What next?

Well said lindiloo.
I have had variousdealing with EU and Brussels over the years and " jobs for the boys " and they have tried their best to scupper the British exit , they want to rule the whole of Europe which is not what we originally signed up for . We have been taken advantage of and not respected- they didn't believe we would withdraw so did nothing about improving the return of our financial contributions or listened to our issues We have been treated like a cash cow !

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Theresa May certainly was handed a poisoned chalice and surely nobody thinks that she sat down and actually drafted the Brexit deal all by herself! Actually, before the referendum, she campaigned to remain in the EU...

There was a democratic vote. It’s result should be respected by all and, as this is a national rather than political matter, should be negotiated by a cross party group.

I believe democracy is a precious thing and if we are given a vote we should use it. That said, I don’t think the public should ever have been given this referendum, for reasons which were made abundantly clear by the result - a gut reaction taken with no real understanding of the convoluted issues involved. I voted remain for several reasons, not the least of which was because I felt I didn’t have enough information to be able to vote leave - the campaigning on both sides seemed chaotic and there was very little in the way of factual information amongst the political rhetoric and infighting. I suspect many people did the same and I also suspect that many who voted leave did so as a knee jerk reaction to the much publicised excesses and overblown powers of the EU without giving much thought to what we would actually lose. Over the years since the vote I feel I have learned a lot of facts which should have been at my fingertips at the time of the vote and I think a lot of people must feel the same. Put simply, I don’t think the original vote served democracy very well. It took place in a chaotic and hostile atmosphere and with no attempt to educate the public in what either outcome would actually mean, and since the vote, both leavers and remainers have had time to absorb the enormity of what we have done. So at the risk of bringing down the wrath of Gransnetters on my head, I think democracy would be better served if we could revoke article 50 and start again. We should be demanding factual information, not partisan rhetoric, and perhaps then we could all vote with a better understanding of the consequences - be it remain or leave.

All I can say is MPs have treated Theresa May disgracefully and should be ashamed. I didn't vote leave and those who did probably didn't realise what it involved. United we stand divided we fall...…...history repeating itself time and time again.

Lyndiloo I think you are being very optimistic if you think the ramifications of this will only last a couple of years. Even the Brexiteer say it will take a generation.

And can somebody tell me what 'getting our Sovereignty back' actually means?

Can I just deal with your points one by one.

Whatever deal is presented, we'd have to pay billions. Leave said we'd get back £350 million a WEEK for the NHS. That turned out to be a lie.

''Go for no deal and walk away''. Will you be happy to see the motorway from Dover turned into a lorry park for 25 miles, for goods to rot in lorries? For your medication to be non-existent because pharmacists can't get any from abroad?
Any trade deals with the Far East, Australasia etc are totally impractical. Do you want to see trade deals with Trump which bring chlorine rinsed chicken and hormone ridden beef to the UK, not to mention no checks on food hygiene?

''We might have to face a couple of hard years''. No deal is like falling into an abyss. Nobody knows how long it will take to recover. If anyone here remembers hardships during the war, I imagine this would be a LOT worse.

''I don't want the UK to be a small state in a Federal Europe.'' The EU has united Europe for 70 years and we need them more than they need us. Grants to impoverished areas like Cornwall and South Wales have been given in EU subsidies, along with subsidies for farmers and fishermen. All that will now be lost, resulting in the economy plummeting further. Do you want to go back to the Empire mentality when we've not had an Empire for over 50 years?

The EU is ''corrupt''. As is this government. Full of ex-businessmen and women who think they can run the UK like the companies they once bossed about. May granting absolution to 2 sex pest MP's (Charlie Elphicke & Andrew Griffiths) so they can vote in her favour and many other examples.
Corrupt? I'll say.

''Money wasted by the EU''. No worse than MP's claiming expenses for moat cleaning, duck houses, car journeys of less than a mile, bathplugs, the use of porn channels etc.

I just don't understand the mentality of people who seemingly want to push the UK and its people off the metaphorical cliff's edge.

We should have Another referendum with the truth this time. And maybe young people will get off their moany seats and vote. Many did but as I discovered working for electoral services, the older the person, the more they registered and the younger had to be chased and chased. A graph would show this.

The only authority which can revoke Article 50 is the British Parliament. Europe has nothing to do with it at all. Europe only becomes involved if parliament wants to change/ move the date ie put it back.

We were only given a binary choice in the referendum i.e. stay or leave we didn’t voyte for any of this. How many people really understood about the Irish border complications and customs union et cetera et cetera

If there were another referendum, and the result was 48/52, again, but this time a vote to remain, would the those who voted to stay in regard it as a definitive result, this time? (FWIW, I voted remain.) I'm just wondering about perspective regarding one's vote and views.

Well said. And it’s been a long time now since the referendum and things have changed. I’m sick to death of hearing about the will of the people.

For those people saying people voted and it’s democracy and that has to be upheld, the point about the democracy is that you can change your mind . that’s why it’s different to a dictatorship.!!! It’s almost 3 years since the last referendum, when practically nothing else has got done in the country, so why can’t people have a chance to rethink ?

Waiting with bated breath...HOPING for a no-deal Brexit, don't believe all the doom and gloom at all, just trying to scare the more credulous!

We should respect peoples democratic right to vote how they decide, no need for recriminations here, perhaps just opinions on how the problem can be solved.

Sorry - last sentence meant to be "We're going to have to go anyway, no matter the risks"

Leavers wanted our Government to "take back control". If this is what taking back control looks like it doesn't bode well for the future, particularly in a much diminished economy.

the leave campaign broke the law in campaigning so the result should be invalid. Labour would make a far better job of negotiating a future cos with May (or should she be known as dismay?) loudly shouting about red lines it didn't leave much open to negotiating.

No-one in the Tory party wants May's job just yet - it's a poisoned chalice. They will wait until we're out, then the next PM can blame anything that goes wrong on Mrs May. Scheming cowards, the lot of them.

At the time of the referendum, the only thing we thought we knew was what the public was told, some of which turned out to be a load of lies! I assume there will be some who have changed their minds since it has became a lot clearer as to what we would be letting ourselves in for in leaving Europe. (I voted remain and very glad I did!)

The vast majority of folk voted with integrity and for what they believed would give the best future for the UK.
Unfortunately, a lot of lies and misinformation was peddled by Boris Johnson, Nigel Farage et al.
Immigration - we did have powers to restrict immigration for 7 years from new members and also to remove immigrants if they were not financially able to support themselves after 3 months. The UK gov chose not to use these powers!
Economy - we give a tiny fraction of our annual spend to EU and have absolutely had our money's worth.
Rules - again, a small % of our rules are made via EU. These have been made with UK as an equal partner at the table. many are about workers' rights,fairness, and environmental protection.. if we want any trade with EU in future, we will need to adhere to many of the rules, but without any say.
I was watching EU parliament this morning debating last night's UK vote defeating May's deal.
The overwhelming response is concern for the impact on UK ( and EU) citizens in the event of no-deal/bad deal. They are also open to UK staying in EU. There isn't and never has been any impression of a desire on the part of EU to be obstructive or impose penalties on UK.
Finally - to say we must leave as the people voted to leave and to change our minds would be undemocratic is just not the case. If a group of friends chose a holiday destination based on a glossy brochure and then found out the brochure didn't reflect the reality and the hotel was half-built, dirty and responsible for many cases of food-poisoning, who in their right mind would say " We voted for that hotel, it would be wrong and undemocratic to change our minds.We're going to have to go anyway, no matter the risks"?

Well said Lyndiloo ?

The situation we now find ourselves in was entirely predictable as soon as the result of the referendum was declared. As I see it, the problem has arisen because the majority vote to leave WAS too close and that inevitably means that all those thousands of people who wished to remain in the EU feel disenfranchised.

Some of us envisaged the current impasse we now find ourselves in at that time. Not happy that I was correct.

I don’t want to rehash all the old arguments - whatever side of the line you are in this is embarrassing and who knows where we go next We had to storm off heads held high or remain and join in with Europe neither are now possible. TM was a remainer so her Brexit was always going to be a bit soft. Where is Nigel and Boris now?? I’d have more respect if they took up the reigns and marched us out.
What a mess and not a leader in sight- I expected a battle for hearts and minds we could unite behind - whatever our view- instead we have the worst of all worlds. It will be OK though, whatever. It’s very embarrassing as a Nation, but we do have options either way and no one ever died of a bit of international embarrassment!!

I have grave concerns regarding the referendum. I agree, we should take the people's voice. But, the referendum was poorly administered which led to blatant lies and misinformation. I know two people who voted Brexit and would again. I know of over 50 who would not vote Brexit again. I know of no remainders who would now vote leave. So what went wrong.
The government should have laid out clearly two options, debated and agreed in the house. Information should then have been published which the House agreed, listing what was on offer. As it was the vote was on subjective information that was interpreted in many ways.
We are now in chaos with everyone saying their interpretation is correct! We need The House to agree what is on offer and then go back to the people. Brexiters can't complain as if indeed the people want to leave then the country will vote that way. Remainers can't complain if the second vote is to leave as the subjectivity and misinformation will not be valid arguments against accepting the vote. Then the country can get on with what we need to do.

We should also remember there was a small majority. Almost half the country disagreed. So there was never a 'clear mandate' and division was always guaranteed.
And all this because Cameron wanted to silence dissent in his party ?