Gransnet forums

News & politics

Brexit: On a scale of 1 to 10, where do you stand?

(349 Posts)
Bagatelle Wed 21-Jun-17 20:26:38

Given that the result of the EU referendum was hardly a landslide, I can't see that a 'hard Brexit' was ever justified.

Leave: 37.5%
Remain: 34.7%
Neutral/confused/apathetic: 27.8%

On a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 as stay as we were and 10 as leave the EU as far behind as possible,
- where did you stand when you voted (if you did) and
- have your thoughts changed since?

AsarahG Sat 24-Jun-17 09:18:14

10 definitely - the only way the EU will bring peace is if it is genuinely a union of different states. At present it is a dictatorship. They are talking about an EU army and I do not want my grandchildren conscripted into an army that could be sent to put down rebellion in the poorer southern countries, or the Russian borders when the EU wants to encroach into Russia as it did with Ukraine. They did not want us to join the EU and only wanted our money. Nothing there has changed. Working and living in on the continent will still be possible as it is in other countries in the world. We will be able have proper politics which has already started - the young have been sleepwalking into a dictatorship and have now woken up.

Leticia Sat 24-Jun-17 17:43:14

10 then and even more so now.
Utterly nutty to do anything as damaging as leave- especially when no one has a clue how to do it!

Ana Sat 24-Jun-17 17:45:22

I think you've got that the wrong way round, Leticia...

whitewave Sat 24-Jun-17 17:45:31

Should that be a 1 leticia? grin?

Leticia Sat 24-Jun-17 17:47:58

I have just asked HQ to delete it!
Apologies - I meant a very definite 1 and even more definite after a year, if that is possible!

Leticia Sat 24-Jun-17 17:49:03

I would hate anyone to think that I was a 10 at any point - never!

MaizieD Sat 24-Jun-17 17:49:31

If it were a dictatorship, AsarahG it was one in which the UK played a leading role.

But I am at a loss to understand how an organisation comprising 28 countries can be a 'dictatorship' when all the countries have a voice in its affairs.

AsarahG Sat 24-Jun-17 19:25:18

MaizieD we did not seem to have any voice in the affairs. If we had, our worries would have at least have been discussed when DC went and expressed them. Laws are made that we have to follow, we have no way of voting them out.

Welshwife Sat 24-Jun-17 19:54:06

UK has a veto and so have the other 27 - many of the laws are actually made by UK - Brits are considered some of the best lawmakers!
Cameron did get some concessions but the press made little of them. - one was an agreement of not needing to join the Euro and also more leeway on having immigrants having certain limitations put on their rights - cannot remember the details now. Mind you the mechanisms for the Uk to restrict the benefits immigrants had were ALWAYS there - the UK Govts simply CHOSE not to implement them - that was not the fault of the EU.
Are you not worried about the loss of jobs and trade that the UK will suffer very quickly - if not even before Brexit actually takes place. It is looking more and more as if thousands of city jobs will go to Frankfurt. These other countries stand to gain greatly from Britain leaving and yet they would still prefer it stayed!

AsarahG Sat 24-Jun-17 20:19:42

There are arguments on both sides and it is easy to believe all you hear in the media. I have only one view and that is I do not want to be dictated to by a foreign power who I do not trust. No one knows how it will financially affect the UK and there are many and various media and internet statements which we can pick and choose. I feel safer voting for my own destiny. I am not frightened of going it alone and have every faith in our wonderful people. History tells us that we have some fantastic brains and can work well together.

Welshwife Sat 24-Jun-17 20:39:28

The world has changed radically since the UK last went it alone. If jobs are lost as seems highly likely - and not just initially when the banks and medical agency move and other City institutions - others will go as contracts run out and are not renewed such as the car and aviation industries. The borders will make it so much more difficult for these businesses.
New jobs will be a while coming and what I wonder will everyone do? Less taxes will affect everyone because of the reduction of money for public services.
I hope that we hard Remainers are proved wrong and all goes swimmingly well because if it doesn't we will all be in the nasty stuff and have great trouble extricating ourselves.

AsarahG Sat 24-Jun-17 20:40:14

P.S. the city just opens new regional offices like it has all over the world. They don't move offices!

AsarahG Sat 24-Jun-17 20:49:45

I hope we can all succeed and a I do have sympathy with those who wanted to remain. I just saw that London was doing fine and the rest of the UK was being ignored. I know that we are important to the EU and expect us to have a decent mutual relationship where we both prosper. We are a strong country and have other friends outside the EU that we have sadly neglected over the years. I hope they forgive us. Africa is a great emerging economy and should not be ignored as a partner, along with all the other emerging countries we have been ignoring in favour of the few.

rosesarered Sat 24-Jun-17 21:00:21

Excellent posts AsarahG

AsarahG Sat 24-Jun-17 21:29:02

Thanks resesarered, I say as I see. I don't follow fashion, as my ex-husband used to say!

Tegan2 Sat 24-Jun-17 21:36:05

What are we going to trade with Africa?eg will we be able to import fruit/vegetables/wine from them? This is a genuine question, by the way. I really want to know what these new markets are going to consist of. Maybe it will be like when we sold cigarettes and formula baby milk to third world countries to make money.

daphnedill Sat 24-Jun-17 21:45:36

1 Renewable energy, bu the UK won't be the exporter. It will drain capital away from the UK into infrastructure projects in Africa. The Chinese are already there and have a significant influence.

2 Ask Arron Banks, who has mines in Southern Africa. He personally makes loads of money from them, but I don't see much of it filtering into the UK economy.

There's always Albania and North Korea, who aren't already aligned within a trading bloc. hmm

GillT57 Sat 24-Jun-17 21:51:56

1 before and if possible a minus 1 now as I see the disaster unfold. Those voting 10 have not yet come up with any good reasons for their decisions, the economy is heading for disaster, farmers are in a panic about getting food off the fields, but still people bleat on about 'taking back control' and still elected fools like the duplicitous Gove promise fishermen that they will be able to fish where they like and as they like, as if regulations will no longer exist. I don't know what makes me despair more, the politician with their lies, or the people who believe it and elect them.

whitewave Sat 24-Jun-17 21:53:31

And the WTO rules? How do you propose we get around that?

whitewave Sat 24-Jun-17 21:54:14

asharah

AsarahG Sat 24-Jun-17 21:56:41

Honey, cashews, coffee etc. etc. there is plenty and finance indurstries taking off. They may not be in the main stream at the moment, but they will be. Listen to the modern thinking coming from Africa on the World Service radio and think ahead to the next decade. I am thinking of my grandchildren, not myself.

whitewave Sat 24-Jun-17 22:00:22

asarah and the WTO rule. How do you propose we get around them?

daphnedill Sat 24-Jun-17 22:02:14

How does the UK make money from trading honey, cashews and coffee with Africa? We already import cashews, coffee and some honey?

The UK stands to lose billions from lost financial services exports.

The UK can never make huge profits from exporting raw materials. We just don't have enough of them and we do't have the land to grow them. We have made money over the last five hundred years from adding value and trading.

daphnedill Sat 24-Jun-17 22:06:25

AsarahG Most African countries have an awful long way to go to become politically stable countries, on whom we can rely for trade. I know some people are investing, especially in renewable and mobile technology, but it's a miniscule part of the UK economy. By the time any benefits are felt in the UK (if ever, because China got there before we did), we need to find a way to stop the UK turning into a third world economy itself.

AsarahG Sat 24-Jun-17 22:09:27

It is mainly financial services now I think. The thing is, we none of us can know what will happen and it is silly for me to say this will happen and this will not, because we do not know. There is always the unexpected round the corner too. All I am saying is, I do not want to be politically affiliated to a system I do not trust. I prefer to duck and dive in the rest of the world than be tied to the EU.