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Brexit

to agree with the positive Brexit plan below?!

658 replies

MenMust · 29/08/2016 20:27

Having watched a documentary recently about the making of the London Olympics 2012 Opening Ceremony, I was reminded of the sheer skill, innovation and creativity possessed by this nation. This left no doubt in my mind that the UK is completely capable of making a huge success outside the EU.
The first thing the people of the UK need to do is to focus on positive outcomes and opportunities created by the historic decision to leave the EU. Everyone, including those who voted to remain, need to put aside all negativity and differences and anger. Whether you voted to exit or not, it is now going to happen and so all thoughts of doom and disaster are wasted energy and need to be put aside. Pessimism is a self-fulfilling prophesy and if you concentrate on what you think are the negative consequences of Brexit, you will drag the UK down.
Of course there is a risk to exiting the EU. However, there was always a risk to staying in the EU as it is a changing entity. A vote to remain was not a vote for the status quo. The UK will face challenges as it has always done and there will be those who lose out because of Brexit but there will also be those who gain. The EU however also faces an uncertain future. The Euro is in trouble and requires fiscal and budgetary union for any chance of survival. The EU’s economic performance has been poor and its share of world GDP is set to fall. It has failed to keep up with 21st Century globalisation and emerging markets. Further integration is not popular. The EU needs to change radically if it is to survive.
Now the UK has a new PM, Theresa May in place as well as a new Cabinet, the Government needs to appoint the best advisors and negotiators in the land who can help secure the UK the best deal with the EU. The Government should take its time to work out what the best outcome is for the UK before declaring article 50. The UK is in a good position to secure a favourable deal with the EU. We are the biggest importer within the EU and in fact import more from the EU than the USA. It is in the EU’s interest to work with us rather than against us.
The Government needs to ensure that our fishing industry regains rights of fishing areas that it has lost previously under the EU Common Fisheries Policy. EU laws that have had the effect of closing down fishing businesses and communities need to be reviewed.
It is important to remember that, although we have voted to leave the EU, we are still friends with our European neighbours and will continue to maintain a close relationship with them and support them in whatever way we can.
We should now open up to the rest of the world.
Our Government should secure and enhance friendships and relationships with other countries. They need to look at trading partnerships and free trade agreements (FTAs) with all countries we wish to trade with. Australia has already announced it wishes to look at trade deals with the UK. China and India are set to be the future trading powers so we need to start discussions with them. We could possibly forge a link with NAFTA (North American free trade bloc). We should look at our relationship with the Commonwealth and foster trade and agreements with our Commonwealth partners. The EU is the only trading bloc in the world that requires such stringent conditions on its members and this has stifled competition and productivity over a number of years rather than promoting it. We are the sixth largest economy in the world and so other countries will want to do business with us.
Our Government should ease its focus on achieving a balanced budget by 2020. Reducing our debt is still important but should now be done over a longer period and the Government should spend more money on capital projects to help counteract the slowing of growth. It should also look at reducing the tax burden further.
Our police and legal system should stamp down and eradicate racism and racist attacks on our fellow migrants as this is not acceptable. The UK is still a society that welcomes people of all ethnicities, cultures, religions and countries. Racism was not what Brexit was about.
The Government needs to ensure that all project funding commitments by the EU shall be stuck to until we have left the EU. Also, it should ensure that UK organisations and individuals are not discriminated by the EU leading up to our exit.
Once we leave the EU, the Government should commit to funding existing projects previously funded by the EU for at least another three years until it has a department or system in place to make decisions about continuing or ending project funding.
The amount that the UK paid towards the EU budget should be used for capital investment projects within the UK and also for improving and supporting the NHS. The capital projects to improve our infrastructure such as roads will help boost aggregate demand in the UK and help counteract any negative effects on GDP of leaving the EU. The Government should spend money to improve areas of our country that have been neglected or just need fixing.
UK exports will be cheaper due to the reduced value of Sterling. This is an opportunity to promote and increase what we sell to the rest of the world. We must take advantage of this.
UK imports will be more expensive due to the reduced value of Sterling and possible import tariffs. The Government could provide tax breaks to ease the burden on companies that import.
We should focus on buying British goods and supporting our businesses.
We have many of the greatest universities in the world and the Government should invest more via research grants to help boost our universities success even more.
The City of London has great financial institutions and London is one of the world’s top financial centres. It is renowned for its flexibility, resourcefulness, connections, highly skilled workforce, experience. The City with the support of the Government should ensure that it does everything so that it remains one of, if not the most attractive centre for finance in the world.
Finally, we, the UK need to stop underestimating what our country can achieve. Our history has shown what we can do. We still do and will continue to do. We were the pioneers of the industrial revolution. We invented the train, the telephone, the computer, the internet for example. We discovered penicillin, DNA, the laws of gravity. We have Shakepeare, Isambard Kingdom Brunel, Charles Darwin, Stephen Hawking, The Beatles, Florence Nightingale, just to name a few! Football, rugby, cricket all came from our country. Our reach and influence is global. We are not a great empire anymore and we have no desire to be but our systems of politics, law, finance are duplicated around the world. So let’s not underestimate ourselves. I have great confidence in our younger generation to continue what previous generations have done. They are bright, intelligent, skilled, energetic, creative. They and older generations have the ability to make a success of our exit from the EU. We all just need to believe in ourselves and remain calm and confident.
We have been in the EU for 43 years, not really a long time in the scheme of things.
So let’s not be afraid and let us take this challenge on and show what we can do!

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PNGirl · 30/08/2016 18:33

Spain have got Enrique Eglesias. Can't say that's ever helped with their enormous youth unemployment rates.

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Peregrina · 30/08/2016 18:49

And Isambard Kingdom Brunel was of French descent.

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whatwouldrondo · 30/08/2016 19:20

I have great confidence in our younger generation to continue what previous generations have done. They are bright, intelligent, skilled, energetic, creative. They and older generations have the ability to make a success of our exit from the EU.

Do you know any of the younger generation or those in our leading universities?

This would be the younger generation and university communities that voted to remain and feel betrayed by the referendum and result?

Many of the brightest, both the Scientists and other STEM professionals and those in creative industries are seeing their future opportunities dry up and have no faith that the government will be able to match both the funding, and the opportunities for collaboration that the EU enabled. They are part of a generation that are better travelled and globally connected than ever before. They are planning to take their skills where they will be valued and respected and are planning to make their careers elsewhere in Europe and the world.

One of the reasons I feel negative about Brexit is that it has made the UK a country my children and their peers no longer want to live in.....

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MenMust · 30/08/2016 20:08

There is a book called "The Trouble With Europe" by a senior economist, Roger Bootle, published 2013 that is worth reading on this subject. It has helped make me feel confident that after Brexit, we will be okay.

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Kaija · 30/08/2016 20:15

Oh. I thought we weren't taking any notice of experts.

You weren't interested in what the Remaining 90% of senior economists had to say?

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53rdAndBird · 30/08/2016 20:16

Please can you share how we will be okay, then, for those of us who are worried? Will we be in the single market or not? How are we going to keep financial passporting without UKIP & co going ballistic that we've retained freedom of movement? What's going to happen with Northern Ireland?

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LoveInTokyo · 30/08/2016 20:27

Can you please confirm that the people of Northern Ireland will be OK, now that various political parties in both the north and the south are calling for a border poll on reunification? Can you confirm that there won't be a hard border between NI and the Republic? Can you confirm that Scotland won't go independent? Can you guarantee what will happen to UK citizens living in the EU and EU citizens living here?

I want to know how all of those people are going to be okay. I'm sure Roger Bootle must have covered all of that in his brilliant book, so perhaps you could share it with us, if it's not too much trouble?

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LoveInTokyo · 30/08/2016 20:28

Also, can you confirm that no one will lose their job as a result of Brexit? Because I know quite a lot of people who are worrying about this and I would love to be able to reassure them.

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MenMust · 30/08/2016 20:51

We were okay outside and before the existence of the EU for many hundreds of years. The EU is overrated and there is a lot wrong with it.
Many countries manage quite well outside trade blocs and so can we. The proportion of our GDP directly related to EU exports is around 14% but the rest of our non EU related activities are still tied to EU regulation. We have robust financial institutions that will rise up to the challenges of Brexit. Freedom of movement was fine when there were just a handful of homogeneous nations in the EU but with many other countries joining who have much lower earnings levels, it has resulted in movement mainly in one direction. This has caused concern not just in the UK but in other EU countries including France and Germany. I havent got all the answers. It is down to the Government to arrange the best deal for us and I hope they will use whatever experts they need to do this - economists, lawyers, negotiators, whatever it takes

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MenMust · 30/08/2016 20:52

Feel free to read the book.

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ToxicLadybird · 30/08/2016 20:53

How are we going to keep financial passporting without UKIP & co going ballistic that we've retained freedom of movement?

This one is easy answered as it was in the Daily Mail yesterday. Apparently the government have decided that we WILL stay in the single market AND have limits on immigration. This will be done by ring fencing certain industries such as financial services so that they are stand alone 'single markets'. Someone in the comments asked what the other 27 countries had to say on the matter. The general consensus was that we don't care what they have to say, if that's what we're doing, that's what we're doing, end of. Hmm

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LoveInTokyo · 30/08/2016 21:00

OK, but honey, the EU exists now.

Let's go back in time, shall we? Immediately before the EU, we were "the sick man of Europe", with widespread industrial action, power shortages, a three day working week and IMF bailouts. We tried to join the EU for over 10 years but we had to wait until De Gaulle finally retired.

Before that we were in a period of rapid change, going through the process of decolonising and transitioning to life without an empire. Oh, and trying to rebuild our country and economy after the war.

Before that we were at war.

Before that we were trying to figure out what the fuck to do about Ireland and desperately trying to cling on to our empire.

Before that we were at war again.

Before that (for hundreds of years) we had an empire and "Britannia ruled the waves".

I mean, really, which period in time do you think we should try and go back to?

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OrsonWellsHat · 30/08/2016 21:00

I think you'll find Stephen Hawking urged the public to vote remain.

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MenMust · 30/08/2016 21:07

but Stephen Hawking is only a quantum physics expert. doesnt mean he is an expert on the EU. He has an opinion just like the rest of us.

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TheElementsSong · 30/08/2016 21:08

I mean, really, which period in time do you think we should try and go back to?

Presumably the period in time when the fuzzy wuzzies knew their place and who the boss was Grin

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LoveInTokyo · 30/08/2016 21:09

Maybe not, but this man is an expert on the EU.

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PattyPenguin · 30/08/2016 21:10

We were okay outside the EU for hundreds of years. When the global political, military and economic situation was entirely different.

Things we used to have (which contributed to the success of Britain, or at least, to the success of its upper and middle classes) that we don't have any more:

  • a huge merchant fleet
  • an enormous navy (when sea-power was what counted)
  • a vast manufacturing sector
  • an empire


Things that we used to have that contributed to rising living standards for the working class (for approx. 35 years from 1945 onwards):
  • a manufacturing sector
  • labour unions
  • the post-war consensus between political parties


Agreed that some people still invent things in Britain. Take Dyson. That firm whose manufacturing plants are in the Far East and whose founder has called for looser employment laws.
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OrsonWellsHat · 30/08/2016 21:11

Well why did you mention him then Hmm

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MenMust · 30/08/2016 21:12

We were the sick man of Europe but it wasnt being in the EU that fixed that. it was deregulation and the EU is not very good at deregulating! Charles De Gaulle didnt want the UK to be in the EEC because he didnt want the English language to dominate the trade bloc. despite the fact Britain liberated France in WW2, De Gaulle didnt want us to join! so much for friendship. Europe is not made up of war mongering nations anymore . battery about to die, back tomorrow

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MenMust · 30/08/2016 21:12

not for his EU expertise!

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LoveInTokyo · 30/08/2016 21:14

De Gaulle didn't want us to join because he said that we didn't have the right attitude and didn't really share the same outlook as the other member states. Now a lot of people are saying he was right, and we never should have been allowed to join. Realistically, if Brexit does happen, that's it, for good. Article 50 in principle allows for member states which have withdrawn to rejoin again, but in reality, they will never let us.

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Kaija · 30/08/2016 21:15

"We have robust financial institutions that will rise up to the challenges of Brexit."

Could you expand on this?

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LoveInTokyo · 30/08/2016 21:16

Presumably the same ones that had to resort to emergency measures to stop the economy from falling a cliff after the leave vote.

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PNGirl · 30/08/2016 21:17

S'alright everyone. We were ok in the middle ages so we'll be ok again.
Can't wait for my woolen undergarments and one-room hut!

In all seriousness, as a PP says, economically everything was shit before we joined the EU. The level of bad feeling aimed at us is going to affect any sort of deals we negotiate. I am genuinely frightened we're going to end up chucked out in the cold with only Trump as an ally.

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Kaija · 30/08/2016 21:17

I hope they will use whatever experts they need to do this - economists, lawyers, negotiators, whatever it takes

Well that's progress. So if those economists, lawyers and negotiators advise that our best interests are served by staying in the EU, you would be happy to accept this?

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