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] 27 points 11 months ago (3 children)

I genuinely asking for some education on Brexit, because I personally thought, and still think it was a terrible decision for the nation, but I am hoping to get a better understanding from real people and not just read articles. I know I can research it, but would like to hear personal opinions/thoughts/etc….

I am a UK citizen, but I was living my teen and mid adult life in Australia. I didn’t get to vote on Brexit as I was not residing on the country at the time, and never thought I would return. Circumstances have changed, and I have now moved back to the UK at the beginning of the year, so I’m in the thick of the Brexit mess now. I can’t comment on what life was like before Brexit, but I am now a citizen of its consequences.

From my limited understanding, and what I really need clarification and advice on is;

Brexit was a campaign point that David Cameron ran on for election. When he won, he called the referendum, but he was opposed to it. Meanwhile, the Brexit campaign was in full swing with lots of misinformation, but Cameron only decided to rally hard in the leading three months up to the vote, failing to properly educate and explain the deal to the public.

The vote was close. Somewhere in the 52%/48%

Cameron stood down

Brexit happened, finalising at the end of 2020

I know there’s a lot of nuance, and I know I’m missing a lot of major information, but is my understanding the very basic gist of what happened?

Thanks for any response

[–] HenriVolney 48 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (3 children)

From a continental EU country, I can tell you that Brexit was a shitshow from beginning to the end. The Leave campaign was clearly helped by the same Russian bots that helped Trump get the US presidency. Then, May added confusion to the shock and frustration. People kept saying lies, like it is possible to keep the common market benefits while cherry picking which regulation to follow. Then came Johnson and his lunatic demands, like creating an independent judicial body that would rule any future disagreement on the deal between UK and the EU. Then the constant whining and bullying about fisheries and goods transportation. The UK had been a beacon of hope, heart and decency for the whole 20st Century. Brexit has made it a sinister clown in Europe.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Thank you for comment. These points you mention really illustrate the absolute clusterfuck it has become.

Annoyingly, I believe in democracy and can’t get angry that it happened. It went to the people. The people voted. But damn it was a joke from the beginning, full of lies and deception. Sadly the UK citizens are suffering from this, but hopefully things get better sooner. I’ll always be the eternal optimist.

[–] HenriVolney 7 points 11 months ago

Good for you mate!

[–] [email protected] 8 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Calm down with the good old times, India gained its independence in 1947.

[–] HenriVolney 5 points 11 months ago (2 children)

With a bloody war after the Brits left. Meanwhile, most countries had a go at dictatorship (Italy and Germany of course but also Spain, Greece, the Vichy régime in France,...), East Europe was under Soviet rule, France had a colonial war in Indochina, another in Algeria...

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

I'm not sure how being occupied by Soviets really counts as being the bad guy, tbh.

[–] HenriVolney 1 points 11 months ago

Talking about governmenst. Surely you've heard about East German political police, the crush of Prague's uprising, the brutal rule of Ceausescu

[–] [email protected] 0 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Brits and any other colonial power who randomly cut land according to their greed have huge responsibility in wars following decolonization.

[–] HenriVolney 2 points 11 months ago

Absolutely. Colonization in Asia and Africa occurred mainly in the 19th Century though. Look, I am not trying to say that the UK was a country full of angels doing God's work. I am pointing the fact that comparatively to other European countries, it kept a strong democratic trajectory during the 20th Century, often doing better than its neighbors. Damn, it was the only country in the world resisting the Axis countries during 2 years

[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago

The fishing thing is a good example of how Brexit was handled. Fishing has been stirred up by the media for decades causing some strong feelings against the French and Europe. While fishing is pretty meaningless for the average person it became important because people who read certain newspapers thought it was important. That, to me, seems like the backbone of Brexit. Shite from newspapers.

I'm convinced all the talk about fishing was to stir up these feelings in the public and use it to the politicians will. Raising it with the EU was a message to the people that their concerns are being addressed. Illusion of the people having power.

Speaking to people who voted to leave I had answers like fishing given. Other answers were that people didn't like talking orders from Brussels, that was more common than fishing. Some racist comments (some REALLY racist). And one person claiming after Brexit he will get gold capped milk back (apparently the EU banned his favourite milk, and that alone was worth leaving the EU...). I know a few people who didn't know what to vote for so went with the "default" to leave. I'm assuming they meant they just followed the crap in the news and didn't apply proper thought.

This media bollocks is still happening now. I saw the other day an article about being able to buy wine in pints. Sigh.

It really was a shit show and still is!

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

You mentioned Cameron seeming to be a bit limp in opposing it and actually campaigning on it originally. Some interesting context

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/apr/07/david-cameron-offshore-trusts-eu-tax-crackdown-2013

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

Thank you for the article. The more I learn about it, the more fucked up it truly is. I had a basic understanding of bad it was from a simple perspective, but the more you learn, the more messed up it becomes. I really hope there is something good to come from how monumentally messed up the situation is.

I’m getting used to GDPR regulations in my line of work I haven’t had to deal with… primarily with how my industry uses AI transcription for media. We have to be very careful with which transcription services that reside outside of the UK are used. so if for example, we use an S3 based transcription service in the cloud that is based in France, we might come into issues, even though they might be GDPR compliant. It’s all a bit of a mess, but once you know what to do it is okay, but to cut through the red tape to get an answer can be laborious because so many people need to agree to the request

That’s just one little thing, out of hundreds of impactful changes because of Brexit. It really was a ballsup

[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

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

Yeah, that's about right. And now the Brits are paying the price.