Brexit Mega Thread 16 – Who's Next?

[LouiseCollins28]

We are approaching the 6th anniversary of Brexit, or I suppose the 5th, if you count the period of transition as "in."

Since then, the world has endured Covid-19, seen war in Ukraine and many other things. Brexit has had reduced salience in the minds of many people recently.

When digesting the latest setbacks to befall the elite who govern our islands, a phrase I keep returning to, is “OK, so now do you get it?”

Brexit is undoubtedly the biggest “OK, so now do you get it?” moment directed at our leaders in my life. It’s surely the largest since 1979, since the Labour victory of 1945? or even since the advent of universal suffrage?

The U.K. local elections in 2026, and subsequent national ones, could see a big increase in support for the Green Party and Reform U.K. Two parties with more different attitudes to European integration could scarcely be found, so Brexit’s salience in the U.K. may rise again soon
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There are many electoral contests in progress or coming across Europe too (the Netherlands and France, for example) which will be worth paying attention to. Maybe the next questions we will face are less about "what next?" and more about "who's next?"

Relations between mainland Europe and the UK remain a worthy topic for discussion, whoever leads the nations of Europe, or leads the E.U. itself.

Do you think EEMigrant has misread the thread title as "Show us why it would be such a good idea for the UK to rejoin the EU"?

@DuncinToffee

You are doing a great job in showing how successful the EU is:

How? The countries I listed represent 5 out of 27. So, what happened to the other 22?

@MaybeNotBob

Which WE would be able to do were we still in the EU.

If you have checked luggage, you will have to collect it from the carousel regardless of what passport you have.

You're really demonstrating the opposite of what you think you're demonstrating!

Point made was that when I arrived at the carousel, those on the same flight with EU passports were also waiting for their luggage. So, I left the airport in the same as before the biometric scan was necessary. However, it’s possible that other EU members are not as organised as the Netherlands who installed the biometric scanners in November 2025.

Bear in mind things will be very different in peak holiday season... And they were using EES in Hook of Holland when I went over last November. The port is not configured for separate lanes for different passport holders if you travel by car. Which most people do. It took me much longer to get through than usual. And I have an EU passport. This was in the depths of quiet season.

@MaybeNotBob

Do you think EEMigrant has misread the thread title as "Show us why it would be such a good idea for the UK to rejoin the EU"?

I don’t remember seeing a post from the username EEMigrant. Maybe they are on another thread? However, it seems that you are the poster who thinks it would be a good idea to rejoin based on your statement that the cost to rejoin would be recovered in the first year.

Still waiting to see the evidence and substantiation of that statement and an explanation why it has not been presented to Parliament.

@pointythings

I have never used the ferry to travel to the Netherlands. However, your statement that more people use the ferry than airlines is not consistent with:

https://www.greentraveller.co.uk/

Which records that more people from the UK use flights than ferries when travelling to the Netherlands.

To date, Portugal and Sweden are the only two Schengen countries that have adopted the travel to Europe app even though all of them were directed to have it up a running by 9 April 2026.

More winning...

https://corporate-adviser.com/brexit-pushes-120bn-of-investment-out-of-uk/amp/

I didn't say that more people used ferries than airlines . Where did you get that? I pointed out that the majority of ferry travellers go by car, as opposed to being foot passengers (who do have separate lanes at Hook).

Work on the reading comprehension, please!

I'm afraid it's debating style is, shall we say, not based on logic...

@MaybeNotBob

The article you have posted makes the following statement;

Brexit didn’t create the UK market’s structural problems, but it arrived at a moment when investor confidence was already fragile

Maybe read the articles beforehand?

I'm afraid it's debating style is, shall we say, not based on logic...

I await your proof that the cost of rejoining the EU would be recovered in one year.

Also, I remember your logic about comparing the coal industry in Darlington, which closed in 1994 which is 26 years before Brexit, to that of Poland today.

@pointythings

Yes the attraction of the ferries is that you can take a car. Downside is time and fact that UK drives on the left and EU on right.

In 2023, about 18 million used sea routes to travel from UK to the EU compared to 240 million who used airlines. A 12 to 1 ratio in favour of flying. So, the potential problems you refer to regards ferries relates only to a small percentage of travelers as opposed to the majority.

I have just passed through Valencia AirPort in Spain. Nobody asked to see my passport or any other passenger that I could see. So, much for the EES. Maybe it should be renamed:

E veryones
E xempt
S hambles

@EEexpat I really do wonder about you sometimes. You claimed I said more people travel by ferries than by air. I pointed out that I had said no such thing. Kindly address this point before going off into a meaningless diatribe about sea vs air travel.

The fact that fewer people travel into the EU by sea does not mean that the EES issues they experience are not real. You have also not addressed the reports of very significant problems experienced during the Easter holidays - peak season.
Back last year I had several cars in front of me with families with several children - processing time per car was almost 15 minutes.

BTW driving on a different side of the road is really not a downside unless you are an utterly incompetent driver.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-Yn3AQaNVDg

Robert Peston talks to Stanford Professor Nick Bloom about the cost of Brexit on The Rest is Money:

"We could have doubled the money on the NHS if we'd not left the European Union."

Brexit cost "£2,000 a year per person in Britain."

@pointythings

Peak times have been troublesome and plagued with delays since motor vehicles were invented and populations around the world have grown. Being in or out of a union will not change that.

Okay, you didn’t directly say that more travel by ferry than by air. However, that does not detract from the fact that the vast majority of travelers’ choose to fly.

@DuncinToffee

If there is irrefutable evidence that people are £2000 per year are worse off, why has it not been presented to Parliament for immediate rejoin of the EU?

BTW driving on a different side of the road is really not a downside unless you are an utterly incompetent driver.

Not all of the EU drives on the right!
Just to be pedantic here.

This is true - but there aren't many that don't. It doesn't matter either way though - you just handle it.

Neither of the following:

Not all of the EU drives on the right!
Just to be pedantic here.
^^
This is true - but there aren't many that don't. It doesn't matter either way though - you just handle it.

Convince me that rejoining the EU will fix the issues that UK population is facing.

You are doing a great job at convincing people the UK is better off in the EU

As a gardener I am delighted to read that the UK rejoins the EU single market for plants and seeds next year.
Essential if the UK wants to rebuild food security.

As a gardener I am delighted to read that the UK rejoins the EU single market for plants and seeds next year.

I didn't know that. Where are the Brexiters to scream Betrayal? Did they miss it also?

Essential if the UK wants to rebuild food security.

The UK hasn't had food security for decades, more than a century, I recall. So the Brexitiers wanted to make it worse for us.

The UK hasn't had food security for decades, more than a century, I recall. So the Brexitiers wanted to make it worse for us.

IIRC you garden as well.

The calibre of seeds we get - because EU growers will not go through the paperwork hoop for the UK
The narrowed range of varieties we get - because clearance is per consignment

have directly impacted allotment and small growers
reducing food resilience at a time when we need it most.

Even things like carrot and leek seed - UK field staples - have been hit

Then again I've grown 'tape seed' for the first time this year (Polish source)
cannot WAIT till its all over UK garden centres year after next

‘Nigel Farage Is the Architect of the UK’s Decline and It’s Time for the Rest of Us to Rebuild Our Home in Europe’

https://bylinetimes.com/2026/05/01/nigel-farage-is-the-architect-of-the-uks-decline-and-its-time-for-the-rest-of-us-to-rebuild-our-home-in-europe/

‘Nigel Farage Is the Architect of the UK’s Decline and It’s Time for the Rest of Us to Rebuild Our Home in Europe’

I wish the Brexiters could see just how much damage this man has done.

Italy, Greece and Portugal have knocked the EES on the head as feared it would cost them heavily in lost tourist trade.

If remain supporters want to be in Europe, why don’t they move there?

I worked many years in the Netherlands with a UK passport. Next stop is Denmark.

The UK hasn't had food security for decades, more than a century, I recall

So, even when the UK was in the EU, it did not have food security? That so, how will a rejoin change what was the case when the UK was in the EU?

Groceries in Paris cost 14.7% more than London. Source: numbeo.com

You are moving back to the UK then if it is so great to be out of the EU?

The arguments are laughable.