Don't forget the Elephants in the Room

MaggsMcG

The French Government hate England and always have. No idea why. Even before Brexit.

as 'the French government' are only one of many members of the EU, I don't really see the relevance of your comment

People who voted for brexit are NOT horses to be frightened! How patronizing!

Most of the comments on here believe that Brexit was a mistake. You really need to read around more and look at the situation in the Eurozone now. Germany is in recession and France has enormous debts. The so called union cannot even agree on help for Ukraine.

It should be made compulsory to vote in General Elections and Referendi (not sure if thats the right plural) Maybe not so much in the local elections. Its not right to allow results to be decided when so many people don't even bother to vote at all.
I used to be one of them but I do tend to vote in these two situations. Also apparently loads of 18 year olds dont bother to vote at all so why give 16 and 17 years olds a vote. They can't drink, they cant get married without parents consent, and they are not officially Adults. The majority of them aren't even able to get themselves from A to B without the help of their Helicopter parents.

Is it Brexit that has seen the closure of three nearby local "Fish and Chip shops" where I live. I would enjoy a lovely fish and chips meal every couple of weeks. the only place now that does a fish and chips is in a burger/curry shop and it is just not the same as the older type fish and chip shop. I thought we would get closer to our older British standards it seems not and out the door has gone the fish and chips tradition I am not impressed at all.

The French Government hate England and always have. No idea why. Even before Brexit.

Yes, you should honour the vote of the people, but in a true democracy you are allowed to vote again, after a passage of time. Isn't that what the GE is about, being allowed to vote for change? We need another vote on BREXIT, because that would be genuine democracy.

“I support” not “is support”

I do agree Brexit biggest disaster ever
Far too many lies , I totally agree with Merseymog in all that’s said in her comments, No politicians are addressing this ,

I completely agree with the OP.

We sorely need to reform our voting system and our HoL.

This two party system, first past the post, clearly isn’t working and is support PR. Yes, I’m aware there is a danger here Han some of the less balanced parties may gain seats, but overall it should make for a fairer proportion of different MPs and represent more of us.

As for Brexit……. All I can say is thanks a lot Cameron!

Agree. Will never forgive BREXIT. Nothing like shooting yourself in the foot.

I agree with the OP, and Heseltine has said as such, that this is a 'dishonest' election because nobody is addressing Brexit. I do however, understand why the Labour party in particular is not directly addressing it; can you imagine the headlines in the (mainly) Brexit supporting printed press? There would be claims that Starmer is 'overturning democratic vote' and such. FPTP certainly has its failings, and I speak as someone with a worthless vote due to living in a very strong seat for one party. However, FPTP can end up with what is effectively government by committee which can bring its own problems of nothing getting done.

Oh yes, agreed absolutely, Merseymog!

Brexit was a disaster and more and more people are beginning to realise that according to surveys - about 60% now. Labour should seek to rejoin the EU asap though we shall not achieve the same terms as before.

I agree with you wholeheartedly

So were there no controls on the importation of food before Brexit? I don’t mean from the EU, I know about that, I mean since 115 countries sent food samples, were there no checks on food coming in from outside the EU before Brexit? It seems unlikely, but maybe not!

I quote from yesterday's Guardian
The Great Taste awards are a British success story – the world’s largest food awards, celebrating the best products on the planet. But new post-Brexit import controls have forced the organisers to hold a judging panel outside the UK for the first time in the awards’ 30-year history.

Since January, anyone sending meat, dairy or fish products to the UK has to find a vet to fill out a seven-page form showing that the product is disease-free. And since April, exporters have also had to pay a fee of £29 for each product, whether it’s a container full of Irish beef or a single packet of Tayto cheese and onion crisps, unless they are for personal use. This includes the 13,672 samples sent to the Great Taste judges from 115 countries.

Neither the pandemic nor the war in Ukraine will have had any bearing on this decision. This is just one of the decisions, large and small arising from Brexit, and Brexit alone, which are reported daily in the papers.

Another small one, we recently sold a holiday home in France and some of the contents, almost without exception bought or inherited in England and taken to France, were returned to Britain. We had to pay an exit duty of 20% on their value. Why? because we are no longer part of the EU.

winterwhite it was way back in the 'good old' days of the coalition, as I said above. In 2011 we had a referendum on using the STV system which they have in lots of countries. The turnout was 46% but only because it was the same day as local elections. The vote was 67% against. I just don't think there was the appetite for it then and maybe still isn't now.

Brexit was also about immigration- ‘our borders’ were very much part of ‘taking back control’. I really don’t understand why improving relations with Europe or similar wording can’t be part of the Labour manifesto.

I don’t think electoral reform has been put to the test of public opinion.

Mmmm, those Scots who voted to remain and so had to leave like the rest of us?
Brexit is the real economic issue here and yes, it is being ignored.
As for FPTP- it does indeed need reform as does almost our entire political system. Only when the smaller parties (who will be the only ones to benefit) begin to take significant votes away from the main parties, will that even come back on the table.
There was a referendum on electoral reform during the coalition ( the Lib-Dems made it a deal breaker and they were appeased by Cameron who liked giving in to pleas for referenda) but hardly anyone turned out to vote (unlike me) and so it was taken off the table maybe it is time it was put back on there.

I didn’t vote for Brexit as I didn’t feel I knew enough to make such an important decision but I respect the outcome.
It’s only 8 years ago and since then we had the pandemic and the war in Ukraine, both affecting the economy, so I don’t know how things could have improved in that short amount of time.It wasn’t really all about the economy tho was it, as it was more a feeling about how the EU was going and let’s make all our own decisions as a country.A bit like the Scots who want to leave our union.

Pantglas2

So how would you resolve the situation given that more people who vote wanted those things to happen or stay the same?

Exactly.
You may not like the results OP but it’s still democracy.

Well if Labour is going to try for a closer working with Europe, let’s hope it gets included in the manifesto promises and the voters know what is being proposed. If it’s not included, then it shouldn’t be pushed through if in power.

In a normal world governments make decisions, and if it proves a wrong decision they will reverse it, in order to stop harm to the country.

Leaving the biggest free market on earth was one daft decision, that needs re-thinking.

I am hopeful that if Labour do get into government they will begin the process (albeit very slowly, so as not to frighten the horses) of closer working, to help our economy to begin to recover.

Just watch what happens to the market if they make that sort of announcement - it will immediately bounce back.

The problem is that those that voted for Brexit won’t admit that it has been a disaster, only that they didn’t get the Brexit they wanted, which was based on lies anyway ( eg cheaper energy…). At least we’ll hopefully have a Labour government that will strengthen our ties with Europe instead of treating them as some kind of enemy; remember Liz Truss’s remark re France.