To ask what has improved since leaving the EU?

[Butterflyfluff]

I’ve just had to pay customs charges on something I ordered from Germany - whilst we were in the EU there were no such charges.

Which got me thinking.

Leaving hasn’t been the disaster some predicted but, I can’t think of anything that affects me that’s actually improved since leaving.

What have other people’s upsides been? (And just being able to say we’re not in the EU anymore doesn’t count! 😂)

I work in construction and we've obviously lots tens of thousands of workers from the industry.

That means employees are in incredibly high demand - last week we had two plumbers walk off a job because the £62 an hour salary they negotiated was not enough, and the company down the road took them on at £63 an hour.

At this rate contractors will continue to collapse at an alarming rate as their wage bill outstrips their income, contracts will fail, and many many more people will find themselves out of work.

supermarket shopping is now much more of an adventure - last week there was basically no meat on the shelves, and this week there was only coconut oil loo roll which gave me thrush.

This and others ..... I'm truly perplexed. Where are you all shopping that there are empty shelves? I remember a couple of weeks early on when there was a run on loo roll, painkillers and pasta iirc but I have seen no signs of any shortages in any supermarkets since. In fact I'd go so far as to say that availability has improved as I have been getting far fewer substitutions and not availables on my supermarket deliveries these last couple of years, even with covid.

It'll encourage at least a few Brits to learn a foreign language. That's a plus surely.

www.express.co.uk/news/world/1568694/Brexit-news-France-Italy-austria-alps-resorts-ski-snowboard-uk-instructors

@Sarahcoggles

I think most people who can think of benefits of Brexit will not bother posting on here, because the vitriol rains down on them and all their points are ignored anyway. So OP, you won’t get an answer. Not that you wanted one anyway. I’ll ask if this thread can be moved to the Brexit forum.

Yeah, because Brexit only affects people who go to look for the Brexit forum.

It's not because you can't think of a benefit of Brexit at all is it?

@TheUsualShitshow

I work in construction and we've obviously lots tens of thousands of workers from the industry.

That means employees are in incredibly high demand - last week we had two plumbers walk off a job because the £62 an hour salary they negotiated was not enough, and the company down the road took them on at £63 an hour.

At this rate contractors will continue to collapse at an alarming rate as their wage bill outstrips their income, contracts will fail, and many many more people will find themselves out of work.

That's OK though, because at least it won't be those pesky immigrants taking all of the jobs, eh?

So the posters who can see benefits won't post them because people are not nice enough?
Yeah sure.

Well I thought of one and it just got lost in the thread. And I'm a remainer, just not so wedded to my own point of view that I cannot see beyond it.

Wait until covid is over and we'll see all the benefits of having workers rights removed including maternity pay. I'm sure they will end the directive which limits the number of hours you can be made to work a week and blame it on all the vacancies.

I look forward to having my human rights watered down to suit a narrative set by the conservatives that we can pick.and choose who they belong to..the fallout from Brexit has barely begun...

Mumsnet is definitely the wrong place to ask.I do not fancy having a load of abuse thrown at me so I'm keeping quiet.Op your probably just looking for a bun fight.

@oviraptor21

supermarket shopping is now much more of an adventure - last week there was basically no meat on the shelves, and this week there was only coconut oil loo roll which gave me thrush.

This and others ..... I'm truly perplexed. Where are you all shopping that there are empty shelves? I remember a couple of weeks early on when there was a run on loo roll, painkillers and pasta iirc but I have seen no signs of any shortages in any supermarkets since. In fact I'd go so far as to say that availability has improved as I have been getting far fewer substitutions and not availables on my supermarket deliveries these last couple of years, even with covid.

What, you want the name of the city I shop in? Are you suggesting it didn't happen?

Can't think of any positives apart from the small joy in getting my passport stamped!
Other than that mostly small annoyances , such as import tax and when travelling on holiday using two connecting flights having to collect our checked baggage from our first flight, taking it through customs and rechecking it in as it couldn't just be automatically loaded onto second flight due to UK no longer being in EU.
Covid has hidden a lot of the changes I think so anything negative can be blamed on that not brexit.

@Butterflyfluff

I’ve just had to pay customs charges on something I ordered from Germany - whilst we were in the EU there were no such charges.

Which got me thinking.

Leaving hasn’t been the disaster some predicted but, I can’t think of anything that affects me that’s actually improved since leaving.

What have other people’s upsides been? (And just being able to say we’re not in the EU anymore doesn’t count! 😂)

There have been at least eighteen practical improvements. There's a list of them here

yorkshirebylines.co.uk/regular-features/the-davis-downside-dossier-2/#DDDUpsides

The vaccine rollout, control of our borders and VAT rates are amongst the many things we were told about, which needed us to be out of the EU.

So far, these have been demonstrated to be false by countries still inside the EU doing exactly what our government promised would happen. And which our government has not implemented, even though there is no EU to apparently stop us.

Sure, the vaccine rollout was a good thing. There was nothing saying that EU countries had to wait for approval to go ahead on this. The actual rollout was done by vast armies of volunteers, many of whom were badly paid NHS staff volunteering on the 'days off'. Not very much to do with the government.

The one important change, of course, is that there is now no danger of the UK being subject to any of the EU's attempts to curb tax avoidance by offshore trusts and funds.

The relevance to you will depend on just how many millions you have hidden away in offshore trusts and funds.

It's not an easy thing to get your head around. But it does alone explain the real driver to leaving the EU. The other incentives (more millions for the NHS) we're just window dressing.

I'm very sorry it has come to this. As when the oil shocks hit the economy in the '70s, the rich will have the resources to get richer and the poor ... won't.

@TheUsualShitshow

I work in construction and we've obviously lots tens of thousands of workers from the industry.

That means employees are in incredibly high demand - last week we had two plumbers walk off a job because the £62 an hour salary they negotiated was not enough, and the company down the road took them on at £63 an hour.

At this rate contractors will continue to collapse at an alarming rate as their wage bill outstrips their income, contracts will fail, and many many more people will find themselves out of work.

We're currently having work done. We've had to leave the job partly finished because we can't afford to pay the increased costs. Our project manager has said they've had a few jobs cancelled due to rising costs (material and labour) and a few companies have gone bust so workmen have come back to him but he no longer has work to give them.

We'll finish the job ourselves now, it'll take longer but we simply don't have the extra cash to pay.

A lot of things mentioned here are the same in other countries at the moment. It is impossible to unravel what is due to covid and what is due to Brexit. I’m not very optimistic about the future but the only difference I have noticed are the stamps in my passport.

@FourTeaFallOut

There are fewer opportunities for the government to hide behind the EU. Take the soaring energy costs and Sunak's reluctance to axe the green levies, in the past they could have pointed a finger to Brussels and pretend that their hand was forced on the matter. So, I think, it improves accountability. It's too optimistic to think this would lead to great improvements in political discourse but, perhaps it's a start.

Well I'd rather the EU was there to moderate their actions but you're right, if we can hold them accountable for their lies and fuck-ups, rather than letting them blame the EU, it would be a real benefit of leaving.

Unfortunately even when the EU aren't responsible for things this lying government heaps the blame on them - while at the same time falsely claiming that anything positive was only possible because of Brexit.

@oviraptor21

supermarket shopping is now much more of an adventure - last week there was basically no meat on the shelves, and this week there was only coconut oil loo roll which gave me thrush.

This and others ..... I'm truly perplexed. Where are you all shopping that there are empty shelves? I remember a couple of weeks early on when there was a run on loo roll, painkillers and pasta iirc but I have seen no signs of any shortages in any supermarkets since. In fact I'd go so far as to say that availability has improved as I have been getting far fewer substitutions and not availables on my supermarket deliveries these last couple of years, even with covid.

North West here, definitely gaps in the shelves here.

Our vaccination programme was rolled out quickly because we were not locked in to EU purchasing plans

Like many things we read in newspapers and see on TV need, this is just not true. When we were part of the EU, we were not locked into EU purchasing plans for the vaccine, or anything else.

Under what legislation could the EU stop us placing orders for vaccine? What part of the EU might try and make us join them?

This is sadly a nonsense but is repeated soften enough that people who want to believe it, do believe it.

We also wasted billions on PPE which did not get used because it did not meet any standards required here, in the EU. If we had purchased through the EU channels, that money would not have been wasted.

You don't here our esteemed PM mention that much, though, do we?

@Sarahcoggles and @Ilovegreentomatoes and others who agree with them:

I mean this genuinely and honestly: if you genuinely have a belief of things have gotten better, and you don't want abuse thrown at you, you could always name change, suggest something, and then not check back if you felt uncomfortable.

I would like to hear the other side. Very few things have no upside, at least to some people, and I'm honestly curious what you think the upside is.

I struggle to think of many. But I'm not so pleased with myself that I'm unwilling to acknowledge that there may be some upsides. I may still think those upsides are outweighed by the downsides, but I'd like to hear what they are.

You're right that people will probably disagree with you, and I can understand not wanting to get into a debate. But it would be useful to have multiple voices here rather than an echo chamber.

@FatFredsFriedEgg 'As an alternative to paying a fair wage to carers?

Are you a complete cunt or are you just being paid to post shite on here by the party of complete cunts?'

Meaningful debate right there Gotta love MN's for its continued race to the bottom.

Literally just saw this on Twitter. I'm in the north of Scotland, so it's clearly a widespread issue.

Restaurants around here are very open about the trouble they are having finding staff. They are fully booked and having to run on limited opening hours because they cannot find trained staff.

Not such a great benefit

I don't blame people who have left the EU because they felt unwelcome, post Brexit and we're not sure of their visa status. They have been welcomed in other parts of the EU instead. Good on them.

Not such a benefit of Brexit.

[quote Nancydrawn]**@Sarahcoggles* and @Ilovegreentomatoes* and others who agree with them:

I mean this genuinely and honestly: if you genuinely have a belief of things have gotten better, and you don't want abuse thrown at you, you could always name change, suggest something, and then not check back if you felt uncomfortable.

I would like to hear the other side. Very few things have no upside, at least to some people, and I'm honestly curious what you think the upside is.

I struggle to think of many. But I'm not so pleased with myself that I'm unwilling to acknowledge that there may be some upsides. I may still think those upsides are outweighed by the downsides, but I'd like to hear what they are.

You're right that people will probably disagree with you, and I can understand not wanting to get into a debate. But it would be useful to have multiple voices here rather than an echo chamber.[/quote]
This!

[quote Louisianagumbo]@SmellinOfTroy
And the postage cost from the USA is eye watering anyway

But it doesn't work like that because you can buy larger amounts now before being charged tax, shipping is usually free. 🙂[/quote]
What are you buying that is getting you free postage?

I had 2 bottles of antihistamines sent over from San Francisco - Sep 2020 - cost me $38.83

Could it be good for vets since we have to pay an extortionate amount to get a fit to travel certificate take our DDogs on holiday if we want to go into the EU?