Did anyone know what they were voting for?

[VictoriaReal]

I voted Remain. A leave voter recently said to me how frustrating he finds it when people say Leave voters "didn't understand what they were voting for". I can empathise somewhat with his view that this statement can be generalising and patronising. However, his argument was "we [leave voters] DID know what we were voting for".... and my argument is: No you didn't- because NO-ONE knew! Not leave or remain voters.

How can anyone, leave or remain, claim to say they knew all the facts (unless of course they work in government or for the EU).

Did they really know all the associated issues and knock-on impacts of the vote?? Did anyone actually put two and two together about the Irish border? I don't even recall the Irish border being mentioned in the referendum campaign.

{The vote was a simple choice between leave and remain. Many different ways to leave and hence not possible to list then all on the ballot paper. Plus government at the time (Cameron) thought that leave would never win and hence thought a simple leave or remain choice would be enough. }

So basically no thought of the consequences of leaving and blaming someone else.

that could be interpreted as fear of change

A fear of change that has been amply justified by subsequent events.

Best stop there, or the universe might implode

Or you might just say something that makes sense. It would help.

So right 1tisILeClerc. What are we getting at the moment. "Well it hasn't turned out to harm the economy to the worst level they said might be possible" and "We might cope with a no deal Brexit". It's not very prepossessing is it.

Or you might just say something that makes sense. It would help.

Three years of Brexiteers spouting unmitigated garbage and I have to make sense !!!!!!

What are we getting at the moment. "Well it hasn't turned out to harm the economy to the worst level they said might be possible"

No, £87 billion was going begging anyway.

I assumed a leave winning would create enormous opportunity costs, taking time and money from more important issues (transport, nhs, housing, climate change etc.). Pre ref., I only spoke about it once, to my MIL, and said I'd be fed up with a leave winning because we wouldn't hear the end of it for at least 10 years (seems optimistic now). I also lived in norway a couple of years pre ref (picking fruit/childcare work - NOT a 'lovely job' for the 'liberal elite') and spoke to the disgruntled locals about the 'fax democracy' in Norway. 'Take back control', lol, they must have been howling with laughter when the came up with that.

I voted remain. I knew what I was voting against. The EU won't disappear. If the UK leaves, it will have almost no say in shaping its future. The UK is a highly valued member state; maintaining balance of power between the large and small countries. It is also the window to the world for many of the people who live in EU27 countries, culturally and socially speaking. Whilst this will probably still be the case, the UK stands to lose status in this regard certainly.

Some leave voters were voting for cake-and-eat-it - they were after all promised all the advantages of membership without any of the fees or commitments.It is time it was spelled out to them that was never deliverable and never could be.

For allmost three years the government have only paid attention to this 17million and especially to the brextreemists of the ERG and DUP and ignored the other 49 million or so.

It is time to admit that there is no such thing as a good brexit and never could be. Let's just put a stop to it now. We have wasted so much time and effort, £billions and trashed our international reputation. It will take some mending and the sooner we start the better.

I voted remain because I knew what that was. I didn't know what leave would look like, as nobody could give any sensible information about an alternative. (I may have been persuaded by leave had they done so, but we'll never know).

I voted remain. Tbh in the months prior to the referendum I wasn't too fussed about it but when I saw who the cheerleaders for brexit were - IDS, john redwood, gove etc I just knew that it would be a disaster for the poorest and most vulnerable. What I don't understand is why so many in affluent areas voted to leave, why rock the boat ? The so called left behinds used it as a protest vote against austerity, but what about the the ones relatively insulated from its effects ?

What I don't understand is why so many in affluent areas voted to leave, why rock the boat ?

For some, I'd say greed, undoubtedly.

I voted Remain and I knew why. The UK Government has a terrible history of worker & human rights and instead pushing the agenda of the richest & most powerful people in the Country. I strongly believe that if we hadn't joined the EU in 1973 that we'd be living in a far worse Country today.

People who voted Leave either don't realise or don't care about the fact that things like an Employee contract, annual leave, maximum working hours, Sick pay, Maternity rights, Parental leave, Equal Pay for men and women, anti-discrimination, right of information act, and many more are EU directives imposed on the UK Government. Some of these laws weren't adopted by the UK and it took trade unions through the EU Court of Justice to get them enacted into British Law.

I strongly feel that the Leave politicians have an agenda to get out purely for their own self interests and much of this is to do with Power and money. I worry for the changes that will happen if we leave with the dismantling of the rights we've all benefited from for the last 50 years.