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

Well I’m not sure if I cried but I certainly felt numb for days after the referendum. Will I cry if Labour become the next government? Yes I will. And so will my partner and I’m pretty sure my daughter will, too. We’ve waited a long time for this.

Looking back, one of the things that helped the Brexit cause was the habit of UK administrations to explain away unpopular measures as being because of Europe, conveniently forgetting that they were among the decision-makers. We now have a situation where every unwelcome development is blamed on Brexit, irrespective of Covid and Ukraine.

As a consistent Remainer, who spent much of his working life talking to the very reasonable bureaucrats in the European Commission, I confess to being fed up with the whole business!

Total disaster foisted on us by Farage, Johnson and the loonies on the Tory Right.

Definitely not a day to be celebrated

Bluebelle, can you give us positive examples please.

Sorry Bkuebelke, I meant Primrose - wrong flower! 😐

I am French and live in Madrid urban centre with my Spanish husband 33 years almost.

We have some acquaintances, collegues and a close friend who is British, and it is a horror scene for them when they travel to the U.K. and have to return home to Spain.

We feel very saddened by their plight ..

Truly a dreadful action on behalf of the Government and the majority that voted for Brexit. Many are very sorry for their lack of foresight.

The fact of purchasing British made products or travelling to the E.U. countries or sending a birthday card even, are truly horrifying in costs .. It is totally unpleasant and most pensioners are not purchasing anything that needs to be mailed or sent.

They wait until they travel over to bring back tea, jarred products etcetra.

All my best wishes.

Grantanow

Total disaster foisted on us by Farage, Johnson and the loonies on the Tory Right.

Agreed, and supported by those who didn’t vote (unless they’d have voted Leave). I hope they’re pleased with themselves!

People say they haven’t been affected. Yet we are all affected by the shortage of nhs staff in some way. They went home. We told them they were not welcome here. Shame on us.

I voted Leave because of an issue called 'Sovereignty'. No other.
This is because I want my Government to make all the decisions and laws for its people.
And not faceless Bureaucrats in Belgium .

I never believed all that BOJO guff about "40 Hospitals-worth-of-Money" etc

The fact that the UK has had terrible Governments & Prime Ministers in power for the last 15 years - is not the point - they COULD have been decent, but weren't.

And if anyone truly believes Scotland could economically stand on its Own Two Feet....... without Massive Subsidies from the rest of the E U. to prop them up - is delusional.

Hi
I used to live in France, returned to UK after my divorce. My two eldest daughters still live in France. I used to visit them 2/3 times a year, since Brexit & Covid it is a nightmare to go to France. We were told we would have control of our borders!
What a lie. France controls its borders not the UK. Where is the £315m per week for the NHS?
Import controls are a disaster. Farmers have lost all the EU benefits!
The only one to benefit is Farage still getting his MEP pension.
We have definitely lost out as our youth to get educated or work abroad. No just a disaster

Get over it. The majority voted to leave and it was the remoaners that delayed the actual execution of leaving the nebulous, inefficient and corrupt EU. To partake in a referendum you have to accept the result which ever way it goes or you end up with a situation like Scottish Independence over which the SNP is distracted to the extent it neglects other issues Scotland faces

Feared it might happen as it was so badly explained to the public and the leavers, like the devil, appeared to have all the best tunes. Hearing the result made my heart sink. We are hugely poorer and smaller as a nation for it and it made us look like a bunch of ignorant fools. Many who were promoting it from positions of wealth and authority have since left the country. They are probably richer for it while most of us poorer with fewer opportunities.

maddyone

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 agree with you both and believe that the the poor state of economies and the inflation all over the world is due to Covid, Ukraine and various other factors. Why should the position in Britain be blamed wholly on Brexit when the rest of the world is also in trouble?
I agree with others that Tory policies have made things worse, especially those of the economically illiterate Truss and her chancellor, but to hang all the blame on Brexit is not right.
My husband's work often took him to the EU offices in Brussels and we were appalled by the enormous waste of money there, the huge numbers of people employed doing useless jobs, the pointless and expensive trekking to Strasbourg and the fact that proper accounts had never been produced. This is quite apart from the fact that Schengen was already proving problematic in some ways and the farming policy was clearly not working.
For these and other reasons we did vote to leave, as did the majority (albeit a very small majority) and, despite being called all sorts of names by the minority we still believe that we made the right decision.
Incidentally my husband and I both have degrees that include Economics so we have a pretty good understanding of how economies work.

And that image of Cameron walking away whistling, having damaged the country for generations - GAH!

Are farmers moving to Reform, do people think, rather than the Lib Dems?

Lankyladman

I voted Leave because of an issue called 'Sovereignty'. No other.
This is because I want my Government to make all the decisions and laws for its people.
And not faceless Bureaucrats in Belgium .

I never believed all that BOJO guff about "40 Hospitals-worth-of-Money" etc

The fact that the UK has had terrible Governments & Prime Ministers in power for the last 15 years - is not the point - they COULD have been decent, but weren't.

And if anyone truly believes Scotland could economically stand on its Own Two Feet....... without Massive Subsidies from the rest of the E U. to prop them up - is delusional.

Can you explain to me exactly what sovereignty means and what has changed since Brexit?

MaizieD

Mollygo

Oreo I think people are interested in how they have noticed when things are different because of Brexit if it affects them. They think if the continuing impact on their lives.
In the same way that, every time DH’s pension statement appears we remember when Gordon Brown robbed the pensions of millions of pensioners and that still affects us now.

I think quite a few people are interested in the effect that Brexit has had on other people's lives, too. You make it sound as though Remain voters are entirely self interested.

Not entirely self-interested, but the many vociferous remainers that I know are those who can no longer visit their second homes in Europe with the freedom that they could pre-Brexit.

I voted leave and have no regrets, this is my opinion and i had my reasons, all i ever hear is how much certain people hate us, well it works both ways , always asking what good has it done us, well let's hear what bad it's done just for a change!

Worst mistake ever. Lemmings being led over the cliff face. Those responsible should be held accountable for lies. Feel sorry for young people whose lives have been affected because of lack of free movement and educational opportunities, unless you happen to be wealthy or have dual nationality like those who promoted leave.

(I may have forgotten someone, but I haven't seen that on GN, cc, except the one from Frenchgalinspain

On the contrary, its been "leavers" saying it's not difficult to travel after all.)

What I think needs to happen now is for changes in terms and conditions on trade/customs/trade standards/tariffs to be made so we can benefit from trade with nearest neighbours instead of all the obstacles put in the way for businesses.
Prices will go down, we can export more easily, and cut out the much of additional paperwork that businesses face.

well let's hear what bad it's done just for a change

Okay. I’ll start.

The UK has 1.8m fewer jobs now that it would have been had Brexit not happened – a drop of 4.8 per cent.

There are 523,000 fewer jobs in construction nationwide

There are 388,000 fewer jobs in financial services nationwide

The average Briton is nearly £2,000 worse off (while the average Londoner is nearly £3,400 worse off) as a result of Brexit.

UK real Gross Value Added (GVA) - a measure of the size of the economy - is approximately £140bn less in 2023 than it would have been had the UK opted to remain in the Customs Union and Single Market - a drop of six per cent.

This economic damage is set to increase should the UK retain its current relationship with Europe. For example, by 2035, the UK’s real GVA would be about £311 billion lower (10.1 per cent) than had it not left the EU.

Source: Cambridge Econometrics research


Brexit has also made the cost-of-living crisis more severe in the UK. City Hall analysis shows that 30% of the increase in food prices between December 2019 and March 2023 could be attributed to the effects of Brexit, and other research from the LSE confirms this by showing that Brexit added an average of £210 to household food bills over the two years to the end of 2021, costing UK consumers a total of £5.8 billion.

Frenchgalinspain

I am French and live in Madrid urban centre with my Spanish husband 33 years almost.

We have some acquaintances, collegues and a close friend who is British, and it is a horror scene for them when they travel to the U.K. and have to return home to Spain.

We feel very saddened by their plight ..

Truly a dreadful action on behalf of the Government and the majority that voted for Brexit. Many are very sorry for their lack of foresight.

The fact of purchasing British made products or travelling to the E.U. countries or sending a birthday card even, are truly horrifying in costs .. It is totally unpleasant and most pensioners are not purchasing anything that needs to be mailed or sent.

They wait until they travel over to bring back tea, jarred products etcetra.

All my best wishes.

I wonder why those British people who live permanently in Spain do not apply for permanent residency then Spanish citizenship?

I agree Judybloom but just would not bother trying to argue the point, too many rabid remainers on here! I am really proud of my new black British passport!

Authoress

And that image of Cameron walking away whistling, having damaged the country for generations - GAH!

Are farmers moving to Reform, do people think, rather than the Lib Dems?

Many believe that if Cameron had made a realistic attempt to get the EU to ameliorate the effect that their rules were having on the UK the result could easily have been Remain. It might have affected my vote.
Farmers are often seen as reactionary/traditionalist and far-right political parties and movements in Europe aimed to ride to victory in the EU elections earlier this month on the back of farmers' discontent. In the event they did make gains but not as many as expected.
On this basis Reform could appeal to British farmers, but the National Farmers Union have identified what the various parties have promised for farming. Reform said that they will "introduce an Employer Immigration Tax which increases the National Insurance rate by 20% for foreign workers. Freeze ‘non-essential immigration’ with healthcare being the only exception". Clearly farmers would not get their seasonal workforce.
www.nfuonline.com/updates-and-information/commitment-checklist/#Reform

I think a lot of it was driven by a dislike of brown faces.

Couldn't make it up really.