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! 😂)

It's much cheaper and much easier to buy things from America now. And for me, America tends to sell things much cheaper than in the EU. So that's an upside for me.

This is not the result of Brexit, in fact is not even a “result” as nothing has changed on how we trade with America, there are no new trading agreements and the US is not interested in signing one as they are not happy about peace in Ireland being compromised due to Brexit.

In fact, we had lost on that too. Anerica was only interested in the UK as we had a lot of influence in the European Union, now we don’t we are not a particularly attractive partner to them at all.

clutching at straws but used cars?

Your new/ replacement car will be more expensive too I'm afraid.

@Louisianagumbo - Trading regulations changed when we left the EU. I don't know if we're on world trading terms or not, but before the Brexit, I had to keep buys under about £20 inc postage to avoid tax. And then, because you can't pay tax in advance, you'd get charged a handling fee on top of that by your delivery company. Now you can buy to a higher amount with import duties; VAT is paid by the seller so there are no handling charges; and I can get free shipping because I can buy in larger amounts. Even with the VAT it all works out tons cheaper because the US is considerably cheaper. I'm very happy about it.

That's got nothing to do with brexit. The tax/vat free limit on imports is gone in the EU too since last year. I have noticed a lot more US companies shipping internationally with tax/vat etc paid at checkout. I'm living in the EU so it's obviously not brexit related.

But yes, it is great.

What could have improved has not happened. For example, zero VAT on gas bills.

This country was slightly ahead initially with the vaccine rollout. Nothing to do with Brexit, the rollout started in December before Brexit. That is due to the PM taking a call on ordering mass vaccines while the other countries decided more safety testing was needed. It is the one and only good decision Johnson has made and he was lucky the vaccines turned out safe. The advantage was spaffed up the wall shortly after by delaying or not making other necessary decisions.

@OnlyFoolsnMothers What EU plans are you referring to please?

I ordered something from Germany and the order was cancelled by the courier!

Personally i feel nothing good has come out of brexit.

Profits for Reese Mogg?

@ghostyslovesheets

clutching at straws but used cars? I purchased mine new 2 years ago - another year to go - went to look at a new one and it's lost £1000 in 2 years - depreciation is minimal because of delaying getting new ones in - I'd have to wait until June for a new one!

Oh and it's a Dacia Duster - nothing fancy

Nope. The used car market is booming because there's a global shortage of some microchip that's used in the production of new cars.

@Camoye

There are a lot more jobs. Hopefully this will evolve to getting people back into employment with better wages and conditions. Basic supply and demand. We have far too many people sat on UC. Before we had to accept that, now opportunity is there. This will have a massive impact on mental health, we have a huge problem with non productive people being utterly miserable with their lot or people working hard but not earning very much because there was a million other people who would do their job for next to nothing. Getting people working and wages increasing will vastly benefit their mental health and reduce the strain on the nhs.

We still have problems, a lot of people got their SS rushed though. We still have people from particular countries trying to set up villages of their community from social housing in the UK. They are very angry and can be quite abusive at the disruption in what was a relatively simple process before. They do still try and get one to get the house and then bring a dozen family members over to expand and of course that’s not limited to EU members, but it is getting a little better.

It’s not made a huge difference yet, but you can see it. It can only be a good thing, we were heading for cities of economically inactive depressed people with social housing totally dominated by people from other countries with all the social problems that brings.

I didn’t vote for Brexit but wanted remain, however this seems the closest to an answer to op.

In terms of good and bad I can’t say I have noticed much personally, so not the worst that was predicted either

I've never felt better! I had been waiting for surgery for years before brexit, but thanks to exiting I had surgery in one of the many new hospitals Boris promised us

@NotAScoobyToBeSeen

Yeah you started off quicker with vaccines but havent ended up any better really. In fact places like Ireland have surpassed and have been quicker at rolling out the 5-12 jabs too. And tbh the way you dealt with the pandemic in general was just shocking, and the rest of the world was watching wondering what on earth was going on

See also, all restrictions ending shortly 🙄

See also, all restrictions ending shortly

That's true of ROI too actually

I think Covid masks many things ….

Luckily for the government

@Gingernaut

The fishing industry has collapsed and now we're pouring raw sewage into our waterways and killing the fish and crustaceans, likely to continue to oblivion

We can't import the chemicals needed for water purification fast enough

Our ministers are 'negotiating' new trade treatises by rolling over and screwing our own farmers and manufacturing industries

The foreign workers who did a lot of basic, manual and hospitality work have cleared off, leaving social care, farming in a precarious state

Hospital trusts are trying to recruit from abroad - from Africa and the Philippines- leaving new workers isolated away from home and with no clue about true working conditions

As far as I can see, there have been no benefits

Hospital trusts are trying to recruit from abroad - from Africa and the Philippines- leaving new workers isolated away from home and with no clue about true working conditions

The trust I work at has been doing this & the reality of how this is manifesting is horrendous. The new nurses are depressed, their poor mental health is impacting upon how they deliver nursing care, which leads to more complaints and poor outcomes for patients. I feel sad for this cohort of nurses because they've been sold a lie and they are good people. The other problem I'm experiencing, is every shift I've worked, since October last year at least one patient has complained about a horrible nurse or I'm unpicking the effects of poor care, it's very stressful.

@RoyKentsChestHair

Restaurants are closing because they can’t get any staff? Or because they’re just coming out of a pandemic which shut them down and changed peoples’s eating out habits immeasurably

A lot of the restaurants which were open when we were in the EU were staffed by Eastern Europeans on the minimum wage who were claiming UC and housing benefit.

How was that helping our economy? It was only helping rich people eat cheaply at the expense of ordinary working people. How as that fair?

Also, employers are now training and employing British people instead of Eastern Europeans. My friend's on has slight learning difficulties and has now managed to find a job which he would not have done if there was a constant supply of cheap labour from the EU.

Also, companies are automating now which they should have done for the last 20 years but did not need to because of EU immigrants.

• friend's son

Less of Farrage on TV recently.

@Lifeslooser

The vaccine roll out was a benefit of no longer being part of the EU.

Incase you didn’t notice they where a lot slower to implement it due to all the red tape. We vaccinated super fast compared to them.

Did we really? why then have we got the highest overall death count in all of Europe? Even on per capita, against comparable countries, the UK has done very badly, 20k more deaths than France, far more again then Germany.

Europe very quickly caught and then surpassed our vaccine numbers.

Brexit has weakened Europe's response to Russia, its weakened us globally, Brexitiers did Putins work for him, Putin was a big cheerleader for Brexit and now we all know why :(

Ummm .... nothing.

I voted remain

Not in the UK but can’t order stuff from UK anymore as customs charges are way too high.

DH was working on a Brexit IT project for HMRC and got shit loads of on call money for not doing much. He was highly amused at the fact a German, an Italian and a Romanian were the ones sorting it out.

The DC have dual British/EU nationality and passports which we probably wouldn’t t have done without Brexit - came in handy last Summer when we realised DDs British passport had expired so she could use the other one.
Can’t think of anything else

Employees market in this EU country too.

No empty shelves in the supermarkets here though.

Ummm. Food is more expensive? the hard right of the conservative party have grown in strength and power. Putin knows that by fracturing the EU he is in a stronger position to invade Ukraine....

Oh wait, you asked for positives.... No I haven't come across any yet.

@junglejane66

I've never felt better! I had been waiting for surgery for years before brexit, but thanks to exiting I had surgery in one of the many new hospitals Boris promised us