What do you think now?

The tectonic plates of world politics are shifting and we need to think hard before making a huge mistake. Do we really want to be reliant on the likes of Donald Trump who seems to be very friendly with Putin? If the US pulls out of NATO, we will need to think about a European army. If this miserable deal goes through, how long before Scotland and Northern Island leave the UK? How strong will England be then? Much of our current economic power and influence is as a result of being in the EU; companies will up and leave when we no longer have access to their markets.
Of course there are things wrong with the EU, as there are with any organisation that ever existed, but putting those right can only be done from inside.
Are Leavers not worried about the influence of dark money? Arron Banks who donated 8 million to the Leave campaign refuses to reveal where it came from and sneers at the Parliamentary committee that tries to find out. Is this the control that Leavers want?
The lead campaigners for Leave are all privileged and wealthy. The EU wants to tax offshore accounts. Is there a link? Strange that Jacob Rees-Mogg's company has moved to Ireland.
The most liberal and humanitarian laws in my lifetime have come from the EU. Women's rights, workers' protection, etc. Do we seriously think the global companies are going to keep them?
Personally, I would rather be in Merkel and Macron's camp than Trump and Putin's.

I thought we lived in a democracy. The vote was to leave and that is what we should do. Definitely NO to a second vote. I also think it should have been a cross party negotiation as it concerns everyone. All parties have some good ideas and it would be better to work together for the good of the country rather than dismissing without thought what the Conservatives have proposed. The EU just say no all the time. Why don’t they come forward with suggestions as it will affect all the EU countries. Surely they want the best for their citizens too. An absolute shambles and we are not getting what we voted for. I am disgusted that my grandchildren will bare the fallout!

I voted Leave and would do so again. The EU is a totally different organisation from what was essentially a trading agreement between a few countries, which we originally joined. It seems to be dominated by Germany. It’s now far too large to work effectively - how can 27 countries easily reach agreements on anything? Other member states are clearly very unhappy also. But I do agree that the present draft agreement is a mess - and as I understand it, there is no option for later withdrawal if needed.

I initially voted to leave the EU in the referendum, and would definitely vote to leave in any other (uneccesary) referendum.

Few speak about the negative side of the EU, and ideas that Junker etc are considering - all countries forced to adopt the euro, inclusive tax systems across all member states, along with the mass immigration problems we are already experiencing.

The thing is, if we have another vote and it’s to stay in, the EU will make the UK scapegoats to deter any other country from trying to leave we’d be worse off. Anyway we’ve had a democratic vote and let’s just get on with it and get the best deal we can

I don't know if it's changed anything in my mind - I voted remain, and continue to believe in working together with our next door neighbours.

The whole of the UK did not vote to leave - it was mainly just England.

However, the thing that I still struggle with is what do we offer to the rest of the world when we try to set up trade deals? We have almost nothing by way of core industries producing goods, other than the manufacturing facilities set up by Japanese and other multinationals, to make it easier for them to reduce the costs of the products we buy from them.

We would not be selling on to say Belgium or Ghana, the rail vehicles built by Hitachi in the North East, and the steel still needs to be imported from France.

Our core business offering to trade with other countries seems to be the ability to shuffle paper around in the City of London, gambling on the price changes in commodities around the world, or currency speculation. The UK does of course have access to financial advisors in the Sale of Man, Gibraltar, Channel Islands, and other widely dispersed crown protectorates.

I'd be interested to know what others think we offer in terms of goods in trade.

When we had that referendum back in the 1970s - before anyone says it was just the EEC - the Government White Paper published then clearly stated that as a group of countries we would be moving closer, socially and economically.

The EU was what we signed up top in 1975

I voted to leave and would do again. Although the deal as currently negotiated is probably worse than staying in, I do not believe that it is the final version.

No and Yes - we have been woefully deceived

What i have a issue with are the the many people that chose not to vote, thinking theirs didn't matter but have since done nothing but complain about the outcome.
I don't think we should have another one because where would it end? Don't like general election result, never mind lets have another?

I didn't last time and I never would. Unfortunately, the people who did and I fell equally strongly.

This has all been carefully planned by EU so we back down. Still leave for me even more so after they have made it so difficult to get out. This confirms my reasons to leave.

Agree with Teetime and Cherrytree. I am rather concerned that France and Germany now want a European army. I would much rather, if we have to have an army, we continue with NATO and support UN policy initiatives.

I voted to remain and I am still of that view. EUisn’t perfect as Europeans already know, but I feel we should stay inside and work together to change from there - we do have influence. Rabid anti-EU propaganda in Press whose owners have their own axes to grind - never anything about the many advantages we owe to it which are now taken for granted. Situation now is worse than before - all the disadvantages and it has cost us a fortune with very few Leave promises able to be kept. We need vote on situation as it is now not two years ago.

Agreed GranJan60.

Esspee ^How about the best of three?
If you don't like the result we could go for the best of five!^

We definitely need another referendum. No one knew the potential impact of what they were voting for. We were fed obvious lies by leaver campaigners - most of whom admit they were lying and have left the cause rather quickly. The biggest lie being that we have no control over what the EU does - of course we do! That's what our elected MEP's do - represent us! Almost all EU recommendations were supported by our MEP's! Now, we know what the impact will be. Even the right wing politicians, who only serve the rich remember, are saying it is a bad idea. The cabinet is collapsing as more MP's decide that leaving is a ridiculous idea that will benefit no-one. Of course leaving will cost us billions and plunge us into an isolationist triggered economic depression. Already jobs are being lost, businesses are moving or not employing new staff, researchers cannot access EU funds or be part of EU research, Universities are losing income from EU students, food and energy prices are going up, NHS and care services are in crisis because they can't recruit staff as EU citizens are leaving us and we Brits don't want to do these jobs, and companies are stockpiling food. We will pay more for food and travel abroad, our kids will lose the right to be educated in the EU, we won't be able to work or move to the EU either. All of this because the Tory party didn't want to lose members to UKIP. I despair.

I would vote remain as I did the first time. Amazes me that knowing what we know now how anyone would vote leave. Companies are already moving from the UK which isn't surprising.

We had the first Referendum NOT because the people of this country demanded one, but because David Cameron was trying to heal the divisions in the Tory Party. Boris Johnson did not agree with leaving - he was a Remainer in the past; the only reason he campaigned to Leave was to show the Tory party that he could get them lots of votes and get the Leadership nomination - he didn't expect to win and was shocked when he did (hence him swiftly exiting from standing as PM - he didn't want to have to clear up the mess he'd made). Russia interfered in the election (as it has admitted) because it wants the breakup of the EU (and any threat from a possible European army) so it can do what it wants (especially now that Trump owes billions of $$ to Russian banks and will do as he's told). So - basically - the whole thing has been to further the political ambitions of Cameron and Johnson, and to put Russia is a better position to threaten Europe. It was never about what's best for us, the people of this country. The fact that the Common Market/EU has given us 70+ years of peace in Europe and made us the 6th richest economy in the world was hardly mentioned. The more I find out about what's been going on, and the more consequences I see from leaving the EU, the more I regret my decision to vote Leave. Yes, to another Referendum (this time I would vote Remain) and give 16 year olds the vote (after all, it's THEIR future not ours) but it won't happen. The politicians haven't got the guts and we'd be threatened with "losing face" with the EU. What a sorry mess.

I hadn't made up my mind which way to vote when I left my house on referendum day.I voted to leave because two people I know of who worked in Brussels voted to leave because they said it was corrupt. Also, when younger I was very much influenced by E F Schumacher's 'Small is Beautiful'. The EU is now far too large to truly democratic.

I do not think these are shameful or stupid reasons for voting to leave and like many other Gransnetters, I feel the behaviour of the EU since we voted to leave, has made me feel I did the right thing.

Oh No- NOT another referendum please!!
I voted to leave & have never regretted it & still firmly believe it is the way forward for us if they could just get on with it!

Applegran. We had our “people’s vote” back in 2016. I voted to leave the EU then, and that is still what I want to happen. But we live in a democracy (thankfully, as I can envisage no better option) which means that a plethora of views need to be considered. I guess that, if we lived in a dictatorship, all would have been done and dusted months ago and by now we would have rioting in the streets.

Having said that, I don’t think that a referendum on this issue was a democratic move by the government of the time. Quite the opposite: it was a cop out. Our MPs represent us and need to understand what we want, so it is our responsibility to engage with them and hold them to account. If we want to maintain the privileges of a democracy the current mayhem must stop. Goodness knows how.

Although i voted REMAIN i truly think there should be another vote on what the realities are...

in the referendum i feel we almost voted instinctively .... certainly some of the promises are wildly wrong ..

i would really like the opportunity for us all to now vote on the realities...

QT tonight should be interesting.

Absolutely. Me, my husband and all my family would vote leave again. The EU have proved themselves to be even more horrific than we imagined at the referendum.