What did the uk do before they joined the EU?

[Hellenbackagen]

I'm wondering why people are so keen to stay within the EU?

How does it deliver value for money?

What are the benefits?

What did the uk do and how did it trade before it joined the EU?

Why are people so scared of leaving?

I'd be really grateful if anyone can explain or anyone who remembers why we joined can explain the difference before and after,

Thanks.

oh OP it's fine to ask, don't know why people are so annoyed.

Answers are all here so I won't repeat.

It is difficult when people spout shite. I had a perfectly intelligent colleague tell me the other day that before freedom of movement, there weren't really restaurants and bars in London. When I pointed out that I'm a lot older than her and spent most of that time hanging out in numerous bars and restaurants, she looked stunned....

...she looked like she was going to fall over when I said we hired Europeans to work before freedom of movement.

It's sad how much balance is missing in this argument. It's good you asked, we might be heading for a second referendum.

Ok I'm hiding this now . It was an honest question and I didn't expect such acerbic responses.

The majority of the media is confusing and biased depending on what the source is.

Anyway I am hiding the thread. The vote happened on the worst day of my life and that's why I didn't really care why the results were back then.

Now I see that line highlighted and quoted.

I lost my mid term pregnancy on that day . A baby girl. I did not care about brexit then on that day and the result was set
Now I am asking because there could have been another vote.

I can't see what I've done to illicit such harsh replies. I was trying to inform myself because I do see the worst and the down sides of being in the E U.

Anyway no matter . Lesson learnt not to ask! The first few replies were useful . Thanks to those who were helpful.

Assuming you won't reply, but what is so bad about the EU? I and others have answered your question. Why not answer with your views?

The trade deals we have negotiated with 27 other countries behind us are excellent and way way better than we can obviously negotiate as just us. Think of it as the discount a huge customer gets versus a small one.

Loosing the trade deals will cost every household in the U.K. on average 3000 per annum. Way way more than rhe 39 billion we contribute.

There are many other reasons, but the financial benefit is a huge one.

I haven't read the whole thread but so Sorry you had such a terrible time - deepest sympathies.

I know the thread is hidden now ? but if you do peep, this chart from the FT is really helpful and provides a concise graphic answer to your initial question.

The FT commented that economists' consensus confirms how EU membership directly raised UK prosperity.

Yes, there were restaurants and bars... .but certainly nothing like the choice available. I can remember when the first Chinese Restaurant opened in my town in the early Sixties. By the time I left in the late sixties, that was still it as far as non UK food was concerned - no Italian restaurants, no Indian...

Sadly many more will die due to the chaos of a 'no deal' Brexit, not deliberately, but because essential medical staff will be in short supply, medicines may well be held up in traffic, possible public disturbances.
Elderly left uncared for in homes, all 'background stuff' that leaving entails but weren't on the voting slip.
While the OP didn't vote at that point, those who did should bear this in mind.

Thank you for asking the question and trying to understand this OP.
I am sorry about your baby girl.
I don't have much to add to previous answers ( I think we have an enormous amount to lose by leaving the EU) but think that the approach you are taking of trying to be more informed is great. This is the only way forward and I want to thank you for this.

The vote happened on the worst day of my life and that's why I didn't really care why the results were back then.

I'm sorry you lost a baby, OP, but the vote wasn't some kind of once off event. The pros and cons of Brexit have been endlessly debated in the media for the past three years, and part of being an adult in a democracy involves educating yourself about the issues from a variety of sources, and decoding bias etc. Of course asking a series of deeply naive questions which suggest you just beamed in from another solar system on a forum is going to get you 'acerbic' responses. And if you're bothered by having to decode bias in the press, what makes you think a Mumsnet thread is going to be magically bias-free?

As I say I haven't read the thread in its entirety but if remain voters have been ascerbic - it is nothing personal.

Three years of being completely ignored by the government is very wearing - plus being goaded by some victorious Brexiters who have not shown magnanimity in victory.

Because to survive economically on global we need alliances, leaving EU mean another alliance. As it's America it will be worse!!!!

Peregrina I mentioned freedom of movement specifically because that's what my colleague was using as an argument - saying that in the 1990s, there was a dearth of restaurants and bars in central London.

that is utter madness. I don't know where I'd have been every night if I hadn't been in one of those

{As it's America it will be worse!!!!}
Who says it has to be the USA? The UK could team up with Russia, plenty of rich Russians in London.

It’s like Besuty Pie.

You pay a membership and you get products cheaper, so you get your membership’s worth and than more of n saving.

Not affiliated, just seems like a good example.

@1tisILeClerc my bad, but My thinking was that would be the main likelihood considering the 'special relationship'.

The 'special relationship' is not as much as it is cracked up to be. More like 'lick my boots' and the fact that English and American language is similar.

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Definitely agree USA says jump, UK says how high

I thought it was a good question/s myself

hellen

The 'special relationship' is not as much as it is cracked up to be.

I agree

Three years of being completely ignored by the government is very wearing

I was watching rhe House of Commons yesterday and one mp commented, she was labour as it happens, that we all have a right to a say in our future and that includes remain voters and those who did not vote. It really is not the case that a referendum has been held and now only that third of the adult populations views matter and the other two thirds can fuck off and sit in a corner somewhere with no right to express their opinions, no say in their future, and no need to be heard.

And I think she has a point.

The government passed legistlation allowing them to imprison people for up to 18months without charging them with anything.

We were lucky the EEC let us join.

I'm really sorry for your loss OP. The day of the vote I had a miscarriage too - it was fucking horrible, and the next day the news of the referendum hit, everything felt a bit "end of days". We still don't have children.

Having said that, you don't get to just shut down and guilt-trip other people in their replies because of it. People were replying to your OP in mostly very good faith.

I think thr point people are making is how can you not understand, because the vote was indeed one day but this has been going on for over three years since the campaigns started,

However you're not alone and I personally think it's better to ask, than to do what many on here do and that's post erroneous shite because they can't be arsed doing any research on it, and listen to a few media bulletins, or read a daily mail article, and then draw a wrong conclusion and post it.

Before the EU, the UK was very much aligned with the Commonwealth. Australia, New Zealand and Canada were considered our mates on the world stage.

I was 8 in 1972. I can remember the whole thing being hotly debated. The idea we were leaving our lovely English speaking Commonwealth pals to jump in with the foreigners. In school we had loads of lessons discussing it; I remember a big world map on the wall and everyone bringing in food labels and sticking them up on the country where they were from.

I don’t remember so much anger and divisiveness about it. But it was called The Common Market and it was all about trade. The idea of us sharing laws and rights with Europe was kind of sneaked in later with the justification that the labour market needed to operate on a level playing field across Europe.

We got more than we signed up for, for better or worse.

I remember Thatcher always used her arsey dealings with the EU to present herself as the strong defender of the UK.