POST BREXIT

In the FT to-day a story about the French trying to steal our succcessful Banking industry by offering incentives to the Banks to base themselves in Paris. The UK meltdown will start if this goes ahead.

The sheer stupidity of calling a referendum just before the House goes into recess and the whole political system closes for 2 months!!! Beggars belief- and really shows no-one thought, at all, in a century of Sundays, Brexit would be voted through. Thy hope for a 60/40 - just enough to be a bargaining tool.

The House of Lords are discussing the issues today, including the possibility of a second referendum.

All leave, holidays, etc, should be cancelled and both Houses must stay opened.

The rest of Europe is being seriously affected by the uncertainty- and they therefore DO have the right to insist that the UK gets on with it, one way or another.

Switzerland is affected in the 'reverse' way- everyone in the UK is trying to stash their money here and the Swiss FRanc is rising again. It is already far too high (last resort of all squoundresl around the sorld) .. and it is terrible for manufacturing and exports, and tourism too. I work (volunteer) with 2 local Museums with CEOs and owners of big businesses- who have lost 20 to 30% this year due to the high Swiss franc and many workers have had to be laid off (most of those from France, and other EU countries).

Uncertainty is bad for the UK- but it is bad for all in Europe.

Yep- High Finance in the City already on the move. Paris, Frankfurt, Geneva- this is happening right now.

No worries for the Cameron and Johnson families though, they're alright Jack.
Definitely agree that no politician should be taking a holiday until this crisis is settled.
Also very much on my mind about how badly leading politicians did their job when they started the war with Iraq. Not for this thread though, sorry.

granjura

Can you give more detail as to your post 09.51 please.

I realy cannot understand any of you. Since the vote, I have to say my world has lookedfar morepositive. I am normally quite a depressed person anyway ( naturally not illness led). But everything seems to have suddenly looked somuch better.

Even my dh has got a job! He didnt ask for it. It came to him.He was forced to retire when he was 58 because his work wanted to shed people and decided to shed the oldies. He is 66 and just going back to work. My job has suddenly become safer too. I was told on Monday. ( It needs to be given I was one of those stuck with the whammy of the pension scam on women - and where were the EU in that debacle.... like with their money, nowhere to be seen).

Get over yourselves. There is life after that vote and some areas of the economy are now beginning to boom. Stop reading the daily gloom!

Which areas of the economy are blooming?

Probably debt collection agencies

People should realise that this decline of the UK will not happen overnight!It will be a slow downgrading process. The only hope at the moment is that the leaving of the EU will have to be ratified by Parliament and then go through the Lords. I also think Big Business will be putting pressure on the Government to override this Referendum.

Well, I do not work in debt collection. My employers do a lot of business with China (and Hong Kong) and with the Far East and Russia. All have placed bigger orders for next year with us. We have several orders from Africa and one or two coming from across the Atlantic. The EU is staying pretty well as it was and we do not expect to do well there. There economies are shot in many cases and trade there dropped off some time ago. More money coming in now. Also British trade is up for us. Even two extra staff employed this week (proper contracts ,not temps and both Brits for what its worth).

70 of us have had jobs under threat for the last five years. Many were let go in that period and before (from 2008).

My husband is a plumber. He lost his job in 2008 ( with the recession). His firm , where he had worked for 40 years got shot of him with a reduced pension because he was not 60. It didnt matter too much but it was hard on him as he had worked so hard all his life for that works pension. as they wanted cheaper labour ( from the EU).

He tried to get another job and failed and fell into despondency. Retired last year (at 65 and got his state pension ,thankfully , without it being ballsed around by the government).

Then the weekend someone called him up because his name had been passed by a friend who also works for the same firm as a painter and decorator, as one who was a plumber tradesman and he was asked if he wanted some work. They had asked for anyone who knew names of tradesmen who might be interested as they were in need of reliable and skilled men.

He is part time (suits him) , working for a small business doing up and maintaining properties and they have on going contracts. The money is going rate, so again, not being ripped off on zero hours and poor money ( although he might get lamped on tax now). The firm wanted reliable, time served me. I think they had some issues with quality of workmanship and communication issues or so dh was told.

Its just my observation but it does seem that any of those jobs which seem to be disappearing for brexit, were going anyway and its being used as an excuse.

Good job he kept his tools and we kept his van going (we had thought of getting rid of it because he was not using it at all).

So, I am a happy person after 10 years of misery and uncertainly almost as bad as that in the 1980's in the last recession.

Abbey you and I obviously live on different planets. As Beammeup says, the decline of the UK economy is only just beginning and you cannot ignore the signs - the pound hitting record lows and could fall to parity with the dollar, thousands of City jobs planned to be relocated out of the UK, and at least six property funds worth £14bn have blocked investors from withdrawing money. And this is just the start. Let's hope Beammeup is right about pressure being put on the Government to override the Referendum.

* Far East being Singapore Indonesia and Thailand etc.

abbey I am with you on this, and so are a lot of other people ( even if they don't post on here)

It isnt gloom and doom . I will say again, most of the jobs which seem to be going now,were going anyway.

I lost three jobs in different firms as a result of firms relocating to Poland (specifically) on EU grants over the last 10 years. Other jobs went to different countries in the same time. All using EU given money. Frankly the EU has been asset stripping Britain's manufacturing and other industries for a long time.

Get real. They area failed economic and political and social experiment being propped up by sheer willpower. Many EU countries have 20% or more unemployment ( Spain has 40%). Thats why they all come here. This is not good for our own youngsters even though some fail to see it.

That may well be why, 17 million+ people , unlike you in a bubble at gransnet, voted out. They could see the problems. Maybe , many like me have been living with it first hand. We just haven't had a voice. Its being drowned out now too I feel.

I don't think that being part of the 48% who did want to remain means that we're in a bubble. However, your side of the argument is the sort of first hand experience that I am interested in hearing (rather than the meaningless pull together we'll be great again comments). So thank you for that,abbey.

abbey, abbey. Thank you, thank you.
Seriously, I was beginning to give up hope for the News and Politics section on gransnet.
It is getting overrun by the doommongers.

17 million represented under 52% voters, so I don't think you can call the 48% as "living in a bubble". I have worked in both private and public sectors, I have children working in both too, some of whom have threats to their jobs. I am glad your company is on the up and you are in a good place financially. Because of the weak £, foreign buyers will buy here, they're getting more for their dollars, if you were buying from them it might be a different picture. Its great that your plumber OH has a good job, we always need experienced plumbers, electricians etc., shame the government hasn't put much into proper training and apprenticeships. The economy is made up of many different sectors, you are lucky to be in one of the ones selling to foreign buyers, but not everyone is in the same place.

Well said Abbey

Abbey, I do hope that your husband took his ex employers to a tribunal. What you say they did is illegal. You cannot just give someone redundancy and take on someone else on lower wages.

Actually you can - with a bit of fiddling around with the job description. It happens quite often.

She didn't say that, though, did she, Anya.
She said they gave him a reduced pension because he wasn't sixty. He would have had to agree to that, or to the redundancy. If they just got shot of him and employed someone else in the same job as a plumber, it was illegal. If his job was redundant but there was a similar job, they would have had to offer it to him first.
I do not think she has told us the whole story.

She said the firm wanted cheap labour. She didn't say they advertised her husband's job or even a similar one. Why must you be so suspicious, durhamjen?

China is keen to set up trade negotiations with us and has stated that it is not that keen on its dealings with the EU.
I can't understand why people are looking on the bleak side. I'm full of optimism - after time there WILL be light at the end of the tunnel. We just need to quickly implement article 50 and get on with the job of setting up trade agreements.

No, the "whole story" of my husbands situation was worse than any say. They wanted rid of plumbers (all trades actually) but they didnt want to get rid of younger workers. So, they told the oldones they could take redundancy and be paid their pensions early ( they were not allowed to take them that early normally) but that it would be a actuarially reduced pension.

Neither did they explain tax or NI contributions situation clearly.

They did make it clear that if the men concerned didn't go they would find cause to sack them with nothing - so yes bullying and constructive dismissal. But you try getting the union to take it up! It wasn't happening because it only involved a few " old blokes".

What they actually wanted to do was employ a couple of females ( so yes, a change of job description which was allowed)on the grounds this allowed them to offer women to customers who might not feel safe with a man!

So they got by with that - until the girls ( who were apprentices on his firm) decided they didnt like the job and wanted to leave ( pregnant) or get an office job (seriously).

They then replaced them with cheaper (EU) labour. That hasn't really worked for them either. They have had several sessions of shedding staff and getting in cheaper labour - and now they have lost contracts.

The irony is, my husband is now working for the firm that took those contracts.

It broke my husbands heart though. He gave his all to that firm man and "boy" (apprenticed). Firms show no loyalty to their staff

China are more than keen to get into business with us in my employers experience. So are many others. It isnt all bad out there.