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Brexit dividing my family.

(432 Posts)
iluvsylvanianfamilies51 Fri 06-Dec-19 13:10:03

I voted leave in 2016 and had no idea it would come to this. I really think this country has never felt more divided. Walking on eggshells when discussing things with friends, family, neighbours. Not wanting to offend but not wanting to back down. It is horrible.

What makes me sad is that it feels like families are splintered and there's so much resentment. Grandkids all voted remain and kids voted remain and leave. All have arguments about it all the time and I feel them getting more closed off to each other.I t is unbearably sad. We shouldnt be divided like this.

I'm sure others feel the same but the reason I post is because my granddaughter sent me this video and I think it articulates it really well. You may not like Labour or momentum but I think we will agree that this tension between leave/remain leaves us weaker. And when I voted in 2016 I didn't think it would be so drawn out. I feel embarrassed about that

twitter.com/PeoplesMomentum/status/1202573131606573056

I have been on the fence about who to vote for but I despise Johnson for his comments on single mothers (AND his racism!) and I think Labour are the best chance we have to get a better leave deal and bring our country back together again. In 2015 I never expected political division to make living rooms tense and communities divided. I wish we could have it back and this stalemate to be over.

Chestnut Sat 07-Dec-19 17:41:38

Labaik - it would have been a lot easier of the arch-remoaners hadn't fought it tooth and nail and tried to stop it every step of the way. How can you ever expect it to go through easily with such a battle going on.

crystaltipps Sat 07-Dec-19 17:42:02

I don’t respect the vote of people like my late MiL who voted leave as she “didnt like Nigerians ”. She dead now anyway, so why we should count her vote now beats me.

crystaltipps Sat 07-Dec-19 17:44:08

chestnut what I object to is the glib phrase “we survived the wars” as a justification for Brexit, when millions didn’t survive the wars. So it’s insulting to them.

Labaik Sat 07-Dec-19 17:45:33

Chestnut; so you're solution to the Irish problem is [or was as I'm sure you thought it through before you voted]? Remainers didn't create the Irish problem; it was just ignored and glossed over by those who wanted people to think Brexit would be easy.

jenpax Sat 07-Dec-19 17:47:46

I am a passionate and immovable remainer ?? And luckily for me so are all my family! But I have fallen out with two old friends over Brexit who voted leave! We all feel this is such a vital issue that neither party can over look it. I feel that my children and grand children’s life prospects have been smashed to pieces by the leave voters and they view me as a traitor!

Judie Sat 07-Dec-19 17:49:34

My family and friends are more important than any vote,whenbthe referendum happened no politics became the rule in my house ,!fortunately my children can all hold different rules and still stay close.
If you fall out with someone because you dont like how they voted ,what would you have done if your vote was the winning vote and they told you that you had destroyed their children's future and they could no longer be friends and now see you in a different light?
Life is very short and somethings are far more important than politics.

Sleepygran Sat 07-Dec-19 18:27:00

I voted remain. My dad was a 'foreigner' 60 years ago and although I am white I felt the racist abuse as a child and even now felt safer being in the E U.I have family in the E U.
My husbands family voted leave and this has caused me some difficulty,they are also very racist,but his mother did accept me, however his sister and her family have only ever tolerated me.
Brexit has just made the situation worse by highlighting our differences.I will see her less and I think she'll be happy about this,but I'm sad for our children who are cousins as it has seriously damaged their relationship and I think it will result in no contact.
So... You are not on your own.

maddyone Sat 07-Dec-19 18:34:55

Children and grandchildren’s lives have been smashed to pieces. What a ridiculous exaggeration.

growstuff Sat 07-Dec-19 18:39:44

maddyone It's a hyperbole, but there's more than a huge grain of truth.

growstuff Sat 07-Dec-19 18:42:35

You have my sympathies Sleepygran.

varian Sat 07-Dec-19 18:45:05

Some families, like mine, are being divided by brexit, not because we disagree, we all agree, as do all of our extended family all agree that we want to remain in the EU, but one of my daughters is so distraught at the thought of her children being deprived of all the benefits of their EU citizenship that she and her family are about to emigrate to another EU country early next year.

The parents have both attended UK state schools and various UK universities and have much valuable working experience which has given them the transferable skills which are in demand everywhere and so, having seriously considered job offers from Sweden and Germany, they are now about to go the Austria, taking two of our lovely grandchildren.

They will all be sorely missed by us. Our lives will be changed for the worse. This is no exaggeration maaddyone. This is happening to grandparents all over the UK.

growstuff Sat 07-Dec-19 18:47:03

The problems of Ireland were actually highlighted before the referendum, especially by Professor Michael Dougan of Liverpool University, but they were flippantly brushed off. He was only an "expert" after all - what did he know? hmm.

Jellaway Sat 07-Dec-19 18:53:06

It’s funny as everyone says Brexit has divided the country almost in half. But actually with most voters going for either Labour or Conservative, the country has always been divided this way. It is just the natural way of things I think.

growstuff Sat 07-Dec-19 18:54:38

Why the heck should anything "go through easily"? The Brexit bullies really do seem to think that those who voted to remain should just shut up.

For a time after the referendum, I really was prepared to accept it and I tried to understand the reason people had voted to leave.

As time went by, the underhand tactics of the Leave campaigners became more obvious. What has really hardened my attitude, however, is the unwillingness of those who voted leave to justify their vote and outline the way forward. More than anything, the childishness of those who want "Brexit parties" and come out with meaningless soundbites has convinced me that these people couldn't give a toss about the future of the country.

Starblaze Sat 07-Dec-19 18:56:18

If Brexit were easy we would already have it. Its not, it's a mess. That's not the fault of remain voters for simply having an opinion about it.

Labaik Sat 07-Dec-19 18:56:28

Given that Johnson was found to have acted illegally can anyone tell me what remain supporters have done that's illegal to thwart Brexit?

maddyone Sat 07-Dec-19 18:56:39

It is exaggeration Varian. Of course you will miss your beloved grandchildren but you will easily be able to visit them (health allowing) and Austria is such a beautiful place to live in and to visit.
One of my children is a doctor, married to another doctor. They are considering emigrating to Australia, it is a lot further away than Austria. But I do not consider my life, or theirs, to be being smashed to pieces. Of course I would prefer them not to go, and will miss them in a way that I find too difficult to describe, as we have always had such a lot to do with these beloved children, but if they will have a better life, then so be it. It’s nothing to do with Brexit, it’s to do with the way doctors are undervalued in our NHS, and that Australia values the skills they offer and rewards them appropriately, unlike GB. I still hope they will not go, but we’ll have to wait to see.
Families are parted by emigration and always have been, it’s nothing to do with Brexit.

Labaik Sat 07-Dec-19 18:57:54

But Starblaze we didn't use our Dunkirk spirit to get behind Brexit so it's all our fault.

growstuff Sat 07-Dec-19 18:58:20

I disagree Jellaway. Brexit goes beyond party politics. It's about attitudes.

I've spoken to hundreds of people about Brexit and I know that it's the result of some very entrenched attitudes. The misinformation they've been fed is confirmation bias. It doesn't matter how much you give such people real facts, they just don't want to believe them, so they won't.

growstuff Sat 07-Dec-19 18:59:59

maddyone But Brexit is causing more families to be split than would otherwise have chosen to do so.

Starblaze Sat 07-Dec-19 19:00:00

So many people seem to think legalised mass murder is a great idea

Labaik Sat 07-Dec-19 19:00:07

It's also split political parties, too.

jura2 Sat 07-Dec-19 19:00:34

Been travelling to day and off line - and am amazed by some of the comments.

But this one from garnet, really stuck a chord ''My husband voted to leave and I am a strong remainder yet we agree to differ and leave it at that. However, we have friends who live in France who have been and will be badly affected by Brexit who can hardly bring themselves to be civil to him. I find all the animosity very distressing and unnecessary.''

so your friends in France will be badly affected - and you wonder why they are upset with a Leave voter?

It seems that those on here who say that it is 'silly' to allow Brexit to divide family and friends- are those who believe Brexit will be a wonderful thing and that it won't affect them ...

In the end some families will be very badly affected- and it is no wonder they are upset that others voted for it- and cannot see why they are upset about it. But ... at the end of the day- we will all suffer.

growstuff Sat 07-Dec-19 19:01:20

PS. Another thing which has meant I have zilch respect for those who voted to leave is when they call people names such as "arch-remoaner".

GagaJo Sat 07-Dec-19 19:04:47

Exactly growstuff. Very childish and beneath the level any of us should be communicating at on this forum.