I’ve just caught up with this thread and kind of wish I hadn’t.
I really am shocked at the number of posters wishing for a hard Brexit to shake things up because “things can’t get any worse”. I don’t mean to offend or minimise the struggle that many face at the moment. Times are really hard. But anyone who thinks things can’t get any worse is totally deluding themselves.
Things can certainly get worse for you (and will in the event of a hard Brexit if you receive/rely on/ are impacted by any of the following:
- any benefits/pension/state support. Already paltry, those could certainly be at threat/whittled away in times of extreme economic hardship
- housing market chaos and an enormous crash. Thousands in negative equity. Of course a house price correction is long overdue, and a managed softer decline would be a good thing in general. But not this - it could be severe, and those currently struggling to get on the ladder wouldn’t benefit because
- financial chaos...interest rate rises, currency decline, inflation, possible hyper inflation (god forbid)
- possible food shortages, medical shortages (short term and not too severe imo, but that is little comfort if you suffer the particular ailment whose medicine supply is at risk)
- short term: panicking politicians, panicked people, potential civil disorder, pandemonium, lots of finger pointing and shouting, scary times
- medium term: deep, angry divisions in society, each blaming one another for the losses hard Brexit will bring. No end to the division in sight...miserable
And a myriad of other ways things could get worse. Anybody who voted leave on the basis that they were having a shit time and saddled with an awful government - I can understand and also forgive that sentiment. It was also v much played upon during the referendum campaign.
However to those who are still saying “fuck it, bring on hard Brexit because I have nothing to lose and I want things to change”, my response is to beg you to please pause for thought one last time. Your lot in life, though it may be hard, can certainly get worse and it probably will if we have a hard Brexit. We have all of the above to lose.
I am not saying all of the above will happen in the event of a hard Brexit. No-one can predict the future. However the vast majority of evidence from (crucially) independent sources, says that many of the above are a very strong possibility. So it upsets me to hear people “bring it on, things can’t get any worse for me” because you actually have a lot to lose , we all do, and things can certainly get a lot worse.
Why risk the above? There is no need. It is undoubtedly the worst of all the outcomes for the UK. Any other option is better...HoC could get behind TM’s deal. At least it would be an orderly exit. We could do a last minute u turn and remain (if they’d still have us and at less advantageous terms), we could ask for an extension to negotiate a new deal, ANYTHING at this late stage would be better than a disorderly no deal Brexit...honestly it would be carnage.
I work in this field. I am leading a project preparing aspects of my industry for Brexit (nightmare since we don’t know the outcome that we are preparing for). We have done a lot of analysis, not to support any political stance, but with a cold hard impartial business stance...the best outcome for our business and our shareholders. As a result of our preparations, and with a bit of luck and a following wind, we could probably minimise the damage and absorb the losses of any of the possible outcomes that I listed. Except one. Disorganised hard Brexit. That is our worst fear. Game over. Huge damage to our industry, wide scale job losses, awful.
My heart absolutely sinks when I read people still think they have nothing to lose. And as for the arsehole politicians who are suggesting this could ever be a viable outcome, or who continue to deliberately subvert all efforts to reach a deal for an orderly exit, gggrrrrr. I cannot even express how low and contemptible you are. I KNOW you are lying. You would rather risk total disaster for the UK just for the sake of your own pathetic power plays and ideology. You are so very low, and if you push us beyond the brink history will judge you very harshly. Total treacherous lying snakes - BJ and JRM right at the top of the shit list.
Ahem, sorry about that, rant over...