Genuine question - what does anyone like about Brexit?

[Pipsquiggle]

I have always been a committed remainer - I work in an industry that depends on seamless logisitics, particularly entering / leaving the UK. Brexit is a shit show for my sector.

Just had to pay £96.80 to UPS to release a package that I'd paid express delivery for, that should've arrived 2 days ago - I'm pissed off. The German firm has already agreed to reimburse me but it's all such a ball ache.

So I have a very bleak outlook when it comes to Brexit.

Genuinely, I would like to hear of good news stories around Brexit.
How has it made your life better?
If your pay has increased - how much by and which industry are you in?
If there has been a legal upside for you - which law and how has it helped?

I am genuinely hoping to 'reframe' my thoughts / feelings on Brexit and was hoping this board could help me

Belgium's population density is greater than the UKs and it has a higher (double) proportion of its population born in other EU countries (2017 data), so the UK is not different to all other EU countries in that respect either.

@FishBowlSwimmer who wrote this earlier in the thread?

we are unique in that the UK seems to be a very popular place to live compared to the rest of the EU.

I've read some of this thread and all I keep on seeing is the same old arguments thrown about without any real life examples. My partner works in an industry that's dominated by immigrants. Since brexit, his wages have doubled and he's had a big promotion that he wouldn't have got otherwise.

There are so many things that have been blamed on brexit where the problem wasn't brexit related. The insulin shortage and long-haul drivers, brexit was only a small part of a much bigger issue.

So given we have established that Germany was an extremely popular destination for migrants, did it have a detrimental impact on wages there similar to the UK or did individual government policies have a different impact? Genuine question that I haven't got the answers to. I only they have (or have had) a much more positive approach to labour representation than the UK.

Germany had many refugees, not sure about other

Here’s an article on the policy five years on - amp.dw.com/en/five-years-on-how-germanys-refugee-policy-has-fared/a-54660166

Progress on integration
How well have those new arrivals been integrated in Germany? Migrants are still much less likely to have a job than the average German. Only around half the people who have come to Germany since 2013 have paid employment, according to a 2020 study by the Institute for Employment Research (IAB). The generally upward trend is also now being canceled out by the coronavirus pandemic as many of those who fled their home countries for Germany are being laid off, the study found.

The difficulties on the job market also have an effect on criminality. According to the annual report on crime in the context of immigration issued by the Federal Criminal Police Office, immigrants are disproportionately involved in violent crime including murder, manslaughter, assault and rape. But this is partly because many of the immigrants are young men who tend to be more frequently guilty of such offenses.

It takes time I expect to get integration

I did not know the answer either so I have done some research.

If we take the years 2006-2016 (feel free to choose other years).

German average wages grew from 36888 Euros to 41132 Euros (11.5%)

www.statista.com/statistics/416207/average-annual-wages-germany-y-on-y-in-euros/

UK average annual earnings for full time employees grew from £23367 to £28195 (20.7%).

www.statista.com/statistics/1002964/average-full-time-annual-earnings-in-the-uk/

So on the face of it incomes in the UK went up more than in Germany in the 10 years prior to Brexit.

Note that the data is not quite comparable. The German data is for average wages, the UK data for average earnings of full time employees.

Maybe someone can find the UK wage data.

Interesting nonetheless.

Portugal 2% of those living there are from other EU countries.
www.statista.com/statistics/419498/average-annual-wages-portugal-y-on-y/

Wage growth of 18081 Euros to 17529 Euros in 2016.

So perhaps they don't have enough migrants? Or perhaps it is nothing to do with migrants?

Careful @MarshaBradyo I got told off previously in the thread for talking about refugees, rather than migrants from other EU countries.

Reading that article it definitely quashes the mn idea it’s roses elsewhere wrt these issues.

Taking many men is not always easy.

I think you're wasting your time on this thread. I get the impression it's just the same people, repeating the same arguments over and over.

@MadameDe

Which industry does your DH work in?
Congratulations BTW.

Don't agree with you on lorry drivers - it's one of the banes of my life

Which industry does your DH work in?

Some industries will gain. Most will not, as we have poor economic figures, they are the proof of our actual situation.

So for the I’m alright Jacks, consider where the country as a whole is standing. This is obviously turning out to be a mess.

This seems a pretty reasonable account of where we are now

Brexit supporters, what do you think?

Seriously?!! The op asks for people to give good news from Brexit and when they do, you berate them. 🤔

I mean, good news is the point of the thread. 🙄

Seriously?!!

Yes seriously. Is it such a hard concept that although some people might have good news, on the whole the outlook is negative?
Sorry if that observation upsets you.

Maybe everyone has to believe harder🙄

If that wasn’t the case, the question wouldn’t be asked in the first place.

Any good news stories?
Yeah my pay has doubled
What's that, a stealth boast mrs I'm alright jack.

@Nightlystroll you couldn't make this shit up 😂

@MarshaMelrose I think you're wasting your time on this thread. I get the impression it's just the same people, repeating the same arguments over and over.

Yup, I'll go long with that.

That's why I didn't engage.

Same old, same old, it get's boring.

You don't upset me. You make me 🙄 because you can't see that the op was genuinely asking for good news and people are just supplying that. Why try to subvert the thread? Why not take the negativity you feel and post on one of the many threads where people like to constantly dwell reiterate bad news? And let the op aline to have some positivity as she requested.

Some industries will gain

It all reminds me of the older generations talking about their war experiences. Some people did well out of it - MIL got far more interesting and better paid work than she would have done otherwise. Her own DF had been in and out of work in the 1930s but again was fully employed during the war and never unemployed afterwards. So you could say that they had had a good war, but I have never heard any one say that War was good. At best there is the acknowledgement that they were the lucky ones, and that others had it much worse.

As a teacher at my school once said about adults guilt tripping kids about the war :

"Ignore anyone who tells you how bad it was. The ones who had it really bad aren't here anymore".

Always stuck with me, and is probably why it inflames me when people clock themselves in other peoples sacrifices.

Agree, the op asked a direct question re people doing well

If you would like personal examples of Brexit benefits:
My brother got a job as a HGV driver. He trained earlier this year and is now coining it. Never thought I would see the lazy article get off his backside, but he has and I wish our dear old mum was here to see it. Biggest Brexit benefit in our family.

My BIL is a builder and now so busy with work, he is booming. He's taken on new staff to help and doing really well.

My child has left education and walked straight into a job after receiving 3 offers. They are getting a good wage for their age.

For me personally, I have not seen any difference in my life. Life is the same. I have travelled twice. Once to Dublin and I was held up for ages at Dublin airport in a queue because of problems with Ireland having a shortage of staff. Second time to Spain. The difference from my last trip to Spain was at immigration where it used to be look, nod. This time it was look, stamp, nod. I was not held up for longer than 10 mins in Spain and I had a nice holiday. Will definitely go back.

Horizon is an EU science program, set up to rival Asia and the USA, the EU is their only competitor... we are now out of it... because of Brexit... no other reason.

Dublin enabled us to deport back failed asylum seekers, we deported few because few failed ones came here because they knew they could be deported... i.e no Albanians turned up here.. despite FOM.

Brexit gave a small part of the TOry party, the ERG power... hence BJ Truss

I believe theres a shortage of HGV drivers across Europe and so wages have increased there as well.

As for building work, I don't know where about you are in the country, but it's been a nightmare getting a tradesperson round here for more that a decade, they were all snowed under. I abandoned a house extension about seven years ago because we just couldn't get anyone to do it. Shortages of trades has even held up major infrastructure projects, long before Brexit. Is your bil newly started as a builder ?

@tood

@ToodlePipYouLongHairedGit

Glad to hear about your family's experience

So building and drivers are doing well

Just dropping in with this link:

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/nov/14/brexit-a-major-cause-of-uks-return-to-austerity-says-senior-economist