"I have never welcomed the weakening of family ties by politics or pressure" - Nelson Mandela.
"He who travels for love finds a thousand miles no longer than one" - Japanese proverb.
"Everyone has the right to respect for his private and family life, his home and his correspondence." - Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
"When people's love is divided by law, it is the law that needs to change". -
David Cameron.

Friday 9 December 2016

Why Brexit?

This is a call out to those who voted for Brexit, or those who know people who did and have answers to some questions I have for Brexiteers, to better understand what people see as the direct benefit - to them - of leaving the EU. Indeed, remainers who can see any benefits of leaving the EU welcome to comment too.

I am a remainer. Most or all members of this organisation are remainers too, and proud EU citizens.  But I do not think everything about the EU is perfect - just as I, and likely leave supporters too, don't think everything about Westminster is perfect, yet it doesn't detract from our being proud Brits.

With about half the voting population indicating a desire to leave the UK, if we are going to live in a divided nation, let's make it a tad easier by trying to understand where the other side comes from.  To date I have not been able to get answers to questions that would enable me to do just that, so here's an attempt at understanding why people have voted leave.  No snide comments please.

1. What do you see as a benefit to you personally from leaving the EU?

Instant house price drops? Better job opportunities? Weaker currency making overseas holidays cheaper?  Something else?

2. What is it about the EEA regulations that you don't like, and would change?

Is it their telling us what measurement we can sell things in? Shape of our bananas? Fishing restrictions?

3. What do you see as the downside of leaving the EU - but that you think is a price worth paying for leaving?

EU has strict regulations on compensation airlines must pay for delays. Free movement - the ability to live anywhere in the EU, as long as you do it to work or are self-sufficient.

4. Anything else you want to say.

Thank you!

16 comments:

  1. Brexiteers you must be out there...come on!
    Remainers....no benefits at all? Perhaps for fishermen?

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  2. A reason I have been given by a person on twitter: He heard that as members of the EU, UK business can only import from outside the EU if the item they want to purchase is not available in the EU.

    This strikes me as completely nonsensical...enough Chinese manufactured products get in to the UK. I'd welcome someone proving me wrong though.

    Yes, there are beneficial trading terms with hte EU by way of our being part of the single market, and tariffs imposed on trading with other nations. But that is for our benefit too.

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    1. Hey would you like a talk about this? i would suggest a stream i know some one who could make a good moderator excited to hear your response.

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    2. also would you mind if i send this to a few people i know who are level so they can add there opinion

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    3. Please send it to leavers and remainers alike, who can see any benefits from Brexit.

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  3. I voted leave and im to scared to say it people will be yo quick to call me sexist racist or some other insult instead of giving me an opportunity to explain my argument as i started on remain and as the debate when't on i moved to leave and yes i am a person looking to marry a non eu spouse

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    1. no judgement here, just keen to understand your reasons as per the questions above. If your responses don't make sense though, we will politely try and take the discussion further just to get you to see the other side's viewpoint and to understand yours better.

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  4. Although the referendum was advisory, somehow now it has turned out that the referendum result has to be not only respected, but executed. I voted to remain. However Leave won with an extremely narrow margin. Was an almost 50/50 split. Since now the results is no longer being treated as 'Advisory', I fear that if there is no "Hard Brexit" the UK will swing to the extreme right and racism will become near to legal. So as a Remain voter I would like Brexit to happen as soon as, so I can take steps to plan my own future, in or out of the UK. Being Born British is pointless anyway, especially when there is this UK govt who is dictating to Brits who they should or shouldn't fall in love with.

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    1. any answers to the questions above?

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    2. 1) Personal benefit: My tax money won't be spent on Dole money for Brits who blame labourers from the EU as an excuse for not being able to work.

      2) EEA regulations: Brits should be able to settle in the UK and make a home with anybody they wish.

      3) Downside to leaving the EU: UK is a tiny island. Fact is there are just so many jobs that would be created in the UK. Leaving the EU makes the job search area much smaller for Brits. Being in the EU, makes a job in Frankfurt as accessible as a job in Manchester for e.g.

      4) Anything else I mentioned in my last post ;)

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    3. 1. How does leaving the EU stop your taxes being used to pay benefits to other Brits - who retain the right to reside here no matter what our relationship with the EU?

      2. !! That isnt EEA regulations you dislike...its the UK rules. The EEA regs do not dictate what any country can do to its own citizens because countries like UK dont want to be told.

      3. True...although just as even now Brits do go to non-EU countries for work, they could do to EU when we are not members. The ease with which we can move is of course affected though.

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    4. I meant if the UK leaves the EU, and migration from the EU is stopped after Brexit, British scroungers won't have the excuse their jobs are being taken away by migrants from the EU. Therefore my tax money won't be wasted funding the lives of these scroungers. Instead probably will be spent on people who genuinely need it.

      EEA regulations, no complain, but reading what I wrote above I realise sounds wrong.

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  5. I voted Leave because:-

    1) EU immigration is much higher than officially reported. They do not count immigrants who have not been in the UK solidly for 1 year. Anecodtal I know, but just with my own eyes and ears I can see there's a massive influx of Eastern European immigrants that have been coming into my home town for the last 12 years plus. There are EU migrant hotspots all over the UK. I am not hearing other people complaining about non-EU hotspots emerging over the last 10 years or so. Also look at the number of NINO registrations per year - 655,000 last year. I guess I'll be called a racist now, but it's not where people come from, it's the sheer numbers.

    2) The UK cannot cope with 500,000 extra people added to the population per year (official figures by the way of 2015's population increase) without investing commensurately in its infrastructure. It isn't. The UK is broke. It's net-borrowing £8Bn plus a month, national debt closing in on £1.8Tn. We can argue how the UK is wasting money, but we can all surely agree that it doesn't have the money in the first place to grow its infrastructure at the pace of population growth. This is why we here of commuting times taking longer, NHS struggling more and more (now in debt!), GP waiting lists becoming longer. Not saying freedom of movement is 100% responsible for this (of course not), but it's adding to the problems the UK is suffering from.

    3) As a non-EU who has had his own battles with the Home Office, I'm fed up with witnessing a two-tier immigration system to the UK. I want something fairer than that. Also as a non-EU, I don't care what anyone says here, the HO have become a lot more Draconian toward non-EUs in regards to immigration (I took the HO to tribunal in my case and won, and learnt a lot along the way).

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    1. 1. But if they are coming and not even staying for a year before leaving the country what's the problem? Looking at ppl its not always obvious whether they are from the EU or not and more non-EU migrants come to the UK than EU do. So if its the sheer numbers, not where ppl come from, then coming out of the EU wont change things too much, as the jobs EU do still need to be done...so we'll need people for them. UKs employment rate has been at record highs, so it's not like Brits just arent able to work.

      2. Uk is one of the richest countries in the world...but I agree its not investing in infrastructure. We waste money on things we dont need...extra benefits for pensioners because politicians dont want to lose their vote, extremely generous benefits and salaries for politicians, we are taxed out of our brains - income tax, council tax, VAT, stamp duty, national insurance, air passenger duty...it doesnt end. The country has enough money. It's just not spent wisely. Privatisation of the NHS is what...allowing companies to make a profit at the expense of the taxpayer. Home Office leases their building from a company which doesnt pay any or hardly any tax!

      Without freedom of movement we wouldnt have EU citizens helping support the NHS...or would we but theyd just come in on visas...and if its hat hard for them to be here, why come here and not go to Australia, NZ, USA, Canada, Singapore? All needing hospital staff!

      3. Things for Brits with non-EU family are TERRIBLE. See what UK does when it is given the power to decide what to do? EU afforded us some protections. Leaving the EU leaves us at the mercy of our politicians.

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  6. I realise that the post is a couple of months old now but I hope you mind this brexiteer throwing my 2 pence in.

    1. A benefit of voting to leave to me personally comes from exchange rates. The pound was overvalued before the referendum and because of the vote has come down to a level that better benefits exports. This also means that when my wife and I visit the UK, our brazilian money goes a lot further with the currency we buy in addition to our credit card money we use while visiting the UK.

    2. For the sake of brevity I'll list the main policy I don't like. The Common Agricultural Policy. It ensures an oversupply of food for Europe which may sound great but that food is not stored. In actual fact it is sold in third world countries cheaply which undercuts the already destitute farmers in these countries and prices them out of a job. This policy actively harms Europe's neighbours. I am also not convinced it will ever change as (if memory serves) it was amended in the 50's and has since not changed at all.

    3. The one policy I would miss after we leave depends on the type of brexit but I would really miss the freedom of movement if that were to be scrapped.

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