reported No 10 had forbidden any exit plan, presumably to the civil servants who would normally prepare such a thing, as they didn't want to legitimise the Leave campaign but I can't find anything by Googling so can't swear by it.

I can't see that would be the responsibility of the Leave campaign, it would seem to me to be the responsibility of the people elected to govern the country

How did you want it to change peppa ?
Specifically? Most people don't go to the hairdresser and say oh I want a change now surprise me. Few I think. Some options are mutually exclusive too!

Do you seriously think that the Leave campaign didn't have any responsibility to figure out if Brexit would actually work and how before they encouraged the country to vote for it?? Good grief.

I didn't vote leave for any of the reasons in the OP.

When people originally voted to join the EU, it was about trading, so that is what they were voting for.

Over the past 40 years the EU has become unrecognisable in what it stands for and all the changes it's had, all with which were done without the say so of us, the voters in which these changes effect. Changes made by people we don't know in Brussels.

So I voted leave because i'm not happy with what the EU has become, and neither is over half the voters.

The EU today is not what the UK voted for 40 years ago so why shouldn't we get a say about whether or we are happy with this.

That sounds about right Kummerspeck

I think Boris and Gove very definitely bear responsibility for post referendum planning. I also think DC should not have bailed out so quickly and they should have had at least a skeletal plan in place. The article really surprised me, apparently they were allowed to discuss it but not write anything down!

I think Cameron wanted to expose how incompetent the Leave campaigners are and how little appetite they actually have for leaving. By making them responsible, he has proven that they have never known what they are doing and that if we follow through on this then they will lead us to disaster. I'm glad he hasn't helped them out, it makes it blindingly obvious that they were only in it for their own careers.

So I voted leave because i'm not happy with what the EU has become, and neither is over half the voters.

That's the problem though isn't it- half the voters didn't vote because they're not happy with the EU- I think you are category 7 and I'm sure there are a few others.

Are you happy with what is happening now?

I can't see that would be the responsibility of the Leave campaign, it would seem to me to be the responsibility of the people elected to govern the country

Dafuq? Leave have been campaigning vociferously that thing need to change, the UK needs to escape from the EU as a matter of gravest urgency. Leave are specifically saying that they know better than the government and any number of expert opinions. It would not be illogical to conclude that Leave do not trust the government with the best interests of the nation.

Yet, we are now repeatedly told, Leave trusted and expected the government and experts to devise and execute a plan to bring about that which they disagreed with ?!

Anyway I don't understand why all these intelligent and thoughtful Leave voters can't put their heads together and come up with a plan - collective wisdom and all that. It seems that every Leave voter on MN has considered all aspects of this complex issue in unrivaled depth. Certainly I've been impressed by how many were never taken in by any of the campaign's lies, all made their choice for nobler principles and have foreseen every development so far.

"Oh, please. If every vampire who said he was at the crucifixion was actually there, it would've been like Woodstock."

TheElement

Yes I am happy leave won. I think Cameron and co were so cock sure of themselves that remain would win it proves how out of touch they are with the voters.

Now it's almost like Cameron and co are so peeved remain didn't win they almost want to sabotage things in a "i told you so" type way, showing they don't really have the voters interest at heart, it's more about point scoring for them.

It's only the Tuesday after the vote yet people seem to think a 40 year relationship with the EU can be sorted over a weekend. I don't know why people are panicking, it's been 4 days! When I left my marriage it took a year to sort everything out, it's the same with the EU, it's going to take time, planning and negotiation before things settle down. Why are people expecting it to happen in a week?

Why are people expecting it to happen in a week?

No one expected everything to be sorted in a week but they did, quite rightly, expect to have a tiny inkling of what might happen and that's not the case.

Johnson and Gove haven't even been seen, other than getting in and out of cars and playing cricket.

I'm not expecting it to be done and dusted in a week but I'm expecting someone from Leave to have an idea of what to do next. I expect clear objectives and a rationale of why Brexit is a good thing. All we have had is backtracking, procrastination and the implosion of the two main political parties accompanied by the collapsing economy with no explanation of how things can possibly get better.

As the only semi-concrete suggestion I have seen is "We can trade with the rest of the world", would it not have been wise for people in the official Leave campaign, at least, to have put out feelers, ask what sort of deals the various other states and blocs in the world would be willing to consider, other than general WTO arrangements?

It didn't have to be the figureheads. Surely if it's such a good idea they could have recruited some experienced economists and business people to do some networking beforehand.