Today is the 8th anniversary of the vote to leave the EU

Curtaintwitcher

I was sure that 'Remain' would win, so I was over the moon when the result was 'Leave'. However, we still haven't truly left, we're in a state of limbo at the moment.

Now that the so-called 'Far Right' are gaining strength in Europe, things might change. Either the EU will collapse altogether or it might morph into an organisation which we might be happy to be a part of.

I still don't understand why so many of you are quite happy to have someone like Ursula VDL being able to dictate to us. Where is your self-respect?

Nobody was able to dictate to us. We were part of the EU, we had British cicvil servants, diplomats and MEPs in every decision, making body in the EU and our views were as important as that of any other country.

Ursula VDL was no more able to dictate to us than anyone else.

I find it strange how people who talk up democracy in this country and willing accept government by the majority party, even though many constuencies voted for an MP from a different party, all of a sudden, when they look at the EU and see a system where all the different countries (equivalent to parties) get together to reach consensus decisions somehow see that as 'dictatorship' , very

I wasn’t totally surprised as where I live and where I work so many were going to vote to leave the EU.
Can’t say I’ve noticed any changes since, either for better or for worse.

Oreo

I wasn’t totally surprised as where I live and where I work so many were going to vote to leave the EU.
Can’t say I’ve noticed any changes since, either for better or for worse.

What planet are you on? Are you saying your life/savings/wages/pension/grocery shopping/fuel bills/taxes etc etc are still the same?

Can I come and live where you are please?

This ^

A teacher of French and German and the wife of an original equipment manufacturer whose main markets were in the EU, I campaigned night and day for weeks and months to remain. And I cried for two days solid when the leave result was announced. To us, Europe was not "abroad" any more, we were part of perhaps the only benign bloc on the planet.
The loss has been emotional as well as financial. I shall hate my black passport when it comes up for renewal next year.

Rude keepingquiet

Of course the cost of living has gone up in eight years and there’s been the pandemic since then which hit the economy and war help for Ukraine.
Our finances are still much of a muchness, even allowing for all that, we both work still, but leaving the EU hasn’t affected us doing anything.You can’t claim Brexit woes for everything.

HousePlantQueen

Curtaintwitcher

I was sure that 'Remain' would win, so I was over the moon when the result was 'Leave'. However, we still haven't truly left, we're in a state of limbo at the moment.

Now that the so-called 'Far Right' are gaining strength in Europe, things might change. Either the EU will collapse altogether or it might morph into an organisation which we might be happy to be a part of.

I still don't understand why so many of you are quite happy to have someone like Ursula VDL being able to dictate to us. Where is your self-respect?

Europe is not lurching to the right.

My self respect is fine thank you,knowing that I was not guillible and did not vote for Brexit.

I think your last para is really patronising. You are saying anybody who did not vote to Remain is “gullible”. That’s the majority of British people then who chose to vote.

Hasn’t affected me either keepingquiet. As Oreo has said, there are other reasons for the increased cost of living. I voted to remain, but frankly when we were able to have the covid vaccine ahead of the EU I was glad we had left. And I wouldn’t now wish to rejoin.

It has affected me. When we sold our holiday home in France we had to pay 20% excise duty on everything(furniture and effects) that we brought back to Britain. This despite the fact that everything we brought back was secondhand and taken over to France from Britain and now being brought back.

I think your last para is really patronising. You are saying anybody who did not vote to Remain is “gullible”. That’s the majority of British people then who chose to vote.

I'm right there in agreement with HPQ. Most people who voted Leave were indeed gullible. I have yet to hear a coherent and logical reason for voting Leave. Not even the 'early vaccination' one holds any water as it was done while we were still in transition, under EU regulations and we could have done it as a full member.

I was absolutely devastated by the result of the vote and became even more so as the horror of enduring the progressively increasing corruption and incompetence of the resulting tory regime over the past 8 years became more and more apparent.

GSM, I'm surprised you don't appear to know that the UK's early vaccines were nothing whatsoever to do with Brexit.

Each EU member state was at perfect liberty to roll out their own vaccination programme as and when they wished and under the auspices of their own health regulatory bodies.

I believe Matt Hancock implied (very heavily and just short of lying) that it was due to Brexit and it has remained a common misconception since but it is categorically untrue.

I didn’t say they were anything to do with Brexit, but because we were no longer bound by EU regulations we were vaccinated earlier than those in the EU.

Germanshepherdsmum

I didn’t say they were anything to do with Brexit, but because we were no longer bound by EU regulations we were vaccinated earlier than those in the EU.

We were bound by EU regulations because we were still a member state, albeit in 'transition'.
We didn't cease to be a member of the EU until Jan. 2021.

Germanshepherdsmum

Hasn’t affected me either keepingquiet. As Oreo has said, there are other reasons for the increased cost of living. I voted to remain, but frankly when we were able to have the covid vaccine ahead of the EU I was glad we had left. And I wouldn’t now wish to rejoin.

This pretty much describes me too. Voted remain but accepted the vote. There are other reasons for inflation. The war in Ukraine comes mind. I was pleased to get my Covid vaccine in February 2021. I’d only just come out of hospital in January having been hospitalised with Covid and I was keen to get the added protection of the vaccine because I didn’t want to get Covid again.

I think we paid a lot more for many of the covid vaccines because the EU negotiated a much better deal.

The worst thing about Brexit is the divisions and nastiness it has brought out in people. Brexit and covid, both brought out the very worst in people.

Putin's invasion of Ukraine happened when it did because Brexit was influenced by him via Farage.

Putin has a vested interest in a divided Europe and we played into his hands. He was wrong, however, in that NATO and Europe did come together despite the rift Brexit caused.

I really hope we can continue to keep that common interest together.

For those for whom the disaster of Brexit has made no difference, can I please ask what have been the benefits has they see them? More money, as was promised, for the NHS, lucrative trade deals? It may, as you claim, have made no difference, but you certainly are not better off and neither will your grandchildren be.

I’m afraid that when people give first hand accounts of the hardship and heartache that Brexit has caused them it falls on deaf ears to those who don’t seem to have been affected by it

Maybe that will send a message to all those who didn’t bother to vote, because they thought Remain would win.

Have to say over here in Oz we thought the UK had gone crazy. Quite unexpected. Then I spoke to a cousin from the north who was very pro Brexit but what she said made no sense to me. Stuff about ‘reclaiming our country’, making our own rules and better for the farmers ( she has a large farm) . Maybe one day there will be a benefit but it’s taking a while, isn’t it ?

nanna8, There are no benefits of Brexit - and the farming community has now realised that, which is why roadside fields that used to be a sea of Conservative blue before every election, this time round are a sea of orange, the Liberal Democratic colours. The Lib Dems have always been pro-EU.

As for all this 'reclaiming our country' no one could ever tell me what that meant. It seemed to be a form of nostalgia for a version of Britain that never really existed, where the sun always shone and happy farm workers and factory workers doffed their hats to the boss - and of course where everyone had white faces and good old-fashioned English surnames, even the Irish being treated with suspicion.

Why are we socially poorer

a) it wasn't a vote, it was a referendum
b) There should have been a level of agreement both on the number of people participating, and the majority yes or no. This is what is usual with referenda.
c) the difference between yes and no was minimal, no clear majority shown. And there were consideralby fewer than 50% of the electorate involved
To make it clear, it was a false result, and should have been rerun without the lies on the bus, and we would be a lot better off with a valid result, whichever way it went

There are no benefits, we are now so isolated we are on the fringe, we re so much poorer in every way, socially, business wise, My last job had brilliant elements funded by the EU we got so much more by being part of it including support and friendship
Yes Nana8 the country was stupid and was led like donkeys by Johnson and his bus and the nasty piece of useless work
(though loud) Farage And he s off again…. and again many will support his loud arrogant mysoginistic racist rants

MayBee70

I’m afraid that when people give first hand accounts of the hardship and heartache that Brexit has caused them it falls on deaf ears to those who don’t seem to have been affected by it

I’m not a moneybags by any means, haven’t had a holiday in years, have a tiring job and do some childcare as well.I have a tiny terraced house.I have to be honest on this thread which is why I say that Brexit, tho I didn’t vote for it, hasn’t affected me and I suspect many others.
I have no holiday home in France or anywhere else to be able to complain about any tariffs.