this post was submitted on 31 Dec 2023
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Only one in 10 feel leaving the EU has helped their finances, while just 9% say it has benefited the NHS, despite £350m a week pledge according to new poll

A clear majority of the British public now believes Brexit has been bad for the UK economy, has driven up prices in shops, and has hampered government attempts to control immigration, according to a poll by Opinium to mark the third anniversary of the UK leaving the EU single market and customs union.

The survey of more than 2,000 UK voters also finds strikingly low numbers of people who believe that Brexit has benefited them or the country.

Just one in 10 believe leaving the EU has helped their personal financial situation, against 35% who say it has been bad for their finances, while just 9% say it has been good for the NHS, against 47% who say it has had a negative effect.

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[–] [email protected] 129 points 11 months ago (6 children)

Everyone saw this coming but still decided to walk off the cliff rather than admit they'd made a bad decision

[–] [email protected] 46 points 11 months ago (1 children)

"What we believe shapes who we are. Belief can bring us salvation or destruction. But when you believe a lie for too long, the truth doesn't set you free. It tears you apart."

[–] [email protected] 22 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I spent the first twenty years of my life believing that every piece of gum you swallow stays in you forever 🪦

[–] [email protected] 6 points 11 months ago (1 children)

How many pieces of gum would you say you've swallowed over that time?

[–] [email protected] 8 points 11 months ago

On average 5 per year, but who's counting

[–] [email protected] 10 points 11 months ago

Pootin and the GRU/IRA were behind the effort mostly waged on social media

[–] [email protected] 6 points 11 months ago

Yes this analysis was clear as day even before the referendum passed. The only amazing thing here is that 10% still think it has helped. Wow.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (2 children)

Around 35% of the total population actually voted for it, and even then, those people weren't the ones who decided to push forward despite it clearly being a shit show.

Blame the people responsible, I'm so sick of this lazy "everyone" blanket statements people make about events that have very specific individuals and institutions to blame, all it's doing is literally letting them get away with it.

[–] [email protected] 55 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Mmmmmm no. This is the justification many trump voters used. It implies voters are completely off the hook for the consequences of their actions and it's only the 'scheming criminals' who fooled them that can be held accountable.

Just as ignorance of the law does not get you out of your speeding ticket, allowing yourself to be fooled as a voter doesn't absolve you of the poor choice you made with your vote. It's a collective fuck up. Own it.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 11 months ago (1 children)

The problem with that approach is that just finding a scapegoat doesn’t solve the issue. The Brits and the EU still have to live with the consequences.

The proper way to address this is to analyze what happened and make sure that it will never happen again. If the result of that analysis is that voters are fucking idiots, we somehow have to alleviate that.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 11 months ago (2 children)

You'll never alleviate that. Most people are dumb as fuck. That's not inherently a bad thing, but it can be exploited. In the new age of constant misinformation if you want to get people to vote against their own interests you need only start a gas lighting campaign and without too much effort you'll find success.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago

Most people aren't dumb, they are just poorly educated and can easily be swayed into making emotional decisions rather than rational ones.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

It's also why politicians love non-voters, one less moron you have to convince.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

No, it's literally the distraction the likes of Trump use themselves.

It implies that those deliberately using their almost complete power over the legal system, economy, education, and media to manipulate and flat out lie to people, many of who were, also deliberately, made desperate and vulnerable to said manipulation by the very same system in the first place - have nothing to do with the end result. How fucking convenient!

And what exactly am I meant to own? The fact that I voted remain, and did my best to get others to do the same? Are you seriously trying to claim that individuals like myself could ever possibly have more impact than the Murdoch empire? Or David Cameron? Or Boris Johnson? Why the fuck should we own it but not them, when they're the ones making millions if not billions selling lies and doing "talks" about "what they learned" fucking the country up?

Do I begrudge people (again, the literal minority of the population) who voted leave? Fuck yeah. Do I blame them for brexit? Why should I? They didn't think it up, they didn't propose it, they didn't go ahead with it despite warnings because it would further their career and make them money, they didn't lie to and manipulate others to get their way. Those in power did. So I fucking blame them, because they are fucking responsible.

The fact that you compare the voters to criminals, rather than those who manipulated them says it all really.

I bet you also blame cancer patients who die from snake oil they fell for, rather than the grifters who sold it to them..

Those in power don't even need to wash their hands of their actions anymore, people like you literally do it for them. But hey, bootlickers gonna lick boot. Keep blaming powerless individuals for systemic problems, see how that works out for you.. ¯\(ツ)

[–] [email protected] -4 points 11 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago (1 children)

In this particular case people had no idea what exactly they were voting for.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

It was a non binding referendum, they had no reason to give a shit. They still voted for the fuckwits that enforced the non-binding resolution and made it law.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 11 months ago (1 children)

That was clear too, but Conservatives still won a majority and expectedly squashed any chance of a second referendum. We can't absolve ourselves of all blame when democracy is still a functional tool we have at our disposal. Now even democracy itself is under attack all around the world, and I'm afraid that "not my fault" mentality will become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

[–] [email protected] -4 points 11 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago (1 children)

365 out of 650 seats, 56% majority. It was a record win for them.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

Eh only 43% of the vote though. It's just FPTP that cause the majority in the house of commons. It wasn't exactly a binding win for Brexit considering the parties pushing for either remaining or another referendum won more votes overall. Plus a big part of it was a vote against Corbyn, rather than a vote for Brexit.

General elections are too general to be used as justification for a single policy IMO.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago

I wouldn't say everyone, at least. The vote was actually very close, which I think is something most of us forget at this point.

They used the wrong kind of referendum given the seriousness of the question, it should have required a significant majority consensus, instead it was just a "who got more votes even if it just one more".

The results showed a deeply divided nation, and we still are. Some brexiters do regret their terrible decision, but I don't forgive them. There was ample information, experts, everything showing what a terrible disastrous idea Brexit was, and they voted for it anyway.

This wasn't some shades of grey issue, it was surprisingly black and white for once, haha. Which makes it all the more strange that so many people still voted to deeply damage the nation and their own futures.

Oh, and one other point just because I think we often forget, the referendum wasn't at all binding. The government could have simply said "We've taken your thoughts into consideration but decided to do what's best for the country and stay in the EU, even if this will hurt our political careers. Our duty is to the nation, above even our own careers".

They....did not say that :-( Instead they got theirs, at all our expenses.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago

Actually only half of all people saw the obvious downsides. The other half said "nuh uh it'll be great, way better in fact" with no evidence or facts and folks went with that.