SLOW CLAP FOR BREXITEERS (again).

[alaia3]

I posted a while back about a ridiculous customs charge I had to pay due to the wonder that is Brexit.

So now, it’s a special birthday of a relative who has had a hard time recently. I ordered her a certain type of Murano glass vase (she collects these) and, hardly surprisingly, it comes from Italy where it is made. No problem as it’s free and fast delivery with this company.

Anyway, the vase didn’t arrive. Checked on UPS and hey presto - a customs charge of £170 for a vase that cost £450. This is “due to the inconvenience that is Brexit” that’s how it translates on the Italian tracking page).

So, it seems we can no longer order anything from Europe for to the genius of those who voted Brexit! Has anything more idiotic ever taken place in British history? Maybe reality will finally hit them at the same time as the customs charges hit?

@MintyMabel

jobs were being put at risk by cheap Eastern European labour

Utter nonsense. Back in the early 2000s, the rates we were paying for qualified electricians and plumbers were ridiculously inflated because there was a major shortage in trades. At one point, the charge out rate for a plumbers mate - a trainee plumber, was more than our charge out rate for our company director.

As Eastern Europeans were given freedom of movement from 2004, we saw these rates normalise back to what they had been previously, still not cheap, but a reasonable market rate. They didn’t steal anyone’s jobs, they plugged a skills gap. Contractors welcomed it as they could take on more work, clients welcomed it because they could do more projects. The economy benefited too.

This “coming here stealing our jobs” narrative is ignorant and designed to rile up those who are looking for an excuse to blame immigrants for the nation’s problems.

Climb down off your soapbox and read my post again.

I’m not saying they were right.

I can't see where the OP has said she doesn't care about doctors queues and so on and I don't see how they are related to brexit at all.

Sadly, whilst many won’t shop in Paris (could even be a tease), the impact of Brexit is, and will continue to be, most profound on those most likely to have voted for it. Older people, those with lower educational achievements and those living in poverty or communities with high deprivation indices.

The impact is personal but it’s also undermining our infrastructure. Why does that impact on access to healthcare? Well, we have seen 90% of EU national staff leave the NHS citing Brexit. That compounded by a decrease of about 20% of healthcare staff arriving from the EU to work in the NHS.
In 2015, over 5% of GPs were from the EU. That doesn’t sound like much but a drop of 5 in every hundred GP appointments being lost is very significant. It works out as about 150, 000 fewer GP appointments each week.
The areas most affected by GP shortages are the poorer communities like Thanet.

@LemonRoses

I can't see where the OP has said she doesn't care about doctors queues and so on and I don't see how they are related to brexit at all.

Sadly, whilst many won’t shop in Paris (could even be a tease), the impact of Brexit is, and will continue to be, most profound on those most likely to have voted for it. Older people, those with lower educational achievements and those living in poverty or communities with high deprivation indices.

The impact is personal but it’s also undermining our infrastructure. Why does that impact on access to healthcare? Well, we have seen 90% of EU national staff leave the NHS citing Brexit. That compounded by a decrease of about 20% of healthcare staff arriving from the EU to work in the NHS.
In 2015, over 5% of GPs were from the EU. That doesn’t sound like much but a drop of 5 in every hundred GP appointments being lost is very significant. It works out as about 150, 000 fewer GP appointments each week.
The areas most affected by GP shortages are the poorer communities like Thanet.

Completely agree with you. I know that brexit has had a detrimental effect on many sectors - nhs, farming etc.

I'm confused as to why the poster I quoted feels that buying something in Europe equates with not caring about the nhs. Perhaps they believed the £350mill bus.

Because the European Commission is "faceless, unfair and inefficient" and because the straitjacket of the Euro has enabled a few countries to benefit massively from exports denominated in a low rated currency where they would have struggled if their trading currency were based on their own economic performance

Germany and other euro countries had fantastic exporting economies long before the euro came along plus the £ has fallen in value by around 25% against the euro since 1999, yet the UK has not seen a boom in manufactured exports but has in services, much to the EU.

The precautionary principle is a brake on innovation

Is it? did it stop BioNtech inventing the worlds first RNA vaccine or the french rolling out a hi speed railway, the european space agency (not an EU thing) the euro fighter, super cars from Italy & Germany, Airbus, now a genuine rival to Boeing.
Seen the Milau bridge?

The EU commission does not have the reach many imagine, it might (or not) want to rule europe but it doesn't, in fact the freedom for scientists/engineers etc to travel freely around europe, actually helps europe compete, something uk universities have benefited greatly from, hence UK agreeing to pay into Horizon (but now with zero say)

The many and varied issues the UK faces, are nothing to do with the EU, they are fundamentally based on who we have voted for & the sovereign decisions we have made.... housing, training, transport, public services, health, education .... all under our control, to do as we please.