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! 😂)

@SausagePourHomme

"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.

Fair enough. What to you think will improve over time?

I think the landscape will change and wondering what this will mean for Brexit

i think Covid was the blessing the Tories really needed. They've got away with a lot under the cover of the pandemic works both ways imo- everyone saying look prices are up and Labour is down that’s brexit, it isn’t all!

@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.

So no current benefit then but their MAY be jam tomorrow? Can you give us a date for our arrival on the sunlit uplands and explain why every credible financial organisation/economist say it’s a complete disaster?

But it doesn't work like that because you can buy larger amounts now before being charged tax, shipping is usually free.

Bless you, you're really trying to find these benefits! VAT is still payable on goods below £135, but it is collected at source rather than you paying upon receipt. The same principle apply across the EU.

Plus we lost the low value consignment relief, where orders below £15 were previously exempt from relief.

So much winning.

I watched a Sky News special report yesterday which followed the lives of Cornish fishermen for the whole of last year.

They specialised in catching oysters, mussels and scallops in the Fal estuary. Beautiful place and likeable people but there was an elephant in the room.

Prices for their catch fell, paperwork increased, new and expensive EU hygiene regulations came in (this seemed punitive but what do you expect?), export hold ups meant their catch rotted so some of them didn't even bother with it. I kept shouting: "How did you vote?" The question was never asked or addressed which made me suspect some if not all of them had voted Brexit thinking it would be really good for them. What did they expect the EU to do? Did they honestly expect this Government would assist them? What do they expect me to do about it? That ship has sailed.

There was a point where one man was complaining that British people didn't eat enough fish so he couldn't sell his catch here. But he knew that. It's not suddenly changed. I got the distinct impression he was suggesting I should eat more mussels to help him out.

We didn't vote for Brexit. It has caused myriad problems for us but at least we could see it coming which was why we didn't vote for it.

Our vaccine rollout would have been hindered had we still been in the eu

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.

There are no 'Japanese car makers'. There are Japanese car companies who make cars all over the world. The fact that Japan drive on the same side of the road as us is as irrelevant now as it was in the 70s and 80s.

Nobody's going to try and do a personal import of a Sunderland-built Qashqai through Japan so the UK distribution network are free to charge whatever they want. We can't just expect to appoint an agent to buy us one from NL at NL prices (minus taxes) anymore, nor even an IRL dealer at IRL prices (minus taxes).

Hopefully it won't be an instant thing but eventually all the dealer chains will push their prices up so that we're paying 25%+ more than we used to again. We have no choice if they all do it - as they did in the past.

@Quackpot

Our vaccine rollout would have been hindered had we still been in the eu

No it wouldn't. No EU member was tied to sticking to EU arrangements.

@Quackpot

Our vaccine rollout would have been hindered had we still been in the eu

Oh. Dear. God.

Plus we lost the low value consignment relief, where orders below £15 were previously exempt from relief.

As already mentioned, it's £135 now. It was raised in line with the EU increase to €150.

I am looking forward to getting my new, more powerful vacuum cleaner just in time to coincide with massive energy price rises so that I can spend more doing my hoovering and contribute to climate change at the same time.

It would have been within EU rules to make people have to return if they didn't have a job within three months or enough money to support themselves. We couldn't be arsed changing our benefits system to do it.

No it wouldn't. No EU member was tied to sticking to EU arrangements.

Was there any pressure to act collectively? Eg some EU countries started but then waited to do it together, it was a while back now

Posting with interest from the EU.
I am genuinely wondering what the benefits are rather than slagging off the UK.

Unfortunately, I no longer order goods from the UK as it's just cost prohibitive with the additional taxes. A UK company with an EU subsidiary has helped in some cases but many companies haven't organised that. It's a real pity because you have some fantastic companies but they are now uncompetitive compared to the rest of the EU.

I’m eating Sovereignty for breakfast, lunch and tea, and heating my home with it too.

Not a goddamn thing. Nowt, nix, nada.

Just to clarify some misinformation upthread. UK did abolish the tampon tax from 1 Jan 2021: www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-55502252

Also, on vaccine rollout, it’s correct that EU
Countries could’ve gone alone and not as part of the bloc but none of them actually did. I think it’s highly debate lit as to whether the UK would’ve actually struck out on their own if we had remained within the EU when procuring vaccines.

I’m no fan of Brexit but as others have said, we are where we are and the accusations of racism / xenophobia / bigotry etc to anyone who voted to leave just need to stop. Time to move on.

@Thewindwhispers

I think @junglejane66 was doing a @jgw1 on us. Either that or they're a fucking liar.

The Clown has only been in office since 2019. Brexit, depending on your definition, happened in 2020/2021/2022/godknowswhen. New hospitals are not conceived, planned, paid for, built and operational within a couple of years.

Jack shite!

There’s only one upside and that’s not having to listen to Farage, the motivator, whose own absences and attendance at previous EU meetings was lamentable.

Also perhaps not having to listen to the other hypocrites who had previously warned about the economic impact of leaving the EU only to swivel 190 degrees and try and pretend they had never said or written any of the things previously in support of membership.

Otherwise zilch.

I really dislike the attitude that everyone who votes brexit is racist stupid etc

To my mind the benefits will be felt slowly but will include: less pressure on housing making it more affordable for ftbs, less money wasted on the machinery of the EU as it does in these large bureaucratic institutions (a lot of money gets wasted, I have worked there and this is a fact)

Got to go now as baby waking but sadly will likely not come back as suspect I will jumped on by everyone who is so determined not to see anything positive about brexit. There always are pros and cons with most things in life so pretending otherwise is disingenuous

I've seen some pretty ridiculous things being said on this thread but am not going to attack anyone

@fionnthedog

Just to clarify some misinformation upthread. UK did abolish the tampon tax from 1 Jan 2021: www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-55502252

Also, on vaccine rollout, it’s correct that EU
Countries could’ve gone alone and not as part of the bloc but none of them actually did. I think it’s highly debate lit as to whether the UK would’ve actually struck out on their own if we had remained within the EU when procuring vaccines.

I’m no fan of Brexit but as others have said, we are where we are and the accusations of racism / xenophobia / bigotry etc to anyone who voted to leave just need to stop. Time to move on.

Of course the EMA would still be based in the UK if it wasn't for Brexit, so who knows what benefits that might have brought to us all?

And as you say "Countries could’ve gone alone". Do you imagine we wouldn't have done so anyway if it had advantages for us? Do we have a history of sitting back and letting the EU decide what's best for us if we're free to decide and we have local experts with alternative views?

@GrendelsGrandma

It would have been within EU rules to make people have to return if they didn't have a job within three months or enough money to support themselves. We couldn't be arsed changing our benefits system to do it.

But most EU immigrants did have jobs, but claimed UC and housing benefit as well so were costing us money. They also caused a shortage of housing doing unnecessary jobs such as working in restaurants.

Nothing
Zero
Zilch

Brexit has massively and negatively impacted where I work.

Not one thing.

Everything costs more, and it's incredibly difficult to find people to fill empty roles in healthcare, caring and construction/building industry.