So, how long will it be before we join again?

[BlackForestCake]

Will you be supporting the campaign to join the EU?

It will be good for business to do away with a lot of pointless red tape at customs, and our people will benefit from being able to travel, study and work in 28 countries.

Two couples I know are already very unhappy about the removal of their rights to FoM, both couples voted Leave solely because of 'immigrants'.

Oh dear. The stupidity of some people is truly mind-boggling.

I wouldn't want to put money on the U.K. rejoining in the foreseeable future (not least because there would be opposition from member states: it's the existing members who get to decide who is part of their club, not ex-members).

However I'd be prepared to have a flutter on Scottish accession. What is certain is that Brexit isn't over: it will continue to have major implications for British politics for a long time, and the end of the Union is a reasonably likely if not yet baked-in consequence.

France didn't want us in the EEC when we first applied and blocked our admission.
After the experience of our membership of the EU, and the protracted saga of Brexit, she will certainly veto any attempt by us to rejoin.
And for that reason alone the UK, unwilling to give them the satisfaction of using a veto against us, will not be reapplying for admission.
We shouldn't have left for a myriad reasons, but we won't be rejoining and will quite literally have to go it alone.

I'm glad my kids will always know me and their dad voted Remain. I imagine some people will probably lie to their kids that they voted Remain if their kids are too young to remember and they start questioning them in future. Imagine how it'll go down in the history books.

I didn’t want to leave - but I would not support rejoining if we had to accept the Euro as currency. We need to be able to set our own interest rates etc.

@RMRM

My teens are furious with their grandparents. I'm not all that happy with them either tbh.

My teens rang their grandparents (PIL) and convinced them to vote Remain for their (the teens') sake.

My parents camnpaigned for Remain, and were disgusted that everyone else in their Conversational Spanish club voted Leave, despite many having second homes in Spain. Eejits.

I don't see why the EU would let the UK back in without punative terms.

I doubt the UK will survive in its current 4-nation state. A united Ireland seems all but inevitable.

Rejoin what exactly?

One of the failures of the Remain campaign and indeed the wider EU was to articulate precisely what the organisation would look like in 10 - 20 years time. Hiding behind the nebulas mantra of 'ever closer union' without actually articulating what that specifically entails was always fuel for the euroscaptics. So what will the UK be rejoining later down the line? A full federal entity, full tax harmonisation, a common defence force???

What's wrong with being a career or vegetable picker?
The problem with vegetable picking is that it’s seasonal. People on benefits can’t sign off, work for a couple of months then sign back on. There’s too much red tape. And people living in council houses can’t travel elsewhere for temp work without losing their homes. The caring profession has different problems - basically they aren’t willing to offer secure jobs with a living wage.

Oh god, I don’t think I can bear hearing about it again for a while. Though I don’t like the idea of the EU making us “pay” by forcing us to adopt the Euro if we do rejoin. That attitude would be really undemocratic. Ultimately, we haven’t done anything “wrong”, it’s just sad.

Going to Europe will become like going to America for us and we won't like it.

What, spend 10 mins filling out an online form and paying $15 before flying and then a short wait at the other end as you pass through immigration?

I think we will move towards a Brino by stealth. Most people aren't interested in the detail and the Government will just maintain alignment with the EU to buy in to the benefits. Boris knows Brexit is a crock of shit. Watch what happens with fish at the end of the 5 year agreement.
We won't be allowed to rejoin without taking the punishment beating that we've got coming to us (deservedly so).
And I agree with those that think that Scotland will win independence and Ireland will reunify. The republic are offering Erasmus and EHICs to the North which I perceive to be a charm offensive.
Starmer is gearing towards offering Scotland devolution max to form a pact. Maybe they will end up independent with a close alliance to the rest of the UK.

Those little queues at JFK are such fun. And spending money on bureaucracy that I didn't need to do last year makes me feel so much better 😂😂

@chaosisaladder - It isn't a matter of making us join the Euro for being naughty. It is a requirement that all countries joining the EU from the date of the Maastricht treaty would be required to join the Euro. Why do you think the UK (or whatever is left of it by then), should be any different.

I voted remain but now we’re out I wouldn’t vote to rejoin, not until the euro currency crisis has been and gone. I would prefer something like the Eu to be formed but on a more global basis, helping to guarantee rights and standards globally, the EU was a good idea but overplayed in someways (the euro, too much freedom of movement too soon) and underplayed in others - addressing global issues such as poor rights for workers elsewhere where we import goods in.

Those little queues at JFK are such fun. And spending money on bureaucracy that I didn't need to do last year makes me feel so much better

I have expericed bigger queues at Rome Fiumicino Airport then I have getting into the US. If waiting at passport control is going to make or break your holiday you are better off staying at home.

For what it is worth I voted remain but some of the hyperbole around travel is getting daft.

I would love to see it happen but I really don't think it will.

If Scotland becomes independent then we'd lose quite a bit of the pro EU vote, it would probably be a few decades before England could rejoin.

@WorriedMutha I was referring to the idea that we should be punished

I am nearly 70 and voted remain. I went on all of the marches in London and I feel very sad about leaving. I would dearly love to rejoin. I hate the 'little Englander rhetoric and backward looking tropes. Sadly I am not sure if we will be rejoining anytime soon.

I know it is popular to believe it was just older people who overwhelmingly voted for Brexit and as a result ruined it for younger people. If you actually look at the demographics of the Brexit vote, Leave was voted for by the generations aged 45 plus and by more women. Amongst support for political parties support for Brexit was overwhelmingly amongst those who vote Conservative or UKIP. So something fundamental would need to change.

lordashcroftpolls.com/2019/03/a-reminder-of-how-britain-voted-in-the-eu-referendum-and-why/

So I see no reason to be optimistic unless the whole Tory project goes completely tits up. People continue to vote Tory even if it is against their best interests. We will have to wait and see what happens.

So what will the UK be rejoining later down the line? A full federal entity, full tax harmonisation, a common defence force???

It’s a fair question and I can’t tell you exactly what the EU will look like in 10 years. There will always be tensions between national /ethnic characters and an overarching European character. Neither will go away, any more than the concept of unity will go away. I find the way leavers look to the US, an entirely federal entity on the other side of the Atlantic, as a contrast entertaining. What is the alternative for Britain therefore? We are not as big as these federal entities alone, and cannot compete without driving the poorest into the ground. The failure of Brexiteers to provide a genuine acceptable alternative is what makes --remainers- so angry.

Rejoiners.

I think this was launched today.

ukin.eu

Certainly not in my lifetime, sadly, and I’m in my early 50s. The U.K. & EU will now diverge significantly in many ways which will make it much more difficult for us to rejoin. They will accelerate plans for ‘ever-closer union’ now that the biggest and most important country which didn’t want further integration has gone. Other countries which don’t use the € are also sceptical about closer union, of course, but without us to hide behind, they are now in a much weaker position.

Even if there was a campaign to re-join, immigration remains such an overwhelmingly toxic issue in most of England outside the M25 that winning any significant support there by advocating open borders would be impossible.

I wish I could be more hopeful, but we have to accept reality, and there is every indication that Keir Starmer is of a similar view to me.

Leave was voted for by the generations aged 45 plus and by more women.
And that, 4 years ago, means the older generations, yes? Those 45+ are now 50+. The figures I saw by sex suggested a slight bias among women voting remain. Men 45% remain, women 51% remain.

@Mistigri

Uk won't rejoin the EU in its current form because the union won't survive Brexit.

The NI protocol already makes NI semi-detached and a de facto outpost of the EU. It will be back in the EU in my lifetime and probably before I retire.

Really hard to believe that this doesn't give wings to Scottish nationalism - the special status of both NI and Gibraltar must surely look very attractive if you are a Scottish remainer who has previously voted for unionist parties.

Agreed. Scottish independence is now inevitable, and sooner rather than later. If I were Scottish, I would certainly vote to leave this shitshow.

The NI situation will take longer to play out, and many people in the U.K. have not begun to grasp the fact that NI is already half in and half out of the U.K.