Interesting concept - an EU associate membership scheme

No information on the link as to what the benefits if any, would be.

I signed up a few weeks ago

The only benefit I need is to feel I m still recognised as part of Europe other than group graphical and to distance myself from the xenophobic element that this has caused
I want no other benefits

Sounds as though the benefits are purely psychological. It saddens me that so many people don't see themselves as British first and then Europeans (which actually we all are anyway).

Never been British Britain is only the island Scotland is housed on ,I;m Scottish ,European.With links with mainland Europe for centuries .There are 4 that FOUR countries on this island ,that means unless England decides it wants to be TRULY independent as people tell us ,then they have to walk away from the other three countries.The ones that pay your bills !!

Honestly and not trying to wind you up ladymuck but I am always very offended if someone calls me British and quickly correct them .

I've signed and we'll see what it can achieve. The reason I have a strong desire to remain personally connected with the EU is because my only family live there and most of my professional life has been deeply rooted in working within the EU and with European participants on courses in the UK. For years I earned my living from the EU. That job has gone.

Please don't assume that I don't feel 'British'. I love Britain, always felt proud to be British, and resent being told to move abroad if I don't like leaving the EU. I'm as patriotic as the next person, but this is a huge wrench for me personally and I truly believe it's a retrograde step for the UK.

I am British first and Europrean next, Ladymuck but I don't feel the need to make a song and dance about it, or be xenophobic about my British passport. The British Isles are geographically part of Europe, and Europe is our biggest market, both to sell and buy, and the nearest "foreign" land for visits and for cultural and societal ties. By being IN the EU we had a say in how the diverse countries related to one another and to the rest of the world, without giving up our British identity.

Currently I live in Scotland, and have done since before the sixties. Ever since I became "naturalised" here, I have identified more with the Scottish psyche than the English one, but my roots, and my family's roots, are in southern England. I can't delete those or remove my love of certain areas, or the memories associated with them, from my heart.

I don't want the UK to break up in the wake of the split from Europe. I want individualism to be celebrated, while togetherness gives us a united partnership to build bridges, not to burn them in bitterness and recriminations.