Anybody else wish the EU referendum had never happened? Or Remain had won?

[fakenamefornow]

I feel like the country is in a fucking mess already and we haven't even started to leave yet. So much uncertainty.

I voted Remain though, I know this must be colouring my view. Any Leave voters wishing it had never happened or even that Remain had won? Are you still happy with how it's going? I'm fed up with it all but am really trying to see the other side. Not looking forward to yet another election which I fear may be just around the corner.

I'm not sure how to answer that OP. If the referendum was held again I wouldn't change my vote. Although it would be easier if remain had won I suppose. Is that an answer.

More than anything I wish that politics hadnt changed so much in those last two elections.
Lies, personal attacks, this last 18months have been like your worst nightmare politics wise.

Most of the issues we see today were/could have been seen before hand.
The impact on NI, the instability, the 'Not knowing what the population actually wants out of brexit' etc etc
Both those elections were about politics within the Tory party, something that, really, should never have got to the point where its the country that has to sort it out/decide and the country that is suffering.

All predictions now are about full on instability for the next few years. Just when we are entering one of the most important time in the UK history (mess that up and the UK will really be in the shit).
Tbh seen how bad the record of the Tories so far has been, economy wise and seeing that people understandably have enough of the austerity, it didnt take a genius to know that people wouldn't have been happy to vote for instability, years of even worse austerity etc etc

So my anger isnt about DC with the referendum (even though he is certainly one of the poêle at fault there), its aboout every single of these politicians that never ever looked at what would problems would come with brexit and use it for their own political advantage.

Every. Single. Day.

What a mess.

iirc the referendum had to be held by the end of 2017. I wonder what the last year and next 6 months would be like if it were to be held in say November 2017

Good point. Would the election of Trump served as a warning to some? And Le Pen and Wilders defeats been galvanising? Or was it Brexit that spurred on those results?

I was going to say that TV would still be non-stop Farage and then remembered it still is.

I am still angry, sad and stunned that this is happening because of a spat within the Tory party.

I'm going to refer to this as 'Tory Brexit' from now on. To constantly remind myself and anybody I'm talking to who made this mess.

Still people aren't saying if they voted Leave or Remain.

Partly I started this thread because I wondered how much my own view and voting Remain is colouring my opinion about what a terrible state I think we're in. If Leave voters also think we're in a mess as the result of the Brexit vote, well that would be my measure if I'm seeing this clearly.

I voted leave but honestly I have been angry about the whole mess from the very start. I don't think we should have been given the vote about the EU in the first place (but David Cameron obviously thought it was a tasty little incentive to bribe the country to vote for him). I feel it has been the most divisive thing to happen in this country in years. I also don't understand why another general election was called with another 3 years of the term left and why we are now being pushed into a coalition with a very morally dubious party but that is for a whole different thread .

Thank you nothingpunny, I think that if Leavers think it's a complete mess, then it actually is a mess a mess and not just 'remoaning'. I think angry Leavers are the only people who can turn this around and stop Brexit. I think there is very little appetite for stopping it though.

Very little appetite for stopping it amongst Leave voters that is.

OP, yes, I did vote Remain. I did not and do not think the EU is perfect but I thought the pros far, far outweighed the cons, and we had far more influence within it than we will outside it.

I voted Remain.

I am angry that the referendum was called at all. I am livid at the way it was run and the misinformation was spread. I am disappointed in Labour's poor effort to get behind Remain.

I am angry that May got it so wrong and called a needless election. I'm happy it backfired but really disturbed by the results of that. A Tory landslide is as frightening to me as Brexit and a shaky agreement with DUP.

I'd rather have seen her continue with a reduced minority and egg on her face.

The only silver lining I can see is that Cameron and May have made a mockery of the Conservative party that will hopefully haunt them in the next election. If the country lasts that long...

I wonder if there's an argument for more regulation over the way the press handles politics? Perhaps for every article they run for Brexit/The Tories/Remain/Labour etc they could be made to print a smaller article for the other side, in the interests balanced, unbiased reporting.

Yes

BUT

There were clearly some huge political lessons the UK needed to learn.

UKIP wasn't just about Europe, and neither was the referendum though Brexiteers will tell you otherwise.

The idea of a referendum would have rattled on. So would austerity.

Perhaps, just perhaps leavers were right. But the solution is not necessarily the one they thought it was either...

OP: wrt my post below, I voted Remain.

Remainer here. I also fear for NI peace in all this.

I wish the LDs had not fought such a lack lustre campaign. As the only party suggesting a solution (i.e. do the negotiations and see if we like the offer and then vote on that) it seemed to me they were in a great position but they seemed hardly to figure.

I always thought it was naive to think we would get a good settlement, the EU is hopping mad with the UK.

Lackluster? Or squeezed out by the May v Corbyn dynamic? It was an anti-May Election in the end.

I voted Remain, but I'm actually really glad we're leaving now. I definitely think it's the best thing for the country and I don't think we're in a mess at all.

Yes. It seems looking back they have sent us on this kind of rollercoaster, doing the referendum and now this hard brexit talks, and all along it;s been 'the will of the people' etc. No, it's their responsibility and they didn't have to do it. and not they need to deal with it.

I feel envious of other European countries not flouncing into referendums and the like and think how things could have been without all this extra stress.

Britain is lucky, a wealthy country with options and no need to be so kind of self harming.

No, it's their responsibility and they didn't have to do it.

Er, yes, they did have to do it, else we wouldn't live in a fucking democracy

Yes, I definitely regret that it happened and I voted Remain.

But still, I begin to see some positives - after a bleak year. May's completely unnecessary election has I hope killed off Hard Brexit. At the same time it's made us aware that there are issues which need addressing (not especially immigration, because areas with high immigration tended to vote Remain), but issues like the underfunding of the NHS, the lack of stable employment, the inability of the young to get on the housing ladder. The easy excuse of blaming the EU doesn't wash.

But maybe there was a sort of cancer growing in the UK, which needed to be diagnosed and treated instead of ignored. So if May's gamble causing her complete loss of her majority leads to a recognition that we need more than soundbites about helping people just about managing and actually doing something for them, then that we be a positive outcome. If we end up being in the EEA it would be an acceptable second best to me. And as for the elephant in the room - Freedom of Movement - if we bothered to implement the laws we already had, I doubt whether it would be a problem.

Can't believe what I'm reading here!
Cameron promised the referendum
Led the campaign
May was very quiet during the remain campaign
But somehow it's the fault of the leader of the opposition? Unbelievable

I voted leave. If I were asked the same binary question again it would be the same. But there is no denying I have never been so angry about the state that we are currently in. And why on earth have a party like the DUP got 10 seats?? Why do people vote for them??
I think one thing that binds most people at the moment is everyone agrees we're in an absolute mess!

I'm living in hope that there is another v quick (get it over with) election, with a Labour majority and a reasonable, kind, Brexit, and above all peace remains in NI.

I blame all the parties for not listening to the opinions of those who went on to find an ear with Farage....and I just really hope that the parties start properly listening to the concerns of those people, and talking about it in a straight way rather than branding them bigots who are not worthy of a vote. Of course some are out and out racist but I don't believe the majority are.

*No, it's their responsibility and they didn't have to do it.

Er, yes, they did have to do it, else we wouldn't live in a fucking democracy hmm*

No-one told Cameron to call a referendum, or May to pursue a hard Brexit. They did it and now have to deal with the fallout.

I'm living in hope that there is another v quick (get it over with) election, with a Labour majority and a reasonable, kind, Brexit, and above all peace remains in NI.
If Labour had to take us through Brexit, its attendant problems would all be blamed on them, which would suit Tories down to the ground. The Tories are responsible for this and the Tories need to clean up their own shit.

Of course some are out and out racist but I don't believe the majority are.

No, I think a lot of Leavers really did want that money for the NHS, but they were immediately ignored.

I wish Nigel Farage had not been so lucky in that plane crash. The course of history would have been completely different and it would have been so much the better for it.

If your politics lead you to wishing people dead, your politics stink. Sorry, can't be bothered to phrase is more subtely.