How do you feel about Brexit?

SydBarrett

The "independent scotland" thread got me thinking on this.

There are a lot of Brits on this board. What are your thoughts on Brexit? Has your life become better? What burden's have been lifted from you? Have there been any drawbacks?

slimboyfat

It’s a complete disaster as fas as I’m concerned. We don’t have freedom of movement any more. Even simple things like sending parcels to Europe has become needlessly complicated.

The inflation we currently have is worse than other countries which is partly down to Brexit. The economy overall is doing worse, again partly down to Brexit.

It’s not just Brexit. There are many other problems with the country, such as the lack of choice between parties and no genuine socialist programme offered by any. Most people in the country want to nationalise energy and transport but no mainstream party will offer it in their manifesto. Minor parties that do offer it are effectively excluded by our first past the post system. And where is the open debate on whether we want to be involved in this war in Ukraine? We have no choice in the matter we are dragged into it without a vote and whether we like it or not.

SydBarrett

And where is the open debate on whether we want to be involved in this war in Ukraine? We have no choice in the matter we are dragged into it without a vote and whether we like it or not.

This may go way off on a tangent, but i'm asking as an American curious about the British point of view. Would you feel differently if it were Belgium instead of Ukraine?

Britain has always had this "part of Europe/not part of Europe" thing. Understandable and interesting

Journeyman

What are your thoughts on Brexit?

Haha... I'm not sure you really want to go there! That's quite a can of worms to open up. But then, since there are already threads repeating the interminable (and intractable) divisions between pro- and anti-Trump voters in the USA, I suppose its only fair to risk one about this subject!

But since you ask... I think it was absolutely the right decision, but one that has been badly handled by those in power who were supposed to be pro-Leave, but have not gone about implementing it in the right way, making a right mess of it almost from the outset.

In the meantime, many who voted Remain but lost the vote, having failed with their pre-vote doom campaign and their attempts to overturn a valid referendum outcome, have continued to whinge from the sidelines, throw all kinds of insults at those who voted to Leave, and repeatedly talk down the UK since, insisting that every bad (or even just slightly less than positive) thing that has happened since 2016 is "because of Brexit". It's no wonder they're disparagingly called "Remoaners" by those who voted Leave! It's actually become something of a sick joke that they constantly pop up on forums and interviews blaming Brexit for anything that seems like bad news.

Where I do agree with slim is the state of the two main political parties - being in such a mess that there is no real choice on offer to voters. But then, they have been heading that way from long before the Brexit vote. Really, since Tony Blair took over the Labour Party (the main left-leaning party) in the mid-1990s and turned it into "New" Labour, tearing up a lot of the party's former supposedly socialist(*) principles, the choice has been narrowing to the mess we have today.

What seems far worse now though, is the poor calibre of Prime Ministers and cabinets we've had really, especially since the Blair era. All the senior politicians in the main UK national parties today (Conservative, Labour, Liberal Democrat) seem of dubious character and trustworthiness to me.

(*) - The caveat here for American readers is that "left-wing" and "socialist" in UK and European politics are NOT the same as "communist", despite what you may have been brought up to think from your own electoral system!

SydBarrett

) - The caveat here for American readers is that "left-wing" and "socialist" in UK and European politics are NOT the same as "communist", despite what you may have been brought up to think from your own electoral system!

How dearly I wish people understood this.

Even Simon in another thread, lumped Nazis with Communists. It was so hard not to take the bait. But I didnt.

Journeyman

And where is the open debate on whether we want to be involved in this war in Ukraine? We have no choice in the matter we are dragged into it without a vote and whether we like it or not.

I understand this viewpoint, although it was the same with the Gulf Wars, especially the second one for the (IMO illegal) overthrow of Saddam, based on lies about WMD. The UK was pulled into it by Blair who was determined to unquestioningly back up his buddy George W. But that's already "old history" and so much more has been built on top of that.

What does seem different now though, perhaps due to social media - is that everyone, including the public, are expected to buy fully into supporting the Ukraine military and financial campaign (UKR flags on their profiles, their car windows and bumpers, etc, etc). At least with Iraq, for example, although the people on the whole were told to accept it was the "right" thing to do, noone was really expected to support it to the extent of posting propaganda material themselves.

But then that's happening will all kinds of causes, campaigns and movements today too, from MeToo to BLM to Pride and anything else than can be summed up with a fancy hashtag or flag/symbol. Strange times.

punkofnice

SBF - It’s a complete disaster

This /\ /\ /\

stan livedeath

surely one of the reasons for joining the EU in the first place--was to allow limitless cheap labour into the UK--thus keeping wages for the working masses low. Since leaving--wages have rapidly gone up. Whether thats a good thing--or not--is beyond me.

Phizzy

"Since leaving--wages have rapidly gone up". The wage rises have nothing to do with Brexit, they are coming in to try to reduce the gap between what was earned in 2010 and now.(Tory Austerity, to keep inflation down, remember ? but inflation continued).

There is NO BENEFIT we could have from Brexit even if it had been handled in a better way. If you think there is, list them, I will demolish them.

SBF and Punkie have it right, it's a complete disaster. It was always going to be.

BoogerMan

Yet to see or receive any noticeable benefits.

"Regaining control of our borders" and "sovereignty" (N.I.) don't appear to have played out as promised.

How do you feel about Brexit?

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