What shall we call the return?

[SevenYellowHammers]

Briturn? Britsin? Britback?

or just a big dose of humble pie?

It doesn’t matter what bores you. The fact is he’s gone and the uk has lost his substantial tax payments. Lots of others have done the same. Do you think we should chain them to the uk and not let them leave?

I absolutely, genuinely, did not know what I was voting for.

As someone of left wing (economic) views I saw the EU as a big capitalist organisation but equally I liked the social chapter, the unity, the freedom.

I liked the back up of the European human rights commission too. The referendum seemed a big waste of money and a lot of hot air. And of course, it got worse, the debate got nasty.

At the time, I went to a Labour Party meeting where local (now disgraced) MP Kelvin Hopkins spoke against the neoliberalism of EU. He said he was an economist and predicted economic prosperity for UK if we left.

So that was confusing!

I didn’t feel convinced and in the end voted Remain because I couldn’t counter aligning with Farage - and the whole Leave thing had become about immigration - and yes, you COULD see racist people jumping up and down with pure glee at this point. For context, I’d be daft if I thought just let anyone who wants to come here but equally I am proud of our multiculturalism.

So I was a half arsed remainer and I guess a lot of people were and some of them didn’t bother to vote.

My God, what a disaster it was. The amount of money and time wasted through the negotiations was just astounding. Imagine what could have been done with those resources and energy!

And it unleashed meanness and spite on a scale I’d never seen before (and I grew up under Thatcher when the National Front roamed the earth).

Admittedly, we had Covid and then Ukraine, then Trump and obviously these calamities damaged our economy further. But UK’s growth has stagnated, certain medications are hard to get, the issue with illegal immigration from France is dealt with poorly, there’s no work (or rather, there is but those who have work are over employed working stupid hours, chained to email.

I do see a slither of optimism with Burnham. If we can get some industry back and start to wrestle our utilities back, the stuff our parents and grandparents paid for and Thatcher stole and sold to shareholders.

Let’s take our place back in Europe again but upon our return, let’s negotiate for more cooperation and coordination on the illegal immigration issue, backed up by human rights.

Lots of others but Rokus is the only example anyone can think of.

I think Trump Trumps the league of rubbish world leaders!

The UKs GDP growth has been pretty poor post BREXIT / COVID, but it’s not been as poor as that of France or Germany as its well ahead of both of them in absolute terms and per capita. So while there is analysis that claims had the UK stayed in the EU it’s GDP would be between 6 and 8% higher than it is today that would mean over 10 years the UK would have shown GDP growth twice that of France and two and half times that of Germany. Which doesn’t seem entirely credible to me, but then I’m not an economist.

it’s all academic though as I don’t really see why the EU would let the UK in unless it was willing to adopt the Euro and Schengen, and the government has no mandate from the electorate to agree to that. So in one sense a good word for the re entry of the UK to the EU would be ‘undemocratic’, even though I don’t thing the UK should have ever left :)

Love this - reminds me of the Asterix characters.

Vital Statistix and Severe Regretix

should, not shall

@Tryingtokeepgoing

So while there is analysis that claims had the UK stayed in the EU it’s GDP would be between 6 and 8% higher than it is today.

I think that was the NBER report issued in November 2025. Hugely flawed analysis due to:

60% of the model was based on the US performance. A country which has been the largest economy in the world since the late 1800s and has never been, and never will be, a member of the UK.

The performance of both France and Germany was excluded from the analysis. Talk about fudging.

The NBER report estimated that employment had reduced over the 10 year period to 2025 even though measured data proved that unemployment had reduced from 2015 to 2024.

We didn’t have Schengen and Euro before. A shame if we didn’t this time. Schengen would drastically cut trade red tape and offer enhanced border security and intelligence. Likewise, the Euro would ease trade and tourism. I think, considering there’s no end to the disaster that is Trump that’s where we’re going - and with associate countries like Canada.

@SevenYellowHammers

UK can’t have Schengen as it is a form a border control. This would violate the terms of the Good Friday Agreement.

It’s one of the reasons the Ireland, who joined the EU in 1973, have never been in Schengen. Cyprus is not in Schengen either.

Not all EU members use the Euro.

That’s true and a shame. We didn’t and don’t have to have either. But we can return as full or associate. To be honest, it’s happening anyway.

Oh yes, the point I was making on the Euro was that the EU is likley to 'demand' it as a penalty for daring to leave :)

On the Ireland / UK / Schengen front, if both sign up to Schengen, doesn't the border control issue go away? As both sides of the border are EU / schengen participants?

Britains back, tell a friend
guess who’s, guess who’s back, guess who’s back
nana nana na….

Eur-in
But that might sound like urine! 🤣🤣

Who says?

@SevenYellowHammers

But we can return as full or associate. To be honest, it’s happening anyway.

I must have missed something. Has the UK formally triggered Article 49 to apply for EU membership? If so, has the EU accepted UK’s application?

@Tryingtokeepgoing

On the Ireland / UK / Schengen front, if both sign up to Schengen, doesn't the border control issue go away? As both sides of the border are EU / schengen participants?

When both sides of the invisible border were in the EU they weren’t in Schengen. So, why do it in the future?

MASSIVE MISTAKE we cannot afford it

Br-EU-tiful
UK-EU-ty

You are speaking facts here, but nobody wants to listen to those….

must have missed something. Has the UK formally triggered Article 49 to apply for EU membership?

One would think so! You win some, you lose some. Plenty of times governments have made huge decisions without consensus. I happen to be on the right side of this one. But there is danger of winding up leavers . Daniel Thomas has done a FANTASTIC job of discrediting them though.

Would anyone on here remarry their ex?

Oh I'm not saying that the UK should, I am just asking the question that if both sides were in Schengen does the problen go away. Although the EUs ability to implement working border controls is surprisingly poor, given that almost all other countries in the world manage to capture / check biometric data in real time for arriving non-nationals without the chaos that the EU has managed to create ;)

I'd love borders to be fricton free becase I hold a UK passprt and live in Italy, but when it's quicker and more efficient to get into an airport in India both as a first-time and repeat traveller than it can be to get into an EU counry it's hard to support the view that Brexit is the driver - it's good old fashioned EU bureaucracy and inability to implement a system effectively I fear :)

@SoBoredOfSelfDoubtHowToGetOut

Who says

Jean-Claude Juncker

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/06/15/eus-brexit-negotiator-juncker-uk-block-rejoining/

@Tryingtokeepgoing

Borders for passengers can be frictionless. There is an EU travel app which allows travellers to upload biometric data before they arrive at the airport.

However, so far, only Portugal and Sweden have adopted the App?