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.

twofingerstoEverything

I agree, there is no such thing as a good Brexit, or 'Tory Brexit' as I'm going to refer to it from now on. I think the Tories have always had a reputation for strong self interest, as reflected in their policies. But politicians putting their own career ahead of the economy, stability of the country, the peace in NI, is breathtaking.

May would have been better off calling a second EU referendum - if it was leave again then she could go full steam ahead. If remain, then the Tories/brexiteer MPs would be off the hook. Better than this 'coalition' she's ended up with. Plus she may be out of her job soon.

Yes, this is what I have been wishing since June 24th :(

When I am not wishing there had been no referendum at all, I wish that:

-Cameron had done a better job of organising it. There should have been a minimum voter turnout set for the result to count, and a minimum proportion of voters, not just 50%+1 of however many people voted. Whether the result was to be binding or advisory should have been firmed up beforehand.
-People had had more than an in/out option. EFTA, for example, could have been an option.
-The Remain campaign had been more positive.
-Lying and misleading people was not regarded as acceptable. I know this is naive and ridiculous, but it makes me sad and cross that we have an 'all's fair in politics' approach. It's not bloody OK to tell people that voting to leave means an extra £350 million a week for the NHS. Nor is it bloody OK to tell them that voting leave means punishment budget ahoy. I do think the leave side lied and misled far more than the remain side, but both were guilty of shitty, dishonest politicking.
-We had always had a situation where, if the vote was to leave, there would be a fresh vote once we knew for sure what leaving meant.

Mostly I just wish there had been no bloody referendum though :(

I think only Remainers will feel like you.

We all understood that Brexit meant uncertainty and economic instability for at least a generation. It may have been dismissed as project fear but people aren't stupid.

For leavers, the positive benefits after we leave will be dramatically worth this upheaval so I can't imagine any leaver will be upset or surprised by the uncertainty and instability that we are experiencing now.

I voted remain . I still think leaving the EU is a bad idea.

No one knows that we will be better off in a generations time. It seems to be a few leavers that think this with no evidence to support this. Whereas there is a lot of evidence to suggest otherwise. Europe is starting to pull together and is likely to be better off because of our decisions.

Mainland europeans are better at compromise and working together and unfortunately we tend to have a mind set of winning at all costs (even to ourselves).
Before the election banks have been preparing for recession.

A generation is 25 years and there is no guarantee that we will be better off - none at all. (In fact everything indicates otherwise). That's the rest of my working life and my retirement. It's the beginning of my children's working lives.

When some leavers talk about Brexit it is like listening to a debate at university rather than real life. (Yes i'm cheesed off).

But tiny even in this thread there are leavers expressing dismay with the state of things.

Peregrina, I was referring to ukip voters, not Leave voters.

I voted remain. I still believe that leaving the EU is a terrible idea, although I know that the EU is far from perfect.

I do wish that the referendum had never been held, and not just because of the mess in which we have found ourselves ever since. I found it very divisive, not just in politics, but in families, where rifts opened up between remain and leave supporters. It was a particularly painful time for me, trying to manage warring members of my own normally close family, who just couldn't accept that they all felt different.

I also take issue with the very simplistic wording of the ballot paper question. It is such a complex issue that simply putting remain or leave as the only options was ridiculous. Leaving is not the simple matter it was portrayed as, as many Brexit are now finding out.

It is not as binary as it was set out to be.

*many Brexit voters, that should have been.

For leavers, the positive benefits after we leave will be dramatically worth this upheaval so I can't imagine any leaver will be upset or surprised by the uncertainty and instability that we are experiencing now.
Well, good for you, tinyhands.
How do you feel about the possibility of severe staff shortages in the NHS?
Do tell us that the 'positive benefits' will be worth it.

Help! I must have spent too long among rabid leavers if I'm beginning to sound like one.
I agree with you, twofingers- it IS a traversty- but not an entirely unexpected one.

Yes. It was poorly planned and worded and has set in motion a series of unfortunate events which have left the UK a laughing-stock in Europe and with a very poor negotiating hand for Brexit. I am not sanguine about a soft Brexit being possible and wish that there could be a second referendum, with possible outcomes for each side clearly signalled, rather than this shambles with no one knowing what they're doing. Actually, ideally, I would wish that we could go back on Article 50 and stop the whole thing. But then, I voted to stay in the European Community 43 years ago and never expected that to change.

96% reduction in EU nurses applying to work here.

it's gone from 1000 plus to 45.

96% reduction! so much for saving the NHS.

Leave voter here, All I wish for is some kind of controlled immigration ( visa based ) the government weren't listening to people's genuine concerns and this allowed UKIP to rise and put pressure on the tory's, The whole parliament voted for the referendum, They thought they would win easily ( not listening to people's concerns), So now we are in a right mess, no plan to leave as didn't expect to, people high up fighting every step and in her party made her call an election, ( we now what happened) more mess and instability, Yes I am now genuinely worried for this country and its economic future, so for the country's sake and not my own I wish remain had won,

We all understood that Brexit meant uncertainty and economic instability for at least a generation.

You are having a laugh here - no we did not expect those things. It was going to be taking back control - which uncertainty is not, and it was a promise of money which wouldn't be going to the EU. One of the reasons that May has failed to win a majority, never mind the huge one she expected, is that her manifesto was promising to take money away from people and wasn't offering any hope to them.

histinyhandsarefrozen
I presume you aren't going to be massively effected by this instability then.

Sorry - I take that back - having read your response.

We all understood that Brexit meant uncertainty and economic instability for at least a generation.
I agree - I thought most people understood this was the most likely situation if we left the EU. Maybe not a generation but at least 10 years of turmoil. But for leavers it was going to be worth it in the long run.

I agree too, that everyone was expecting an economically difficult time. That was never in doubt,

tinyhands maybe you shouold have a look at a current thread where people are saying its normal and unsurprising that people dont know everything, including that NI is actullay part of the UK and is notb the same than the RoI

Now if its OK that not everyone knows what is actually part if their own cuntry, do you really think people will have realised that it wasnt just Project Fear and that yes it meant instability and hardship for a generation? What the heck they knew!
They didnt. They didn't at all and are just STARTINg to wake up to the enorminity of the decision/
Im not even sure that our politicians have woken up to it either tbh.

The stupid people I have spoken to like my PIL had no clue that we would be in for a bad time economically. They believed everything they read in the Dm and what was printed on the side of that sodding bus. And I'm sure they weren't the only ones.
Lies from the press and the Leavers campaign won that Referendum. It makes me so angry that noone has been held accountable for those lies.

I do agree with you OP. However I'm very please Tm called the election, if she hadn't she would have gone for a very hard Brexit and she can't do that now.

Pink, you sound like you know a lot more than us minions. Where do you get your information and boundless knowledge from that the rest of us, even politicians, aren't aware of? Do share.

And listening to David Davis today was depressing.......

Even leavers can't decide what they want. To quote Daniel Hannan - no one said we were going to leave the single market......

Every day OP.

And hearing the Tories stating that they are prepared to walk out of the negotiations if they don't get what they want makes them sound like babies throwing their toys out of their pram. It's a dispicable negotiating position. And deeply embarrassing. We look like a child who will throw a tantrum in public if we don't get what we want. Even if we don't know what it is that we want.

I felt both sides told numerous lies during the ref, the remain side talked about the negative side of leaving and never talked about the positive that being in the EU brings what we got for our money, and no I didn't think 350 million was going to the Nhs