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! 😂)

@Louisianagumbo

Oh, my trading advantage with USA was not because of Brexit? Good on the USA for sorting that out. I don't care why it happened because it's much cheaper for me and I never buy ftom the eu. It's cheaper buying goods from the usa even if they were produced instead eu. Which is mad.

And it will be much easier for the UK to get a trade deal with the US for our benefit without having to keep 26 other countries happy, which is why eu deals take so long and often collapse.

I didn't vote for Brexit but it's here now. So I'm just getting on with it.

And it will be much easier for the UK to get a trade deal with the US for our benefit without having to keep 26 other countries happy, which is why eu deals take so long and often collapse.

Except for the minor detail of most of the decision makers in the US having stated that there will be no deal if the UK continues to disregard the GFA.

@SausagePourHomme

It was never about immedIate perks for leaving. It was always going to be tough.

It is more about avoiding the risks of staying in a undemocratic superstate. Greece were getting the brunt of it a few years ago. People forget that.

Ah yes, I remember that being a prominent part of the campaign: There Will Be No Immediate Perks and It Will Be Tough.

It's a fucking shitshow. We're a laughing stock.

Well on the one hand my passport has some interesting stamps, which should please those lodged in the past but on the other hand the airport queues are much more painful.

@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. 🙂

My fat, lazy, cocklodger brother is training to become a HGV driver. An unexpected Brexit bonus in our house.

[quote Alexandra2001]@ILoveAllRainbowsx Yes hospitality has benefitted UK workers as there are less EU workers, very easy to quickly train up someone to work in a bar etc...

But in health & sciences, the lack of EU staff has caused huge problems.

I'd rather have more health care staff.[/quote]
But there is nothing stopping us getting workers from abroad if we need them.

The problem with being in the EU was that it was restaurant workers etc which we did not need coming over and causing housing issues for the indigenous population by claiming UC and housing benefit.

Afraid not. It's exactly the same in the EU. Dh is currently looking to change his car. He is thinking of buying new or a demo model. They told him they would be able to get him one for next January!!!

Once the issue with the supply of new cars is sorted out we're going to have a bit of a shock I think.

Car prices have been kept down for years because the EU made it unlawful for a dealer in a country where cars were cheap to refuse to supply RHD cars to other EU based customers at the same price as they were supplying LHD cars to their own residents. That sparked the personal import and grey market boom of the nineties which eventually led to much lower new car prices in the UK.

We no longer benefit from that and the manufacturers and their dealer networks are free to go back to their old pricing model of charging UK buyers 25% more than they charge buyers in mainland Europe.

"Ah yes, I remember that being a prominent part of the campaign: There Will Be No Immediate Perks and It Will Be Tough."

While remainers want to think that people who voted leave did so because of a slogan on a bus or because they are hateful racists there is huge silent left leaving contingent who voted for v the same reason as i did, and would have recognised this.

@thewooster

My fat, lazy, cocklodger brother is training to become a HGV driver. An unexpected Brexit bonus in our house.

Exactly and companies will have to start training our own plumbers etc.

My friend is France is always saying how there are not any French plumbers being trained in France any more.

Also, companies will train more British ethnic minorities rather than taking on white Europeans because of white privilege. They will also employ more disable people.

For me it started the day after we voted to leave. Final round interview candidates started pulling out. Don't get any Europeans applying for the jobs now. Did get a couple of years of Americans applying while Trump was in power but that's stopped now. Scientific research and development in this country has taken a big hit - collaborators no longer want to have UK labs on their grant applications and we have limited choices for funding.

Meanwhile the perfect storm of COVID and Brexit means we've been waiting for months for things that used to be replaced in days. USA vendors won't ship to UK addresses. Stuff coming in from Europe gets stuck at customs. We often ask European suppliers to redirect via Switzerland so that we don't get orders that need to be shipped on ice or frozen destroyed by a week's delay at LHR.

If I didn't have kids at school, I would have seriously considered relocating to Europe. Except I'd have no right to. Green card in the USA anyone?

@FatFredsFriedEgg

Afraid not. It's exactly the same in the EU. Dh is currently looking to change his car. He is thinking of buying new or a demo model. They told him they would be able to get him one for next January!!!

Once the issue with the supply of new cars is sorted out we're going to have a bit of a shock I think.

Car prices have been kept down for years because the EU made it unlawful for a dealer in a country where cars were cheap to refuse to supply RHD cars to other EU based customers at the same price as they were supplying LHD cars to their own residents. That sparked the personal import and grey market boom of the nineties which eventually led to much lower new car prices in the UK.

We no longer benefit from that and the manufacturers and their dealer networks are free to go back to their old pricing model of charging UK buyers 25% more than they charge buyers in mainland Europe.

Japan drives on the same side as us so their cars should be cheaper.

@Hospedia

We've been able to cut VAT on energy bills. Oh... wait. No.

The NHS is benefitting from an extra £350 million a week! Oh... not that either.

We're able to trade with the EU tariff-free and with minimal bureaucracy.... shit.

We have been able to scrap VAT on sanitary products.... fuck, nope not that either.

The union is stronger, the border with Ireland has remained unchanged, and countless nations have been eager to form trade deals with us.... shitting hell. No to that too.

Um....

Oh!

Brexit has been directly responsible for creating one job - the one that Rees-Mogg is doing.

We have been able to scrap VAT on sanitary products.... fuck, nope not that either.

That happened didn't it?

Although I think that recent changes to EU VAT rules mean that we could have done that as EU members anyway.

I can’t think of anything.

Japan drives on the same side as us so their cars should be cheaper.

They're not obliged to sell them to us at the same price as the cheapest price advertised in 27 other countries though.

@Joystir59

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

Johnson must love the fact that people actually believe this crap.

I'm in Ireland and my business has tripled it's turnover since brexit. As a direct result of brexit. It's fantastic. And ye chose it. Outstanding.
We are now on course to hit four times our turnover since 2017. All the business that used to go to the UK we now get directly to us.
Also my girls all got offers from 8 different holiday company's as they were told they won't employ from the UK anymore. Too much hassle. Wiped out a huge amount of competition.
It's been really lucrative for us.

@CorrBlimeyGG

And it will be much easier for the UK to get a trade deal with the US for our benefit without having to keep 26 other countries happy, which is why eu deals take so long and often collapse.

The EU has far greater bargaining power because they offer a far greater market than we do. If it was so easy, then where are all the deals?

The US has made pretty clear they aren’t interested in a deal with us That’s why govt is now scrabbling around trying to do mini deals with a few US states

No more restrictions in Switzerland either.

I read yesterday Biden won’t let Boris have trading agreements with the entire US.

He has to have a separate agreement with each state.

It would be hilarious if it wasn’t so tragic.

Still I’m sure ReesMogg will find an ‘opportunity’ somewhere😒

@FatFredsFriedEgg

Japan drives on the same side as us so their cars should be cheaper.

They're not obliged to sell them to us at the same price as the cheapest price advertised in 27 other countries though.

No, but if EU car makers put their prices up if RHD is more expensive, Japanese car makers will have an advantage and will be able to sell more cars in the UK. We are a big enough country to matter.

Nothing, nada, zilch. And nothing ever will.

@Viviennemary

Not being bossed around by European bureaucrats.

Would you care to provide any examples of this?

@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

That’s great for you @junglejane66! Unfortunately Boris has closed my local hospital, and the scheduled appointment I’d waited months for has been cancelled with a shrug and “start again, go see your GP”

@Livelovebehappy

How can we tell? We don’t know what’s happened due to a Covid or whether it's happened due to Brexit. Both things kicked in at the same time. The world is crap atm, compounded by the constant rain we’ve had since Xmas.

I think Covid was the blessing the Tories really needed. They've got away with a lot under the cover of the pandemic.

@Hospedia
@FatFredsFriedEgg

Commercial competition is the corner-stone of the EU and once an item has been placed within the scope of VAT it cannot be removed from it by a Sovereign state.
If the EU had wanted to blow the Leave campaign out of the water, they could have sought a one-off deal to remove VAT from sanitary products across the EU, despite the hundred million people who would have benefited.

As far as the £350 million for the NHS, the DHSC underspent the funding approved by Parliament by an average of £395 million each week in 2020-21.