As a Dutch person I thank the English for this experiment, we had some corners in our country who wanted that as well. But thx to you guys we don't even talk about leaving anymore
@Sandra Spadina one of the most asinine comments I've ever read. If someone knows that playing in the middle of the road will result in getting hit by a car, they simply don't play in the middle of the road...they are not living "life scared"...which by the way it sounds if you are already doing lol.
Interesting to see how the UK will end up. I will say from an immediate economic outsider standpoint it's stupid. The UK just has less to offer. It's a small island off of Europe. So yeah, of course its economy is suffering because it has less leverage. The truth is that the UK needs/wants Europe/other countries, but Europe/other countries don't really need the UK.
This vote happened when I was 15. We need to reverse this decision as my age group are the biggest supporters of the EU. Yet, we were robbed of the ability to decide. 🇪🇺
You are right. You should fight to come into EU. EU is not perfect but England on its own will sink with your generation on board. Hello from Paris. So sorry it is so complicated to go back to GB where I got married.
You were robbed by a load of people who enjoyed the rights and freedoms that came with EU membership their entire lives and yet decided you shouldn't. I'm 50 with a young child and I'm happy to despise them for you. I'm not going to call them Baby Boomers, it was generation take, take, take and give nothing back.
I think a major part of it was not economics, but xenophobia and irrational fears. Of course those who voted to leave for that reason will deny it. However there's always a "but". That doesn't mean that the majority of those who wanted to leave did so due to xenophobia, but it's something which should not be underestimated.
As a French EU citizen, i feel only sad for the Scottish taken away against their will and also for the young British generation deprived of all the EU benefits.
@Alexandre Larsac Like cheap imported labour from eastern europe that has stagnated uk wages for 30 years? Sure, they woukdnt goto france where the unemoloyment level is double, where locals qualified, native speakers, local experience cannot find work..
Oh Liz was the best. When i realised shes going into office i got me popcorn and sat back watching the circus catching fire. Shame it burnt down so quickly, still had half a bucket left by the time she was gone.
Oh Liz was the best. When i realised shes going into office i got me popcorn and sat back watching the circus catching fire. Shame it burnt down so quickly, still had half a bucket left by the time she was gone.
all politicians are crooks and only recently 4 european parliamentary officials were charged over qatar bribery issues(bribing eu officials) again blow out your emotional candle and fix in on some facts..................park that emotion.
As a Québec resident, I’m always a bit dismayed with the lack of serious economic fundamentals coming from the separatist camp. I definitely understand the more emotional, nationalist, cultural arguments, but the cost associated with separation is seldom analysed, let alone brought up. I see this video as a cautionary tale.
Don't worry, the modus operandi of the type of populist nonsense that "get Brexit done" Boris pedalled is that it's always someone else's fault when the lies you told people gets found out. And people will believe that.
I'm a retired American who moved to France 6 years ago. Quite frankly, I have zero sympathy for the older generation Brexiteers; you made your bed, now sleep in it. I do, however, have great sympathy for the younger generations of Brits; they realized what the impact was going to have on their lives. Whereas the older generations only care about keeping their short-sighted sovereign greedy mentality in place, the younger generations instinctively knew that you need good business relations with other countries in order to get the things you want and need.
@Yvon Q. Q: so why has the uk pay been so low for 30 years? A: unfettered cheap labour from poorer European countries. ~out of the EU, the same job i would be lucky to get £12p.h. I am hunted by agencies offering £15-18 p.h. Every week. How come?????
@Jon Simmons Ah yes, the UK, where poverty is the highest than any developed place in Western Europe and where entire communities are just on benefits? Employment is useless when the salaries are way too low for people to live, like the US where some needs more than 1 job to survive. UK where the housing crisis is so hard than MOST people can't actually afford rent or buy a house. The UK where the mortgage interest rate is so high that we can find the same in 3rd world countries. Great UK, for sure !
@SteelCom The EU's pointless support of Ukraine has already cost the death of close to 200,000 young Ukrainian men. UK and USA are culpable too. The EU is not a friend of the young!
Brexit has the biggest effect on small businesses. 99% of all businesses in the UK are small businesses! (with under 49 employees). If you lose free trade with the EU and have nothing to replace it with then of course the whole UK economy is going to suffer negatively. It really isn't that complicated. Granted not all UK small businesses trade directly with the EU but many small businesses are interconnected and money flows between them. A small business may also include a family or single parent who sells items on ebay, amazon, esty etc to make ends meet. But now those small businesses have lost access to an EU market of some 447 million potential buyers. It was so dumb of anyone to vote for Brexit thinking it would help the UK economy. If people who voted for Brexit actually did a few hours of research and looked beyond the sound bites from leading brexiteers like Boris, Farage etc they would of seen that the opposite was going to be true.
I think it's more a question of the greed of a number of international interests preying on the gullibility, sense of entitlement and xenophobia of an older and less educated section of British people. Well, younger voters are not enthralled to what they are instructed to think in the non-dom billionaire owned press. So the future is brighter, even if the cost is lost decade or two. For those generations now all I can say, I'm so sorry your rights and freedoms were denied you by those who had these privileges most of their lives. If it's not clear by now I despise them for doing this.
And you're not in a position to be bullied into being a subordinate area of Europe with constraints on trading outside the EU. The open door policy has been a disaster for the UK - FREE MOVEMENT HAD TO STOP. The nasty news related to the boat people is terrible BUT IMAGINE AN OPEN DOOR! IN REALITY THE FREE MOVEMENT OF PEOPLE WAS OVERWHELMINGLY ONE WAY AND PAGE HALL WOULD HAVE HAPPENNED ALL OVER THE UK ! FOR EXAMPLE:- PAGE HALL There is always something happening in Sheffield. There is always the odd fight in the street, or reports of yobs doing dougnuts on football fields, throwing stones at buses, threatening people in parks, or something like that. Not to say the city is bad. No. It is beautiful. It is amazing. But, a lot of things tend to happen in Sheffield almost all of the time. It generally means people are quite used to stories about police stumbling across stolen car graveyards in the woods or some other bizzare thing. But even with such lofty standards (or low, depending on how you see things), Page Hall's notorious rise to infammy gripped the entire city and left even the hardcore disensitised folk wondering, what on earth was up. At the height of its infammy, Page Hall was not just an estate. It was the equivalent of a full season of Jeremy Kyle. During Covid, police were called several times to break up One of those fights, was a massive brawl of over 100 people. It spilled on to the streets and shocking footage went viral on the internet. Several other videos, at different times, all captured brawl after brawl. And it all happened in the streets. But, as 2022 folds, and 2023 nears, many in Page Hall say the days of hundred-strong street fights are over. Olga Illic, a Slovakian mother, who lives in the area says her outlook has changed: "If I hear noise before I think Oh no they fight again. "But now, I hear noise and think Oh no they party I will not get sleep tonight. But better noise and party than beat each other." Olga's neighbour, Marta, from Slovakia, says she remembers the days of street violence with sadness. Marta says she was caught in the crossfire while returning from buying baby formula for her grandchild: "I had gone to corner store to buy milk for baby's baby, but on the way back I see boys fighting and throwing things. "When I cross to walk from the other side the fight also follow me. And then I don't know but someone hit me or whack me on the back and I fall." People throw litter on the floor, despite a bin being just a meter away. Martha, who was too afraid to call the police or seek medical help, says she did not leave the house for six months, and relied on her adult son, a bouncer, to buy everything for her. She said: "We did not leave house after. "My son, the baby's father would shop everything including sanitary. Me and daughter-in-law did not step outside door for months maybe almost year. "But now it has changed. No more huge fight with stones. Now we walk." Two Albanian men found living in Yorkshire factory with 'room after room' full of cannabis worth almost £1m Across Page Hall, several people, of different backgrounds, say the fights are over. One shop owner on Page Hall road, even claims ethnic tensions that often led to violence have also eased down. He said: "Nowdays you can see Slovakians, Romanians, Russians though they are few, and Kurdistani people walk past each other. Before if groups of different nationalities met, they would be fights. "Now, they don't fight in the street. Maybe you can hear of an attack. Or an ambush at night, maybe at the drug selling corners, but not big gangs fighting." Some of the dirty apparel that is strewn all over Page Hall. On the streets of Page Hall, the air smells a little different. It is not as crowded as it was a year ago when we visited, and the air and sense of danger that often surrounded one in the area is mostly gone. A lot of it goes down to the work of South Yorkshire Police, who went as far as renting an apartment in a problem street, and having officers stationed there, just to tackle issues in Page Hall. Dubvranko, a 23-year-old self-confessed former trouble maker says police made it uncomfortable. He said: "The more things happened, the more police came in. At first it was like cat and mouse. But it got too much. Police were everywhere. "A lot of people got in trouble. Before what we could do openly, we could not do anymore. "It also helped as more and more people started to feel confident to report. People started forsaking their allegienace to countries and saying we will report to help community. "So now its all under the mat. It is hard to be trouble in the open now." Page Hall in Sheffield crosses the line from dirty to dump. (Image: Maynard Manyowa / Yorkshire Live) But, despite its progress, especially in the street brawls arena, Page Hall still has one problem that has not gone away. The area was a modern day rubbish dump. This has hardly changed at all. The streets are still littered with litter.
@Always ready for your calls.. haha. You really sound like you know what you are going on about. I doubt you know the first thing about the EU and what it DID. Because the UK have left the EU. Unless you are unaware. And during that time there was a pandemic also. Plus the UK's border control and quarantine control is crap.
What a crisp, honest and clear analysis of all the issues. What I find so insightful is the statement that the main parties, con and labour, now take what was UKIP policy before the vote in 2016, as their policy. A new, national, UKIP policy. They really got the country done. In terms of what can be done, people need to become fulfilntheir civic duties and vote. Are there any studies on the number of people who could have voted remain, but didn't bother to vote? Things may have been different. We're in the mess now. We need to keep talking and vote, whenever opportunities come round. Local, national elections, turnout and vote. Register for a postal vote.
Every single person & business recognising the 'hardships' of Brexit now, after the fact, should bow down and beg forgiveness from all of us who TOLD YOU SO beforehand & got poo-pooed for our trouble. Contemptible.
@Virtus This is not a zero sum game. The UK already had a robust trading relationship with Canada, Australia and New Zealand. At the same time, as a massive functional working relationship with her nearest neighbors. The data and thoughtful analysis in this FT video clearly documents, very objectively, the disastrous impacts of Brexit on the UK economy and people. The only way to fix something is to actually put the problem on the table and look at the problem and understand the problem. Not to wear blinkers and walk around saying there is no problem and Rule Britannia. Rule Britannia died a very long time ago, and BREXIT turned GREAT BRITAIN into very little Britain.
It's because many Brits think they are above the rest of the EU. "The rest of the European Union is screaming and shouting about us leaving, but once we are out they are going to let us have the good bits of the Union because they are nothing without us."
To this day I remember talking to my boss about it his words "we got 6 weeks of lead time on new orders, even if there will be delays we will just increase it to 8 weeks and business as usual" with a tone of voice that shown he was not at all concerned it was fun to watch, over time, when he was gradually realizing how much he underestimated just what kind of mess we were led into
@Virtus Since the burden of proof falls to the person making a claim, I'd suggest you offer the supporting evidence. I'm happy to, but I don't want to leave myself open to accusations of strawmanning your position.
The best outcome to come from Brexit was the EU discovered that they didn't need the UK afterall. Having navigated two major crises, COVID19 and Ukraine War energy supply crunch, the EU looks very strong and united.
@Woden's hitman No one in the EU is crying about the Brexit anymore. I’m not going to lie: We were really sad/chocked when a big country as UK left us but it was their choice and we needed to accept it. Now UK is out and we don’t want to have them back anymore.Let’s just have trade agreements. Scotland is welcomed though...they wanted to stay. They should be free to come back!
After the vote my wife and I decided it was time to move back to Ireland after 24 years of contributions of tax as a high wage earner. It was so obvious this was going to happen I am surprised that it’s only through the FT that this has honestly been discussed.
Brexit is a wonderful soothing tonic! It raises my morale, bolsters my confidence in my own grasp of current affairs, and confirms my sanity - simply because it is going exactly as I thought it would.
This film reflects my own experiences as a small business operator. 40% of my sales were direct to the EU. Goods were shipped from our door and delivered anywhere within the other 27 within three to five days. Post Brexit - 12 weeks! Sales to the EU have vanished, and I've thrown the towel in.
@Mike R Your government disagrees: "Total exports of goods decreased by £0.7 billion (2.2%) in October 2022, with exports to both EU and non-EU countries falling" www.ons.gov.uk/economy/nationalaccounts/balanceofpayments/bulletins/uktrade/october2022
Voluntarily exiting the worlds largest trading union that others fight so hard to join is just another nail in the coffin of what was once the world's most powerful empire.
@Pseudo Nym No because simply solutions are not easy, and what is more, they require people to have power to give much of it away. It is also incorrect to say that I fear complexity, in addition to being disingenuous. This have nothing to do with pathos, with my or anyone else's emotional state. This have to do with fact. Too much complexity is unsustainable, because every time the complexity of a system doubles, the fragility of the system increases by a factor of eight. This is pure physics. I used a snowpile because it is an easy to understand complex system. And yes avalanches will happen if there is too much snow on the mountainside, this I know with as great a certainty as that the sun will rise in the east. It is for the same reason that a socialist planned economy do not and cannot work, but why free market capitalism can. In free market capitalism we have something called "creative destruction". It means that companies who have grown too complex collapses and from their ashes new business will grow up. Because there is no central institutions in the economy, no central overarching authority that tries to keep everything afloat, everything needs to stand on their own merit, and thus complexity never grows out of control. A computer is generally not too complex, but a just in time delivery system depending on a globe spanning supply chain is. Too many things can go wrong in such a system, that is why the conservative wisdom have always been to have warehouses of stocks, so everyone had what they needed to sell, in case they couldn't get what they wanted when they wanted it. Debt is another form of complexity that have grown dangerously out of control. The EU is an artificial construct that exist by extracting wealth from its northen and western regions and giving some of it to its southern and eastern, with much being wasted along the way. But it also undermines the cultural, political and demographic integrity of every nation in its grasp. The simple solution is national sovereignty and to respect the Natural Rights of every individual. The simple solution is to build systems bottom-up, not top down. Bottom-up system tends to be organic and sustainable, while top-down systems are much more mechanical and don't take local and regional differences into consideration. Remember the taxonomy of law. The first level is the Natural Laws, that which is Good and Evil in itself The second level is the popular will of the people, it is what people can want, and is the basis for nationalism. The third level is the charter, the national constitution that lays the framework for the state. The state is created always by man, and its purpose its primary purpose is to serve its people, to serve as the guardian of the nation, hence the term "nation-state" The fourth level is the national or state laws, these are regular laws that are made by the state for the nation. They cannot violate the lower levels and much be congruent with the constitution The fifth level is international treaties, this is where the EU and the UN comes in. They are subordinate to the nations, their servant and their "laws" can never reach a level beyond a suggestion, that every nation is free to accept or reject with impunity. But that is not how they act, they act like the masters and treat the nations as disobedient children. That is part of the problem especially with the EU, and why it is doomed to failure. It is better to sit in the lifeboat then in the ballroom of the Titanic even if it gets a little windy
@rphb You fear complexity, yet you use a computer - the epitome of complexity in our every day life. Complexities are often necessary, or else we wouldn't have the scientific achievements we have today and you'd be writing your comments on paper instead. > If we don't do anything to the snow pile at some point a systemic collapse will occur That's a fallacy as you don't know that for sure, just like claiming that a specific volcano will break out, based on the fact that others did in the past. You don't know that though. You just claim your own expectation as fact to make your intrinsic logic work. Ultimately, you wrote a lot, but didn't say anything. If simple solutions to complex problems existed, then they naturally would be used. At the same time, you also oversimplify the complexity of the entire situation
@Jake_the_Eagle well thou should read the other response I made, the one to pseudo nym. I goes more into details about why the EU is such a bad thing. I used Oliver Cromwell because the British system is so broken that I fear only a revolution can fix it at this point. The British voted for independence in 2016 in 2016 under David Cameron. Now Cameron was not a brexeteer he was in many ways my ideological opponent, but he is like the Grant to my Robert E Lee, that is a legitimate enemy, and I respected him. When he didn't get the result he wanted he left. What should have happened then is that someone who believed in Brexit took over, someone who understood all of the great benefit the UK could have as a sovereign country, but they did not. They got the equivalent to Philippe Pétain in the form of Theresa May. She was as much a remainer as Cameron, but where he was a man, she was a traitor, she took the office only in order to sabotage it. And sabotage it she did, right up until the point where Boris Johnson took over. He had a slogan as great as Make America Great Again, Get Brexit Done, unfortunately that is all he had. I said the UK needed someone like Nigel Farage someone who honestly believes in independence, and Boris was just a shrill. When the largely manufactured covid crisis hit, he was also quick to follow in the other globalist regimes foodsteps and mandate a serious lockdown, even though he didn't believe in it. Now that is something that hurt industry a lot, we havn't even begun to see how much yet. Fun fact: stuff comes from factories, farms and mines, if we close them down we don't get the stuff. It can't be printed. When we try to print, well the Germans did that in the 1920's The problem with Parliament wouldn't be so bad if there were proportional representation, or if the UK was an absolute monarchy, both would actually be better then a pretend democracy that represent only an entranced elite. We have seen throughout history how much progress can be done, when a country moves from a feudal monarchy where the kings power is very limited and the nobility and church are strong, into an absolute monarchy where the king can decide everything. The reason why such a move is good is because it actually moves power closer to the people, not further away from it. An absolute king is free to listen to his people, he is not constrained by a powerful oligarchy. He is also free not to do that. Don't get me wrong, I prefer democracy over autocracy I just prefer autocracy over oligarchy, because oligarchy like the EU, the UK and especially the US have is the greatest poison for a country at all. The two ways forward for England is a democrat like Ferage with proportional representation that can offer people real choices, or an autocrat like Cromwell, that can defeat the oligarchs and do what needs be done.
@rphb I'm not sure how applicable a quote from 1688 is to today's parliament (or when was the great revolution?) Especially in British parliament it seems that everything is preorchestrated. No questions that can actually be of any importance or controversy. And if the question is then the answer isn't. Like in most democracies people with more power will have more direct influence that the common folk. The question is: why didn't the industry go berserk on the plans? Were they actually thinking that Brexit was a good thing? I'm sure there are a lot of regulation, but a lot of regulations that you believe too be true are actually myths, or you might say propaganda by lobbies... And the EU has changed. No longer is it the landfill of politicians that were too harmful to keep in the spotlight of local politics. The EU parliament is being viewed ever more seriously. I would say that recently a lot of good impulses came from the EU.
@Jake_the_Eagle well I admit that he is a great disappointment, but the UK is not a democracy and Parliament have played bankrupt. To quote one of my favourite English politicians who actually had the galls to act when it was needed: "you are no parliament I say you are no Parliament" quote Oliver Cromwell. And as for competition, legecy companies often fail when they get old fat and slow, the only thing that can prop them up and prevent new guys from outcompeting them is excessive legislation, and no one is better at that then the EU
I used to order stuff from the UK. Got quality stuff fast and could talk easily in english if anythings went wrong. Now its too expensive and some dont deliver to the EU at all anymore so I’ve started ordering from Germany instead.
@Jo Cosson GB is the origin of eugenics and master race thinking , because brits needed something to justify royal house and lords . England lost the 100 years war in 1453 and are still butthurt about that they lost 570 years ago , thats the reason of the constant attacks against France by Westminster . One of the sillies conclusion you must do by all that claims brexiteers said is that , all laws voted in Westminster , Germans and French did those votes , they locked all UK MPs in a dark room and no one ever noticed a thing ... there is no EU laws in UK , never was , all laws in UK were voted by UK MPs
From a customer perspective in continental Europe I can tell you that I never used to check where the goods I ordered via Amazon, EBay etc came from. After a few deliveries from the UK got delayed, stuck in customs or returned to sender by the carrier, I now explicitly make sure I’m not buying anything from the UK anymore. Just too much trouble. Casting your vote has consequences. And the best thing is: now that Brits got their country “back”, they can’t blames us anymore for all the problems they have, can they? 😂
I think one of the good things about Brexit is that the companies are having difficulty hiring cheap labour, mainly those who work in hospitality and cleaning areas. Any person illegally before could fake EU documents to work here, now they have to prove with the Home office letter of settle status or pre settle to land the job. I've just had my experience in the cleaning field here in UK, I know not all companies are the same, but the culture on this workplaces from my experience looks like has always been of exploitation towards these workers on the cleaning trade, the managers abuses are enormous. I myself had many wrong payments dealt by manager maximing profits for their own benefit so they steal workers pay reducing salaries. They also never gives the annual leave, I had just resigned close to my second year employment in the company because I can't have a break at all. Now I want to see where they'll find cheap labour after my notice period of only one week and find someone who can work a place that used to work three people before me. I wish them good luck with all the dirty mess they'll have to deal till they find someone they can look down for that.
A genuine genuine republic ? No. I did vote for remain... but I also want the monarchy. No to losing the royalties in Europe. No, no, no. The world is more of a dangerous place, than ever before... Somebody mentioned this before.. not voicing their opinion is just as worst as accepting the status quo.. Which is true and true...
I have a small business in Portugal and before Brexit we regularly bought from UK suppliers. We knew it would be more complicated to keep purchasing from them, but thought it could be possible. But after looking into the paperwork, timeline and COST, it's a terrible investment. Have completely cut ties with those suppliers.
@Petre Bacrau You really are clueless. All European countries are mainly service based nowadays. Three quarters of GVA come from services alone that includes the UK. I'm responsible for checking and green lighting all of my company's suppliers and despite extremely aggressive marketing, I have been ignoring UK based service providers since the Brexit due to the lack of compatible legal systems and all other increased issues that go along with it. Does that have an effect on our productivity or quality? No. Not in the slightest. None of the service providers were unique, but easily substitutable. But even if we were concentrating on the wares and goods sector with its ever fleeting relevance, the UK isn't on the forefront of technology and doesn't really have anything to offer that couldn't be provided by other manufacturers. So you can stop kidding yourself that product quality suffered due to Brexit. You're welcome to provide proof for your claim ofc. Good luck with that though.
@Petre Bacrau such typically ignorant and twisted Brexiteer logic. The UK doesn’t have a monopoly on quality products, the fact so many EU companies and small businesses are now happily doing business within the EU speaks for itself.
@Petre Bacrau you don't know what product he's talking about so cut the crap! According to your logic it is either black or white while it is always in a spectrum of grey! There are many variables...
U.K. was like the teenager that says there leaving the household and than is surprised that Mom and Dad are not covering their expenses anymore. Sad fact is, that you want to be independent and you got your wish, so now you have to live with the consequences.
I'm so annoyed to hear small business owners saying "We thought it would be fine". They were told, time and again, that it would not be fine that they would need to open businesses in EU to continue. As a brit in Germany it cost me 2 years of worry and several rounds of paperwork to stay. I even had the horrible experience of a manager telling me I would not be able to work for the company after a certain date, that was only a month away. Luckily, I knew my rights and had already sorted my paperwork for residence. However, I felt betrayed by the UK to the point that I will never return except to get my pension.
how did the uk betray you? Si=ounds to me like it was the Germans sticking the boot in. They didnt have to, some EU countries just let UK citizens carry o as before. And I can assure you from personal experience that you have no need to return to UK to get your pension. The DWP for that works like a dream. you can do everything in a 5 minute phone call
@Steve Harrison That sounds like govmt subsidies at work. aka building business on shifting and unreliable sands. The moment those subsidies end (as they ALWAYS do) then that growth will be unsustainable and you will be back at square one.
@Steve Harrison So Brexit has been a blessing for your company and family, it seems? Lucky you. Sometimes I wonder if everyone should just stay wherever their folks are from and not bother with the mither and indignity of venturing out.
I am from the UK and a business owner that specialises in medical equipment from the UK to the EU. We lost 50% of our clients due to Brexit and they are gone mostly. The reason being the wait on customs and paperwork, as they could simply find a product similar from Germany and not have to bother with waiting times and extra admin. Even at this very moment we have shipments stuck in Germany for 2+ weeks, circa 2 years later after this final stupid decision of Brexit. Also the impact on our own internal admin has tripled resulting in extra staff costs also with extra customs forms and having to itemise everything on the "commercial invoice", which we also have to share detailed information on previously considered "confidential" before Brexit. What is great about that video, which other great documentaries also exposed, is that smart UK business owners have had to set up an office in the EU, taking tax revenues and money out of the UK. I would love any Brexiter to defend that logic, that for UK businesses to survive in Europe, they had to move most operations out of the UK. "Taking back control" IDIOTS...
@Rene Bosselaar You mean false propaganda ? Crappy TV news ? News papers that are not even fit for the WC , i moved away long time ago from all this brainwashing agenda
@Rene Bosselaar yes I do even more now, the EU it's crumbling ,it's the worst corrupted regime in the whole history and it has corrupted all the politician with high rewards and pensions
It's mindblowing that people believed they would keep all the advantages of being in the EU without a membership. It's not like people weren't excessively warned about what would happen.
@Laqueefa Steinberg There is huge inflation outside the EU too. It is almost as if the causes of inflation isn't connected to EU membership, but rather originates from Taiwan/China, the middle East and Russia.
Love the "Independence Day" comment. GB voluntarily joined a group of nations, then voted to leave and he's calling Independence Day. It appears that GB was independent the whole time it was in the EU. I wish, for my forefathers that the USA could have just left the empire under the same basis.
@Lunkan92 that’s actually the problem of EU. However it’s a different issue than Brexit. Brexit is a divorce from EU with a hope of freedom will deliver better lives. But it was a economic suicide.
I wish that Wales and Scotland could just leave the UK. But, we have no clause 50 in the UK allowing us to do that. From our point of view the UK is a dictatorship.
@Lunkan92 No country was compelled to join the Euro when it was introduced. Luckily at the time we had a govt prepared to refuse, other countries didn't. Whatever other "perks" we might have had don't compensate for the unlimited flood of cheap labour coming here nor for the loss of sovereignty.
The funny thing is britain had a lot of special perks that many other countries in the EU didn't have. Hell just look at the fact that despite the introduction of the euro Britain still was using the pound.
@Pseudo Nym No I did not. You must back the slugs in Davos that would not pee on you if you were on fire. Whoever is in government is a corporate gopher. The goal is a return to the management of the EU. Right now, the Establishment is paving the way for pro pedo Starmer to get the nod, as his goal will be to finish off the UK for his handlers. There is a reason we are seeing Tory sleaze in the news, strikes and managed decline from the gophers in #10. Idiots will think they are voting for change, but nothing bar the faces will change. They are also war maniacs with bloodlust.
@Botany 500 In another post you claimed your little Davos conspiracy being the reason for the Brexiteers to vote leave. Now you're claiming that the very same government that advocated Brexit is going for an opposite agenda. You're contradicting yourself.
I’m sorry !you don't need to be an expert to know that this was inevitable...once brexit was passed...🤯😶 Seriously!!! you really thought you would have the same privileges?!?!?!?🤯🤔
Brexit was, without a doubt, the stupidest thing the UK could have done in recent decades. I actually cannot remember something more stupid the UK has done in my lifetime. The UK voters traded a massive economic advantage for that warm and fuzzy feeling the UK is independent. With leaving the EU, the UK has lost ALL voting power as to how virtually all countries within a 2000km radius (except Norway and Switzerland) do business with the world, including how they do business with the UK itself. And what is being shown in this video is true: The USA, the EU, Australia/Japan/Korea, and a slew of other countries all have seen big economic gains since the end of the pandemic, regardless of the war in Ukraine and the situation with Russia. The UK.... not so much. They cannot compete with the EU, and EU businesses are pulling out because doing business in the UK is now more expensive, more bureaucratic, and more cumbersome..... and as mentioned in the video, businesses in the EU can find plenty of customers within the EU, where UK businesses really cannot live without that radius of 2000km of EU countries around them. Brexit has been SO harmful to the UK economy it remains a question whether they will recover to pre-Brexit levels within the next 10 years..... Leaving an economic powerhouse that literally SURROUNDS the UK in almost all directions..... I mean, even the stupidest voter could have seen how incredibly stupid THAT was.
I live in Portugal now after 40 years in the UK working and observing. I was born in the USA and have watched in disbelief as the UK succumbed to jingoism and blatant lies. Anyone who has studied the decisions made by the UK while within the EU will discover that you guys approved at least 95 percent of the proposed EU legislation - most of it not dictated as directives, but merely given in a form that could be (and was) shaped to individual UK country needs. The whole argument about taking back “sovereignty “ was therefore spurious, a case of the tail wagging the dog. The UK now is becoming a third world country, riven by political divisions and finger pointing, poorer by the year, more isolated and derided every day. I M so grateful to live in a free, affordable, liberal democracy, with access to huge opportunities and great healthcare. Not in the UK, but in the EU and Portugal.
I have to laugh when I see people complain about the backlash of Brexit. Common sense told you it was a bad idea. People told you it was a bad idea but instead you listened to Politicians. Good one. Britian has nothing unique to export yet relies heavily on imports. What kind of absolute candy man would even think of something so ridiculous.
Literally all Europeans saw this coming, it was obvious, for EU it's just that a single one of the many rich countries is leaving. Wooooow, what a terrible thing. What would EU do...
As a Scotsman, I’ve had real difficulty exporting my haggis to Europe. As soon as I release them on French shores they run away and refuse to stay there. I’m beginning to think that they think that E is actually equal to MC squared after all. Either that or Dirty Den is actually a dirty guy and should take a shower. Regardless, the moon is a balloon so let’s remember it’s Easter tomorrow. Cheers 😊
As a historian, this is an interesting time that will definitely produce books and articles that place this whole thing in its context (both past and future). As someone living through this shitshow, it's frightening and disheartening. But Brexit has all the hallmarks of a catalyst that will lead to something worse. We're at the beginning of something terrible, I fear
40 years of staying in the UE had been an extraordinary succes for Britain: with a giant market at its disposal, being able to keep the Pound (and to control the EU evolution from inside), in an strategic situation, between the US and the EU, and all that without any sovereignty loss, as the Brexit itself proves.. all that was lost overnight because of a ridiculous little man and also because of an ill nostalgia for a long gone Empire..
@gwaponobby LOTS of reasons to be proud! We (The Dutch) dealt with water and the sea for more than 1,000 years and we WILL deal with it in 1,000 years to come, Don’t worry! Ever heard of the DELTAWORKS? Guess you do, since you “know” all about The Netherland. ONE of the 7 modern world wonders! ASML ring a bell? The by far most important chip machine maker in the world. Even China and the USA can’t level up with the High-Tech and complicity of what this DUTCH company is producing! Here’s a SHORT LIST of Dutch inventions and remarkable facts: 1. Microbiology (16th century) 2. Telescope (1608) 3. Metronome (1812) 4. Artificial Heart (1957) 5. Verified Navigable Submarine (1620) 6. Gin (1500s) 7. Stock Markets (1602) 8. Central Banks (1609) 9. Laserdisc Technology (1969) 10. Bluetooth 11. Wi-Fi (1990s) 12. Speed Skating (13th-18th centuries) 13. Dutch-Process Chocolate (1800s) 14. VOC; The first and biggest Multinational EVER. 8 times bigger than Apple! I can go on and on, but I think you got the “picture”! BTW, This might interest you: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baan_Hollanda
Every major political party (including the Tories) believed remaining in the EU would be in our best interests. But instead we decided to follow Nigel Farage and the rest is history.
@Count Fosco Exactly. Plus if I would be British Citizen what would make me very upset on what Farage did is the fact how UK showed to the whole world just how much Brits hate everyone and everything what is foreign, because that is what Farage used in his campaign to leave EU.
@Kate Kiralova not all of us are idiots we knew what would happen . But we were hijacked be the two con men farage and Johnson . Both doing well now it seems .
I don't think Farage believes in anything very much. But he is earning a fantastic income from all this. His own media firm pays him 30'000 Euro per month. And before that he benefited financially from being an MEP.
Ask a British Lamb and wool producer how good the Aussie deal is. Answer it’s a bloody disaster. But as a Canadian thanks because it’s been very good for us. We have picked up a lot of ex UK business in the EU thanks to Brexit.
Excellent video. I really get bored with those people who voted for Brexit and who now regret it and say "we weren't told". The fact is, they were told, they just chose not to listen. They don't have any of my sympathy. What Brexiteers have done to the opportunities for a whole generation of young people is unforgiveable. It's like shooting someone in the kneecaps and then saying, "I'm sorry you won't be able to run marathons like I did" and expecting to be forgiven.
@Botany 500 It is now much harder for tax cheats and dirty money to clean the money in the EU. After WWII, the only way sterling and the U.K. could survive was to become the center for suspect international money to be handled--the so called Eurodollar market--of which the U.K. through offshore secrecy jurisdictions was and is still the proprietor. Anyone who needs to shield money from taxes or official criminal scrutiny parks it in the U.K. After the war, British banks were officially limited in their ability to lend or do banking outside the U.K. The Eurodollar market makes possible international transactions involving everything from drug running to financing of insurgents/terrorists, Russians needing a haven for their wealth, etc. No, the EU is not perfect, but it is, at least, making an attempt to combat international financial crime. Furthermore, EU members must maintain financial discipline, with a ceiling on permitted deficit spending. In that regard alone, the U.K. is out of all responsibility and reason. The BOE, as central bank, serves to sweep deficit spending under the rug by flooding the economy with credit money, which only further aggravates the current commodity inflation. It also results in asset inflation, artificially increasing the "market value" of securities held mainly by the wealthy upper class and City bonuses predicated on artificially maintained "Market value."
@Lonnie Halouska The elite wealthy class make money or gain power with whatever system is in place, as they are involved in setting them up. Are you suggesting the EU is perfect, and their lackeys did not threaten the Greeks by telling them they would turn off their ATMs if they did not sign their mafia Troika deal? Von De Lair's husband also benefitted from a deal with the EU during the psuedo-pandemic.
Indeed they were told. But, they refused to listen, preferring to follow power hungry demagogues serving an elite wealthy class determined to hold onto wealth threatened by EU anti-money laundering and tax avoidance laws.
I think one of the good things about Brexit is that the companies are having difficulty hiring cheap labour, mainly those who work in hospitality and cleaning areas. Any person illegally before could fake EU documents to work here, now they have to prove with the Home office letter of settle status or pre settle to land the job. I've just had my experience in the cleaning field here in UK, I know not all companies are the same, but the culture on this workplaces from my experience looks like has always been of exploitation towards these workers on the cleaning trade, the managers abuses are enormous. I myself had many wrong payments dealt by manager maximing profits for their own benefit so they steal workers pay reducing salaries. They also never gives the annual leave, I had just resigned close to my second year employment in the company because I can't have a break at all. Now I want to see where they'll find cheap labour after my notice period of only one week and find someone who can work a place that used to work three people before me. I wish them good luck with all the dirty mess they'll have to deal till they find someone they can look down for that.
Some would even argue that it was to do with all immigration and backward nationalism as some of the leave voters erroneously believed that Brexit would stop all immigration and make Britain more mono ethnic. Perhaps it's up to people to do with their country as they wish.
I worked in road haulage for 25 years operating out of our base in Dover. We were in the 'common market' as it was then. We didn't do a lot in europe due mainly to all the paperwork needed. Then came 'the single market' what a game changer. Instead of our drivers leaving our yard in Dover, heading for the docks, and not really knowing how long it would take to clear customs and get onto the ferry to our drivers leaving our yard in Dover, straight into the docks and straight onto a ferry. Arriving in Calais straight off the ferry onto the motorway system and away. Easy. We saw our work increase rapidly as we did with all companies whichever direction goods were heading. Then the brexit vote. I dreaded it. I knew where this was going. I had done it. I had seen it. The real issues were that neither the public or the government had any idea how the system worked. Remember Dominic Raab who had no idea the importance of Dover. Oh come on. Really. And this is the problem. People in the UK had no idea how it worked. And now you have this mess. Its split the country. But make no mistake here. All the time you have so many Brexiteers in the current government this will never correct itself. What ever happens from here god knows. But trying to unite people is very difficult. It seems a very odd thing to me to destroy something that worked, to create what has been created. Hatred to our closest neighbour. Self harm to many. And the lies, oh the lies. And still the little boats arrive, it hasn't stopped. Despite what you were all told. Now do you realise what a stupid act this has all been.
@Gordon Simpson Did you ever cross a border with a carnet? I did, a fair few times, admittedly many years ago. 22 hour wait crossing into Austria was the worst wait. Entire contents of a light lorry unloaded in a compound until a custom officer was happy and then put it all back again. Multiple waits crossing every border. Usually manageable, but still a pain. I've seen the haulage queues at Dover. It isn't rubbish. You may think it is all for the greater good, but you cannot, honestly, dismiss it as rubbish.
I would sometimes see one of those trucks with the pretty roses all over the cabin; in Spain, in Germany, in France, in Italy... haven't seen one in years :(
@Retro The weird thing is, a lot of promises regarding work places were made and also keept. It's just that things went south once the guy in charge managed to get rid of all safety measurements regarding his power and area of influence. Which to be fair, weren't many and not really strong to begin with.
@Regular Channel Quite the opposite. Biden was the antidote for the literal suicide of the anti-vaccine MAGA-world as well as the economic harm that Ex45 caused to the country in general, whether his total lack of understanding of how tariffs worked or tax cuts that benefited the wealthy. Oh, of course there’s the little insurrection issue and election denialism, but that’s a whole other issue.
Whenever I asked people “why do you want to leave the EU?” 99% of people said because of foreigners and taking back control. I asked them to elaborate more on this and they could never answer, I explained it would damage the British economy and there would be huge gaps in employment regarding low skilled essential work - now my neighbour who voted for brexit who’s a carer complains about all the hours she has to work and how they’ve constantly got no staff because the European staff have left. No words.
@Junkmytrunkas an american, are you "ok" for unlimited, unfettered immigration from south america bcos US companies sell cars there? -with migrant access to US jobs (undercutting local US workers on pay) and free access to US welfare and state housing for migrant families on equal rights as US citizens? How about having U.S.. Laws overruled by a committee in caracas- because the USA trades with them?... - and mexican fishing boats 200 yrds off US coastline? - still "ok" with that deal? *~thats what being in the EU is*
I am an EU citizen and live between the Uk and Spain. When I buy something in the Uk I have it delivered to my daughter’s place in London. Anything else (shipping to Spain) is outright impossible. As a business head, I will very much think twice about how to expand our company to the Uk when the time comes, because everything has become a nightmare, the first thing being people mobility. Even my ability to be insured in my daughter’s car.
Good documentary. It is so sad what Britain has done to itself with Brexit. I am glad I made the decision to leave the UK years ago. I used to make a living in a small business exporting from the UK to Europe. The business no longer exists.
Yes because it's that common business plan of starting business in UK to sell to Europe which has helped massively to destroying our economy. Why couldn't you focus sales in UK, in your home country? Take Lidl for example, a lot of people love to go their because it was cheap - it was a foreign company tho. If you started a business and sold your items for say 30% less of the price of other businesses, sure, you would lose money in an instant, however, as time goes on and you gain popularity for being cheap but good or better quality than the rest.. it is with no doubt those customers will now come to you. When that happens and the lack of sales starts to affect the other big companies, they will begin to follow foot and lower their prices to try and match yours. That is how an affective business can single handedly change our economy, but no, everyone, like YOU, are too greedy to do anything like that so just set up shop here to sell to foreign countries.
Leaving the EU is like playing world of Catan against three players who play together and expect them to give you everything while they don't need to trade with you to build their empire, but all you have to offer is stone which they already have lol
Excellent piece! As an outsider (🇨🇦), I try to keep up on general global affairs. I had the impression the 'leave' voters thought it would end 'immigrants taking their jobs' and be 'their own boss' (sovereignty). Since the UK left, I have looked high and low for anything that explained gains for leaving. At first, I thought, yes, there would be growing pains and Covid, then the Ukraine war were mostly the fault of lack of growth and huge utility increases. This article does a great job of explaining everything. I also found on 2 different sources that FT is a 'centre' bias news source. I just wish the UK well and hope the less advantaged can cope with the sky rocketing fuel prices this winter. ... It looks so bleak for them.
@rjmacf001 I try to be 'balanced' and realistic. To be fair to the 'disadvantaged' Brexiteers, when someone comes along and claims to be the saviour to all your problems, they'll believe them. - It's along the line of what you referenced about the US. When "you-know-who" 🙄 came down the escalator, he basically claimed to be the Messiah to all those people who lost their livelihood in the mines, factories, etc. They were lied to - and continue to be lied to. ("Mexicans are drug dealers & rapists"... I'll build a wall and THEY will pay for it") I'd like to know something about Brexit in its'_Original_ form. ?Maybe? it was a good idea in version 1? I ponder this, because it wasn't just breadline people who supported it. There are those _Far_ smarter than me in 'high places' that voted to leave. I mean, there must have been _something!_ I'm completely open to hearing from ANY pro-Breiter to what they've gained - or even what they look to gain in the next few years.
@bugs972 Absolutely, Id love to see more funding for public services. I don't think this problem is unique to the UK - however, with the dire situation of energy costs there, it is so much more alarming. Families like mine who are doing 'okay' want more help for the disadvantaged. We're FAR from 'rich', but fortunate enough not to have worry about housing, utilities or food (example of not being 'rich': our cars are old enough to vote, lol ) We try & do our tiny little part and donate to food banks every time we shop.
You are too balanced and well informed Luna333...unlike the UK populace who stupidly voted in an "advisory referendum" and then essentially trashed their own economy (now being hidden as post pandemic complexity). Sadly the responsible politician ran away rather than sorting the mess he created of an entirely predictable 51/49 vote (see many US mid term results where totally unacceptable candidates get within a few thousand votes of being elected). So the country now gets what the ill informed under educated bare majority voted for. Being born and living here I now accept the UK deserves every inch of its precipitant decline in global standing as well as economic power. Canada (and the vast majority of the Commonwealth) would do well to pull away from their historical links to the former world power. You are being too kind in the face of rank stupidity.
@John Rafaello I don't think regular citizens, without investments care that much about GPD, unless it puts food on their table or gives them a job. Their struggles don't seem like a trite anecdote.
I suggest the younger generations call the Brexshit old f4rts "The Entitled Generation" since they robbed them of the prosperity the geezers enjoyed for decades while EU members.
My thought is that the UK will struggle with a weak economy for several years, too proud to admit it's mistake and then rejoin the EU at some point 15 years down the road. I expect they will be reminded that the EU is not a revolving door, if you come back you will be expected to stay. The planet has become a much smaller place and every county must play nice with the other in order for trade to benefit all. You can't just take your ball and go home.
The EU won't take the U.K. back in any event. 1. The Eu doesn't need the U.K. trade anymore. 2. The Euro and 3. U.K. opposition to new EU anti-money laundering and tax avoidance laws. The U.K. will need to go on supporting sterling (as an orphaned currency) and surviving on laundering dirty money.
How do you reverse Brexit? Talk about it, make it the number one topic of conversation. Organise protests, regular weekly protests. Bang saucepans on the ground, bring children, stay peaceful. Make it abundantly clear that there is a national movement, a constituency not being served. This madness must end and we're not going away until it does. However I don't think the British electorate cares enough. They might when the damage from Brexit becomes too much to bear but not yet.
i still dont understand how they are wondering that if you leave a union, you actually are out. Somehow many Brits thought that they could get business as usual without the negative effects.
"Some businesses won" yes, those who bank in the Cayman Islands or our other tax havens, they are also protected from the EU regulation of financial transparency. They won.
This video is the best summary of the Brexit ‘benefits’ so far. Anyone saying you can’t separate the effects of Brexit from the pandemic/war etc. needs to watch this.
War and pandemic are only excuse to cover up the Brexit effects on people's lives. Or perhaps that's why government is doing everything it can to keep the war going.
For those who want to make some sort of sense of Brexit and it's supporters reasoning, this TED video helps a lot: uaclips.com/video/8SOQduoLgRw/відео.html It's explains the divide between liberals and nationalists.
The problem of why the Brexit happened is not the obvious fallacy of thinking that the EU had the UK under control, but the inherent racism and sentiments towards foreigners in general which is the underlying cause for this entire mess.
It was really the UK's own doing... other EU countries had strict rules on residency in their countries, but the UK didn't implement anything and just blamed the EU for all of their problems. You're right Brexit was the nationalistic triumph of anti-immigrant, English exceptionalism (empire 2.0), and 'sovereignty' ideologues.
UK is doing fine. The sun never set on the British empire. UK is the richest, most powerful country on the planet. ......last century. The current UK? 🤣😂🤭🤣
I'm a Brit living in Germany since 2010 and I run a small business here. Before Brexit I would order materials from the U.K. , the prices were competitive and delivery was quick. Since Brexit, it no longer makes sense to order from the U.K. The prices are not as competitive but the most problematic part is that delivery is often delayed considerably, due to customs issues. I can't rely on receiving orders on time. This causes real problems for my business as I order materials for specific projects with tight deadlines. The same products are available within the E.U. without the added hassle. The result: I now spend tens of thousands of euros a year in the E.U. rather than the U.K. I know other companies are doing the same.
@Thomas V. Worm you can't have it both ways. You cant say "oh look what you get for leavin, look how terrible trade is now" and "the EU is easy to trade with from outside" it's self contributory. We have left the EU and are now being treated like everyone outside of the EU. We actually have it better as we have trade deals set! I won't even bother talking to someone dumb enough to not see the basic undeniable logic of that. It's like arguing that 1 minus 1 is 2.
@Mike R I lived through the 1985 crash where we came close to parity. But the difference then was that the exchange rate only dropped below 1.45 for a period of 1.5 years and was rectified by the US signing the Plaza Accord. Whereas today the exchange rate has been below 1.45 for over 5.5 years and counting.
a dutch person living in Germany. My Son lives in London after going to school and uni in the UK. He is still doing reasonably well and has a permanent resident status. But nothing has improved after Brexit. Simply sending a box of cookies for Christmas has turned into an expensive and complex shipping exercise. What has the UK gained? Even the Tories have not come up with a good answer to this question. It seems to me that the turkeys voted for Christmas and it makes me sad. With inflation currently at about 10%, my primary concern is how to maximize my savings/retirement fund of about £600k which has been sitting duck since forever with zero to no gains.
@rinkydinkmcruk Yeah, that crazy freedom of movement whose lack has sent your entire industry, including the health sector into a downward spiral. The EU is no government. You have clearly not understood how this "Union" (!=state) works. Everything you complain about are directives and regulations that the reps of your government very much voted for and had great influence in shaping it in the first place. Nobody forced anything on you. Meanwhile, plenty of Polish people are very glad that the EU Court of Justice put a stop to their government's attempts to dismantle their democracy. Not that you'd care, because you're ignorant about the many European rights that you lost and that goes way beyond the five fundamental rights you might be thinking of. Fact is, the UK's economy is in the dumps not despite, but because of Brexit.
I dont expect anyone to read this but... Thank you FT for investing the time, resources and energy into making this type of material. This is why I am happy to pay a subscription to you (acknowledging that this is free to view on UAclips which amplifies my support for it). When I was a child, I remember my dad saying to me, where to go for an unbiased opinion of world event was the financial papers like the FT and WSJ. They serve the markets. We as a society in the UK need to be able to progress the conversation and acknowledge our current reality, to talk openly and honestly about perception of the uk globally. In the UK, there has been no mainstream, honest, transparent, coverage of the macro effects of the decision to cut legal partnership with the EU. The UK, in these sad years, has become victim to the influence of the demigod' in boris and farage. Similar to america with trump and kanye. We cannot go back across the bridge that we sadly crossed during Brexit. But we need to start creating our own new future.
@Pat McNeill, I'm not a Brit, so please don't judge me for this question. Why can't the UK go back across the bridge it has crossed, seeing that the perceived gains of leaving the Union are fast diminishing or not realistic? I'm just curious.
How anyone voting for Brexit believed that you can “divorce” but still remain “friends with benefits” is beyond any form of imagination. Childish actions often have bitter results.
I think one of the good things about Brexit is that the companies are having difficulty hiring cheap labour, mainly those who work in hospitality and cleaning areas. Any person illegally before could fake EU documents to work here, now they have to prove with the Home office letter of settle status or pre settle to land the job. I've just had my experience in the cleaning field here in UK, I know not all companies are the same, but the culture on this workplaces from my experience looks like has always been of exploitation towards these workers on the cleaning trade, the managers abuses are enormous. I myself had many wrong payments dealt by manager maximing profits for their own benefit so they steal workers pay reducing salaries. They also never gives the annual leave, I had just resigned close to my second year employment in the company because I can't have a break at all. Now I want to see where they'll find cheap labour after my notice period of only one week and find someone who can work a place that used to work three people before me. I wish them good luck with all the dirty mess they'll have to deal till they find someone they can look down for that..
@JCRger Not sure where you’re going with this. I’m not stopping them and I hate all of the UK establishment parties so I don’t support anyone who might be. They can craic on as far as I’m concerned.
As someone living in Australia, I'd like to thank the English for the hugely generous trade deal they signed when they were desperate for something, anything to show Brexit was a good idea, and the big export of your best and brightest young people to us who have rightly realised what an unfair, elitist craphole the UK is and are leaving in droves.
@Rosco1953 As someone who is a citizen of Germany, I cannot detect even the slightest desire of Germans to leave the "sinking ship EU". I have not even heard that. There will certainly be a few individual emigrants, but that has more to do with romance than with the EU. On the contrary, I experience Germany as part of the EU more as an immigrant country. And these are not only war refugees. Especially the young people from all over the world enjoy the situation to be able to study here almost for free including all health care. As for me personally, after 35 years as a tax-paying worker, I succumbed to a serious illness that made me unable to work. The social net in my EU state makes it possible to live a financially carefree life despite the illness. The cost of medical care alone would have led me to ruin elsewhere, which I would not have been able to pay for the rest of my life. I can hardly imagine, except perhaps for these romantic reasons, a country where I would rather live. I will reach retirement age in four years. It may be that I would then like to spend my twilight years in a country that can give me more sunny days, but as I said, that is a luxury question with the desire for romance. Not everything is going well here either, but a hell of a lot is being done right and as a non-wealthy man, I am proud that my daughter was able to complete her studies with an exchange year that took place completely uncomplicatedly with only the slightest effort in another EU state.
@no way It’s pretty good down here mate. Everyone wants our minerals, gas and oil, and it seems everyone in the EU wants to live here. Thousands of French, Italian and Germans here now…..
I wasn't sure about the benefits of Brexit, but at times I thought it might be a good idea. Since the UK left the EU, I can no longer order things from Screwfix as easily as I used to. In fact, I no longer order anything as custom fees outweigh the benefits. I suppose the UK really has to send all the doll bludgers back to work to get things done, eh? Well done UK, keep it up!
I, a millennial voted to remain as it made sense to remain aligned with our European counterparts. I knew the EU had issues but the benefits far outweighed the downsides. My household is what could be considered solidly middle-class. But I remember remarking on how the poorest amongst us would feel it the most and that's what we're seeing now. Some of those now being affected voted to leave, some to remain and some didn't even bother to vote at all but everyone is suffering. Suffice to say Brexit had been an abysmal failure. The people that told lie after lie to manipulate the masses into voting Brexit into effect are now nowhere to be seen. David Cameron rarely makes public appearances now. Nigel Farage is still out there with his little radio show but you rarely see him on telly or the news anymore, and Cambridge Analytica got dissolved before it could be investigated and it's owners brought to justice . To top it all off, now more than ever Scotland wants to leave the Union. The message Brexit send to me and many other young people is that you have to be extremely selfish when it comes to your future prospects, wealth and well being, even to the detriment of others. That's not the kind of country I want to live or grow old in. There has to be a better way forward that serves everyone equally, especially the younger and older people amongst us.
@Mynydd y Quartzite because the Brexit bus of lies is out of control, driving the wrong way, and swerving round corners at 100mph, and the drivers want to go faster and further astray, When you take a wrong turn, you course correct, you don't just keep driving off a cliff
Countries like Spain have high unemployment, taxes are generally high, it's more expensive to run your own company, there is way less government support, you get less for your money and salaries are much lower compared to the UK. Let's get a little humbled for a change...
The lady from the tea company, I'm sorry, but how the hell did she believe that leaving a single market is going to be good for her exports/imports? Am I wrong for immediately assuming that this is not going to happen?
@Harold Should not have left in the first place! Why would they offer favourable deals to their future competitors? Would have been better to change the aspects of the EU laws and regulations that were not liked than to leave.
@Mitch They can't stop third world manufacturing but who shut down manufacturing in own countries and sent it all to be manufactured in third world or China?
GB has clearly shown other European countries that you do not leave the EU without major problems and huge costs. Thanks to Great Britain for sacrificing to help us understand.
Brexit appears to have been Robert Mercers advert for his new Election marketing machine? It does make a person wonder how many Euro Leaders were purchased by patronizing the Mercer/Bannon firm? It appeared that Mercer recovered his original investment in Media, and his application of the Algorithm that made him wealthy at Renaissance.
The last six years since the Brexit vote have been like watching a car crash in slow motion. My younger sibling, I am ashamed to say, voted for Brexit "just for fun"! In summary, he was fed up with the increasing disparity between the economic boom in London and everyday life in his part of the country, where the reality was boarded-up high streets, unaffordable higher education, an influx of Eastern Europeans and latent feelings of outrage and envy, poor health care, and so on. In his eyes, things could not get any worse than they were. He hated the Tories with every fibre of his body, and Cameron had, after all, asked people to vote to remain.
As a Dutch person I thank the English for this experiment, we had some corners in our country who wanted that as well. But thx to you guys we don't even talk about leaving anymore
Lol😂. That’s hysterical
@Sandra Spadina one of the most asinine comments I've ever read. If someone knows that playing in the middle of the road will result in getting hit by a car, they simply don't play in the middle of the road...they are not living "life scared"...which by the way it sounds if you are already doing lol.
Thank Britain too that you're not talking German in Holland. . Or have you forgotten about that?
Britain is crawling so Denmark may run 🏃 lol
Same with Denmark. We used to have a strong "DEXIT" movement here in Denmark. We haven't really heard from them for a long time...
Interesting to see how the UK will end up.
I will say from an immediate economic outsider standpoint it's stupid.
The UK just has less to offer. It's a small island off of Europe. So yeah, of course its economy is suffering because it has less leverage.
The truth is that the UK needs/wants Europe/other countries, but Europe/other countries don't really need the UK.
This vote happened when I was 15. We need to reverse this decision as my age group are the biggest supporters of the EU. Yet, we were robbed of the ability to decide. 🇪🇺
I don't think EU will accept you back, UK is a country, not an 8 years old kid who changes his mind every 5 minutes
Haha! Lol! So 15 year olds should be allowed to vote? Hahaha!
You are right. You should fight to come into EU. EU is not perfect but England on its own will sink with your generation on board. Hello from Paris. So sorry it is so complicated to go back to GB where I got married.
Apologies but your generation is screwed.
You were robbed by a load of people who enjoyed the rights and freedoms that came with EU membership their entire lives and yet decided you shouldn't. I'm 50 with a young child and I'm happy to despise them for you. I'm not going to call them Baby Boomers, it was generation take, take, take and give nothing back.
I think a major part of it was not economics, but xenophobia and irrational fears. Of course those who voted to leave for that reason will deny it. However there's always a "but". That doesn't mean that the majority of those who wanted to leave did so due to xenophobia, but it's something which should not be underestimated.
Absolutely. All the brexit deal was based on one hypothetical idea that UK was/is/should be superior, and EU is not good enough for them.
Absolutely right
They're not hiding that they're xenophobic, they don't like the EU letting in immigrants from Africa/middle East/asia
My heart bleeds. The delusion in this country is immeasurable.
Not to mention the cupidity.
There's plenty of airports. Feel free to leave if you haven't the balls
Just submitted a research paper on the UK economy. I feel for the people in the UK, but... it sure does feel good to have my analysis validated!!!
congratulations on your research paper! Is it widely available? I'd love to read it
As a French EU citizen, i feel only sad for the Scottish taken away against their will and also for the young British generation deprived of all the EU benefits.
Me too !
@Alexandre Larsac
Like cheap imported labour from eastern europe that has stagnated uk wages for 30 years?
Sure, they woukdnt goto france where the unemoloyment level is double, where locals qualified, native speakers, local experience cannot find work..
@Hugh Johns YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
@heimdal8 Great post
The EU does not have any benefit
How can anyone expect economic growth from a society that identifies Boris Johnson as the smartest member and fit to lead a country.
Oh Liz was the best.
When i realised shes going into office i got me popcorn and sat back watching the circus catching fire.
Shame it burnt down so quickly, still had half a bucket left by the time she was gone.
Oh Liz was the best.
When i realised shes going into office i got me popcorn and sat back watching the circus catching fire.
Shame it burnt down so quickly, still had half a bucket left by the time she was gone.
@Archvaldor's Warcraft Hacks at least she is not a quiter... oh
all politicians are crooks and only recently 4 european parliamentary officials were charged over qatar bribery issues(bribing eu officials)
again blow out your emotional candle and fix in on some facts..................park that emotion.
You forget we replaced him with the genius that is Liz Truss....
How the hell can *businesses* be so STUPID as to believe that exiting a customs union would come without significant consequences?! What the hell....
Businesses didn't vote Dumbass.
Because I think before Brexit they thought it would be like Switserland and Norway, and after the referendum the tories went for a hard brexit?
lol, that's why they say "we were dumb enough to believe it". clearly a mom and pop shop that's never touched an accountant with a 10 foot pole
As a Québec resident, I’m always a bit dismayed with the lack of serious economic fundamentals coming from the separatist camp.
I definitely understand the more emotional, nationalist, cultural arguments, but the cost associated with separation is seldom analysed, let alone brought up.
I see this video as a cautionary tale.
Don't worry, the modus operandi of the type of populist nonsense that "get Brexit done" Boris pedalled is that it's always someone else's fault when the lies you told people gets found out. And people will believe that.
I'm a retired American who moved to France 6 years ago. Quite frankly, I have zero sympathy for the older generation Brexiteers; you made your bed, now sleep in it. I do, however, have great sympathy for the younger generations of Brits; they realized what the impact was going to have on their lives. Whereas the older generations only care about keeping their short-sighted sovereign greedy mentality in place, the younger generations instinctively knew that you need good business relations with other countries in order to get the things you want and need.
@Yvon Q. Q: so why has the uk pay been so low for 30 years?
A: unfettered cheap labour from poorer European countries.
~out of the EU, the same job i would be lucky to get £12p.h. I am hunted by agencies offering £15-18 p.h. Every week.
How come?????
@Jon Simmons Ah yes, the UK, where poverty is the highest than any developed place in Western Europe and where entire communities are just on benefits? Employment is useless when the salaries are way too low for people to live, like the US where some needs more than 1 job to survive.
UK where the housing crisis is so hard than MOST people can't actually afford rent or buy a house.
The UK where the mortgage interest rate is so high that we can find the same in 3rd world countries.
Great UK, for sure !
Spot on.
@SteelCom The EU's pointless support of Ukraine has already cost the death of close to 200,000 young Ukrainian men. UK and USA are culpable too. The EU is not a friend of the young!
@Woden's hitman yeah exactly.
they dont want unlimited immigration from south america bcos US companies trade with their countries.
Brexit has the biggest effect on small businesses. 99% of all businesses in the UK are small businesses! (with under 49 employees). If you lose free trade with the EU and have nothing to replace it with then of course the whole UK economy is going to suffer negatively. It really isn't that complicated.
Granted not all UK small businesses trade directly with the EU but many small businesses are interconnected and money flows between them. A small business may also include a family or single parent who sells items on ebay, amazon, esty etc to make ends meet. But now those small businesses have lost access to an EU market of some 447 million potential buyers.
It was so dumb of anyone to vote for Brexit thinking it would help the UK economy. If people who voted for Brexit actually did a few hours of research and looked beyond the sound bites from leading brexiteers like Boris, Farage etc they would of seen that the opposite was going to be true.
People don't want to think, they want 3 word slogans and someone to blame for whatever situation they put themselves in.
Everyone who voted conservative deserves this. Condolences for the rest of you; your countrymen's greed betrayed you.
I think it's more a question of the greed of a number of international interests preying on the gullibility, sense of entitlement and xenophobia of an older and less educated section of British people. Well, younger voters are not enthralled to what they are instructed to think in the non-dom billionaire owned press. So the future is brighter, even if the cost is lost decade or two. For those generations now all I can say, I'm so sorry your rights and freedoms were denied you by those who had these privileges most of their lives. If it's not clear by now I despise them for doing this.
If you leave a union, you are no longer entitled to the benefits of said union. What a shock.
@MostlyPlaymobil Then elighten me.
And you're not in a position to be bullied into being a subordinate area of Europe with constraints on trading outside the EU. The open door policy has been a disaster for the UK - FREE MOVEMENT HAD TO STOP. The nasty news related to the boat people is terrible BUT IMAGINE AN OPEN DOOR! IN REALITY THE FREE MOVEMENT OF PEOPLE WAS OVERWHELMINGLY ONE WAY AND PAGE HALL WOULD HAVE HAPPENNED ALL OVER THE UK ! FOR EXAMPLE:- PAGE HALL
There is always something happening in Sheffield. There is always the odd fight in the street, or reports of yobs doing dougnuts on football fields, throwing stones at buses, threatening people in parks, or something like that.
Not to say the city is bad. No. It is beautiful. It is amazing.
But, a lot of things tend to happen in Sheffield almost all of the time. It generally means people are quite used to stories about police stumbling across stolen car graveyards in the woods or some other bizzare thing.
But even with such lofty standards (or low, depending on how you see things), Page Hall's notorious rise to infammy gripped the entire city and left even the hardcore disensitised folk wondering, what on earth was up.
At the height of its infammy, Page Hall was not just an estate. It was the equivalent of a full season of Jeremy Kyle. During Covid, police were called several times to break up
One of those fights, was a massive brawl of over 100 people. It spilled on to the streets and shocking footage went viral on the internet.
Several other videos, at different times, all captured brawl after brawl. And it all happened in the streets.
But, as 2022 folds, and 2023 nears, many in Page Hall say the days of hundred-strong street fights are over. Olga Illic, a Slovakian mother, who lives in the area says her outlook has changed: "If I hear noise before I think Oh no they fight again.
"But now, I hear noise and think Oh no they party I will not get sleep tonight. But better noise and party than beat each other."
Olga's neighbour, Marta, from Slovakia, says she remembers the days of street violence with sadness. Marta says she was caught in the crossfire while returning from buying baby formula for her grandchild: "I had gone to corner store to buy milk for baby's baby, but on the way back I see boys fighting and throwing things.
"When I cross to walk from the other side the fight also follow me. And then I don't know but someone hit me or whack me on the back and I fall."
People throw litter on the floor, despite a bin being just a meter away.
Martha, who was too afraid to call the police or seek medical help, says she did not leave the house for six months, and relied on her adult son, a bouncer, to buy everything for her. She said: "We did not leave house after.
"My son, the baby's father would shop everything including sanitary. Me and daughter-in-law did not step outside door for months maybe almost year.
"But now it has changed. No more huge fight with stones. Now we walk."
Two Albanian men found living in Yorkshire factory with 'room after room' full of cannabis worth almost £1m
Across Page Hall, several people, of different backgrounds, say the fights are over. One shop owner on Page Hall road, even claims ethnic tensions that often led to violence have also eased down.
He said: "Nowdays you can see Slovakians, Romanians, Russians though they are few, and Kurdistani people walk past each other. Before if groups of different nationalities met, they would be fights.
"Now, they don't fight in the street. Maybe you can hear of an attack. Or an ambush at night, maybe at the drug selling corners, but not big gangs fighting."
Some of the dirty apparel that is strewn all over Page Hall.
On the streets of Page Hall, the air smells a little different. It is not as crowded as it was a year ago when we visited, and the air and sense of danger that often surrounded one in the area is mostly gone.
A lot of it goes down to the work of South Yorkshire Police, who went as far as renting an apartment in a problem street, and having officers stationed there, just to tackle issues in Page Hall. Dubvranko, a 23-year-old self-confessed former trouble maker says police made it uncomfortable.
He said: "The more things happened, the more police came in. At first it was like cat and mouse. But it got too much. Police were everywhere.
"A lot of people got in trouble. Before what we could do openly, we could not do anymore.
"It also helped as more and more people started to feel confident to report. People started forsaking their allegienace to countries and saying we will report to help community.
"So now its all under the mat. It is hard to be trouble in the open now."
Page Hall in Sheffield crosses the line from dirty to dump. (Image: Maynard Manyowa / Yorkshire Live)
But, despite its progress, especially in the street brawls arena, Page Hall still has one problem that has not gone away. The area was a modern day rubbish dump.
This has hardly changed at all. The streets are still littered with litter.
@MostlyPlaymobil smoke less
@Always ready for your calls.. haha. You really sound like you know what you are going on about. I doubt you know the first thing about the EU and what it DID. Because the UK have left the EU. Unless you are unaware. And during that time there was a pandemic also. Plus the UK's border control and quarantine control is crap.
@Always ready for your calls.. Economy and Trade. I doubt you are familiar with any of these subjects.
What a crisp, honest and clear analysis of all the issues. What I find so insightful is the statement that the main parties, con and labour, now take what was UKIP policy before the vote in 2016, as their policy. A new, national, UKIP policy. They really got the country done. In terms of what can be done, people need to become fulfilntheir civic duties and vote. Are there any studies on the number of people who could have voted remain, but didn't bother to vote? Things may have been different. We're in the mess now. We need to keep talking and vote, whenever opportunities come round. Local, national elections, turnout and vote. Register for a postal vote.
Every single person & business recognising the 'hardships' of Brexit now, after the fact, should bow down and beg forgiveness from all of us who TOLD YOU SO beforehand & got poo-pooed for our trouble. Contemptible.
I'm watching this video again, and I cannot fathom how businesses were so naive to think that Brexit would not affect their operation within the EU.
@Virtus This is not a zero sum game. The UK already had a robust trading relationship with Canada, Australia and New Zealand. At the same time, as a massive functional working relationship with her nearest neighbors. The data and thoughtful analysis in this FT video clearly documents, very objectively, the disastrous impacts of Brexit on the UK economy and people. The only way to fix something is to actually put the problem on the table and look at the problem and understand the problem. Not to wear blinkers and walk around saying there is no problem and Rule Britannia. Rule Britannia died a very long time ago, and BREXIT turned GREAT BRITAIN into very little Britain.
It's because many Brits think they are above the rest of the EU. "The rest of the European Union is screaming and shouting about us leaving, but once we are out they are going to let us have the good bits of the Union because they are nothing without us."
To this day I remember talking to my boss about it
his words "we got 6 weeks of lead time on new orders, even if there will be delays we will just increase it to 8 weeks and business as usual" with a tone of voice that shown he was not at all concerned
it was fun to watch, over time, when he was gradually realizing how much he underestimated just what kind of mess we were led into
@Virtus Since the burden of proof falls to the person making a claim, I'd suggest you offer the supporting evidence. I'm happy to, but I don't want to leave myself open to accusations of strawmanning your position.
@Virtus maybe on Mars…
The best outcome to come from Brexit was the EU discovered that they didn't need the UK afterall. Having navigated two major crises, COVID19 and Ukraine War energy supply crunch, the EU looks very strong and united.
@Woden's hitman No one in the EU is crying about the Brexit anymore. I’m not going to lie: We were really sad/chocked when a big country as UK left us but it was their choice and we needed to accept it. Now UK is out and we don’t want to have them back anymore.Let’s just have trade agreements. Scotland is welcomed though...they wanted to stay. They should be free to come back!
@Woden's hitman Only people talking about Brexit are Brits, mate.
If you don't need Britain why are you all still crying about brexit?
Really, change your news feeds
After the vote my wife and I decided it was time to move back to Ireland after 24 years of contributions of tax as a high wage earner. It was so obvious this was going to happen I am surprised that it’s only through the FT that this has honestly been discussed.
@tom edwards I Travelled to the west of Ireland from Dublin in the seventies it was like driving down a country lane for 200 miles.
@Dubba Phatt Like in 2008?
@marc biff oh but it is
@marc biff oh but it is
@Paul Cahill Then it is none of your business simple as that.
Might it have been a good idea for the FT to back the party offering a 2nd referendum in 2019?
Brexit is a wonderful soothing tonic! It raises my morale, bolsters my confidence in my own grasp of current affairs, and confirms my sanity - simply because it is going exactly as I thought it would.
there will never ever be a Brexit dividend for the majority of people in the UK🙈
What kind of self-respecting businessperson wouldn't see this coming?
This film reflects my own experiences as a small business operator. 40% of my sales were direct to the EU. Goods were shipped from our door and delivered anywhere within the other 27 within three to five days. Post Brexit - 12 weeks! Sales to the EU have vanished, and I've thrown the towel in.
@Pseudo Nym am I what?
@Edward Bernthal Are you?
@Mike R Your government disagrees:
"Total exports of goods decreased by £0.7 billion (2.2%) in October 2022, with exports to both EU and non-EU countries falling"
www.ons.gov.uk/economy/nationalaccounts/balanceofpayments/bulletins/uktrade/october2022
We ship over 40% to Europe and after the first few weeks are back exactly where we were
@Pseudo Nym Are you alright in your head? Greetings from Denmark
Voluntarily exiting the worlds largest trading union that others fight so hard to join is just another nail in the coffin of what was once the world's most powerful empire.
@Pseudo Nym No because simply solutions are not easy, and what is more, they require people to have power to give much of it away.
It is also incorrect to say that I fear complexity, in addition to being disingenuous. This have nothing to do with pathos, with my or anyone else's emotional state. This have to do with fact. Too much complexity is unsustainable, because every time the complexity of a system doubles, the fragility of the system increases by a factor of eight. This is pure physics.
I used a snowpile because it is an easy to understand complex system.
And yes avalanches will happen if there is too much snow on the mountainside, this I know with as great a certainty as that the sun will rise in the east.
It is for the same reason that a socialist planned economy do not and cannot work, but why free market capitalism can.
In free market capitalism we have something called "creative destruction". It means that companies who have grown too complex collapses and from their ashes new business will grow up.
Because there is no central institutions in the economy, no central overarching authority that tries to keep everything afloat, everything needs to stand on their own merit, and thus complexity never grows out of control.
A computer is generally not too complex, but a just in time delivery system depending on a globe spanning supply chain is. Too many things can go wrong in such a system, that is why the conservative wisdom have always been to have warehouses of stocks, so everyone had what they needed to sell, in case they couldn't get what they wanted when they wanted it.
Debt is another form of complexity that have grown dangerously out of control.
The EU is an artificial construct that exist by extracting wealth from its northen and western regions and giving some of it to its southern and eastern, with much being wasted along the way. But it also undermines the cultural, political and demographic integrity of every nation in its grasp.
The simple solution is national sovereignty and to respect the Natural Rights of every individual.
The simple solution is to build systems bottom-up, not top down.
Bottom-up system tends to be organic and sustainable, while top-down systems are much more mechanical and don't take local and regional differences into consideration.
Remember the taxonomy of law.
The first level is the Natural Laws, that which is Good and Evil in itself
The second level is the popular will of the people, it is what people can want, and is the basis for nationalism.
The third level is the charter, the national constitution that lays the framework for the state. The state is created always by man, and its purpose its primary purpose is to serve its people, to serve as the guardian of the nation, hence the term "nation-state"
The fourth level is the national or state laws, these are regular laws that are made by the state for the nation. They cannot violate the lower levels and much be congruent with the constitution
The fifth level is international treaties, this is where the EU and the UN comes in.
They are subordinate to the nations, their servant and their "laws" can never reach a level beyond a suggestion, that every nation is free to accept or reject with impunity.
But that is not how they act, they act like the masters and treat the nations as disobedient children. That is part of the problem especially with the EU, and why it is doomed to failure. It is better to sit in the lifeboat then in the ballroom of the Titanic even if it gets a little windy
@rphb You fear complexity, yet you use a computer - the epitome of complexity in our every day life.
Complexities are often necessary, or else we wouldn't have the scientific achievements we have today and you'd be writing your comments on paper instead.
> If we don't do anything to the snow pile at some point a systemic collapse will occur
That's a fallacy as you don't know that for sure, just like claiming that a specific volcano will break out, based on the fact that others did in the past. You don't know that though. You just claim your own expectation as fact to make your intrinsic logic work.
Ultimately, you wrote a lot, but didn't say anything. If simple solutions to complex problems existed, then they naturally would be used. At the same time, you also oversimplify the complexity of the entire situation
@Jake_the_Eagle well thou should read the other response I made, the one to pseudo nym. I goes more into details about why the EU is such a bad thing.
I used Oliver Cromwell because the British system is so broken that I fear only a revolution can fix it at this point.
The British voted for independence in 2016 in 2016 under David Cameron. Now Cameron was not a brexeteer he was in many ways my ideological opponent, but he is like the Grant to my Robert E Lee, that is a legitimate enemy, and I respected him. When he didn't get the result he wanted he left. What should have happened then is that someone who believed in Brexit took over, someone who understood all of the great benefit the UK could have as a sovereign country, but they did not. They got the equivalent to Philippe Pétain in the form of Theresa May.
She was as much a remainer as Cameron, but where he was a man, she was a traitor, she took the office only in order to sabotage it. And sabotage it she did, right up until the point where Boris Johnson took over. He had a slogan as great as Make America Great Again, Get Brexit Done, unfortunately that is all he had.
I said the UK needed someone like Nigel Farage someone who honestly believes in independence, and Boris was just a shrill. When the largely manufactured covid crisis hit, he was also quick to follow in the other globalist regimes foodsteps and mandate a serious lockdown, even though he didn't believe in it. Now that is something that hurt industry a lot, we havn't even begun to see how much yet.
Fun fact: stuff comes from factories, farms and mines, if we close them down we don't get the stuff. It can't be printed. When we try to print, well the Germans did that in the 1920's
The problem with Parliament wouldn't be so bad if there were proportional representation, or if the UK was an absolute monarchy, both would actually be better then a pretend democracy that represent only an entranced elite.
We have seen throughout history how much progress can be done, when a country moves from a feudal monarchy where the kings power is very limited and the nobility and church are strong, into an absolute monarchy where the king can decide everything. The reason why such a move is good is because it actually moves power closer to the people, not further away from it.
An absolute king is free to listen to his people, he is not constrained by a powerful oligarchy. He is also free not to do that. Don't get me wrong, I prefer democracy over autocracy I just prefer autocracy over oligarchy, because oligarchy like the EU, the UK and especially the US have is the greatest poison for a country at all.
The two ways forward for England is a democrat like Ferage with proportional representation that can offer people real choices, or an autocrat like Cromwell, that can defeat the oligarchs and do what needs be done.
@rphb I'm not sure how applicable a quote from 1688 is to today's parliament (or when was the great revolution?) Especially in British parliament it seems that everything is preorchestrated. No questions that can actually be of any importance or controversy. And if the question is then the answer isn't. Like in most democracies people with more power will have more direct influence that the common folk. The question is: why didn't the industry go berserk on the plans? Were they actually thinking that Brexit was a good thing? I'm sure there are a lot of regulation, but a lot of regulations that you believe too be true are actually myths, or you might say propaganda by lobbies... And the EU has changed. No longer is it the landfill of politicians that were too harmful to keep in the spotlight of local politics. The EU parliament is being viewed ever more seriously. I would say that recently a lot of good impulses came from the EU.
@Jake_the_Eagle well I admit that he is a great disappointment, but the UK is not a democracy and Parliament have played bankrupt. To quote one of my favourite English politicians who actually had the galls to act when it was needed: "you are no parliament I say you are no Parliament" quote Oliver Cromwell.
And as for competition, legecy companies often fail when they get old fat and slow, the only thing that can prop them up and prevent new guys from outcompeting them is excessive legislation, and no one is better at that then the EU
I used to order stuff from the UK. Got quality stuff fast and could talk easily in english if anythings went wrong. Now its too expensive and some dont deliver to the EU at all anymore so I’ve started ordering from Germany instead.
Lately the goods I order from U.K. just don't arrive here in the U.S.
Myeah same thing for me. These things seem small, but those who can see the big picture understand they aren't.
It's easier to fool people than to convince people that they've been fooled. - Mark Twain
One of my favourite quotes :D
@Jo Cosson GB is the origin of eugenics and master race thinking , because brits needed something to justify royal house and lords .
England lost the 100 years war in 1453 and are still butthurt about that they lost 570 years ago , thats the reason of the constant attacks against France by Westminster . One of the sillies conclusion you must do by all that claims brexiteers said is that , all laws voted in Westminster , Germans and French did those votes , they locked all UK MPs in a dark room and no one ever noticed a thing ... there is no EU laws in UK , never was , all laws in UK were voted by UK MPs
@Chris Orr Profound wisdom.
@dgreyz WTF? Step away from the Meths
@dgreyz i think you telling people why they voted the way they did, is a demonstration of the very problem itself.
excellent documental, really well exposed points.
From a customer perspective in continental Europe I can tell you that I never used to check where the goods I ordered via Amazon, EBay etc came from. After a few deliveries from the UK got delayed, stuck in customs or returned to sender by the carrier, I now explicitly make sure I’m not buying anything from the UK anymore. Just too much trouble. Casting your vote has consequences. And the best thing is: now that Brits got their country “back”, they can’t blames us anymore for all the problems they have, can they? 😂
I've stopped buying from U.K. for the same reason.
@Gisela P
World war 1 and 2 showed forced integration wasn't a success.
I think one of the good things about Brexit is that the companies are having difficulty hiring cheap labour, mainly those who work in hospitality and cleaning areas.
Any person illegally before could fake EU documents to work here, now they have to prove with the Home office letter of settle status or pre settle to land the job.
I've just had my experience in the cleaning field here in UK, I know not all companies are the same, but the culture on this workplaces from my experience looks like has always been of exploitation towards these workers on the cleaning trade, the managers abuses are enormous.
I myself had many wrong payments dealt by manager maximing profits for their own benefit so they steal workers pay reducing salaries.
They also never gives the annual leave, I had just resigned close to my second year employment in the company because I can't have a break at all.
Now I want to see where they'll find cheap labour after my notice period of only one week and find someone who can work a place that used to work three people before me.
I wish them good luck with all the dirty mess they'll have to deal till they find someone they can look down for that.
@Mick B It's called lies and hogwash.
A genuine genuine republic ? No. I did vote for remain... but I also want the monarchy. No to losing the royalties in Europe. No, no, no. The world is more of a dangerous place, than ever before... Somebody mentioned this before.. not voicing their opinion is just as worst as accepting the status quo.. Which is true and true...
"We want only highly skilled immigrants in our country"
Ok, so you want to do all the dumb work yourself?
I have a small business in Portugal and before Brexit we regularly bought from UK suppliers. We knew it would be more complicated to keep purchasing from them, but thought it could be possible. But after looking into the paperwork, timeline and COST, it's a terrible investment. Have completely cut ties with those suppliers.
@Petre Bacrau You really are clueless. All European countries are mainly service based nowadays. Three quarters of GVA come from services alone that includes the UK.
I'm responsible for checking and green lighting all of my company's suppliers and despite extremely aggressive marketing, I have been ignoring UK based service providers since the Brexit due to the lack of compatible legal systems and all other increased issues that go along with it. Does that have an effect on our productivity or quality? No. Not in the slightest. None of the service providers were unique, but easily substitutable.
But even if we were concentrating on the wares and goods sector with its ever fleeting relevance, the UK isn't on the forefront of technology and doesn't really have anything to offer that couldn't be provided by other manufacturers. So you can stop kidding yourself that product quality suffered due to Brexit. You're welcome to provide proof for your claim ofc. Good luck with that though.
@Petre Bacrau such typically ignorant and twisted Brexiteer logic. The UK doesn’t have a monopoly on quality products, the fact so many EU companies and small businesses are now happily doing business within the EU speaks for itself.
@Petre Bacrau you don't know what product he's talking about so cut the crap! According to your logic it is either black or white while it is always in a spectrum of grey! There are many variables...
@Petre Bacrau You don't even know what the business was about what you talking about??
Good luck 🍀 🇵🇹
U.K. was like the teenager that says there leaving the household and than is surprised that Mom and Dad are not covering their expenses anymore. Sad fact is, that you want to be independent and you got your wish, so now you have to live with the consequences.
We are loving the fact that we no longer belong to the corrupt organisation known as the EU
@naimaabdullahi6272 The E.U parliament are 93% White could that affect there policy's for fishing communities along the West African coast?
@Martin Norman they’re literally the same race…
Do you think its possible that the E.U could be ever so slightly racist?
I'm so annoyed to hear small business owners saying "We thought it would be fine". They were told, time and again, that it would not be fine that they would need to open businesses in EU to continue. As a brit in Germany it cost me 2 years of worry and several rounds of paperwork to stay. I even had the horrible experience of a manager telling me I would not be able to work for the company after a certain date, that was only a month away. Luckily, I knew my rights and had already sorted my paperwork for residence. However, I felt betrayed by the UK to the point that I will never return except to get my pension.
There won't be any money for pensions very soon.
how did the uk betray you?
Si=ounds to me like it was the Germans sticking the boot in. They didnt have to, some EU countries just let UK citizens carry o as before.
And I can assure you from personal experience that you have no need to return to UK to get your pension.
The DWP for that works like a dream. you can do everything in a 5 minute phone call
@Steve Harrison That sounds like govmt subsidies at work.
aka building business on shifting and unreliable sands.
The moment those subsidies end (as they ALWAYS do) then that growth will be unsustainable and you will be back at square one.
@Steve Harrison So Brexit has been a blessing for your company and family, it seems? Lucky you. Sometimes I wonder if everyone should just stay wherever their folks are from and not bother with the mither and indignity of venturing out.
They weren't thinking. They were 'feeling' some rather ugly things like nationalism and xenophobia.
I am from the UK and a business owner that specialises in medical equipment from the UK to the EU. We lost 50% of our clients due to Brexit and they are gone mostly. The reason being the wait on customs and paperwork, as they could simply find a product similar from Germany and not have to bother with waiting times and extra admin. Even at this very moment we have shipments stuck in Germany for 2+ weeks, circa 2 years later after this final stupid decision of Brexit. Also the impact on our own internal admin has tripled resulting in extra staff costs also with extra customs forms and having to itemise everything on the "commercial invoice", which we also have to share detailed information on previously considered "confidential" before Brexit. What is great about that video, which other great documentaries also exposed, is that smart UK business owners have had to set up an office in the EU, taking tax revenues and money out of the UK. I would love any Brexiter to defend that logic, that for UK businesses to survive in Europe, they had to move most operations out of the UK. "Taking back control" IDIOTS...
Maybe but now we have black passports. So after that argument you cant tell me that Brexit wasn't a great idea!
@Rene Bosselaar You mean false propaganda ? Crappy TV news ? News papers that are not even fit for the WC , i moved away long time ago from all this brainwashing agenda
@West Seen British news lately?
@Rene Bosselaar yes I do even more now, the EU it's crumbling ,it's the worst corrupted regime in the whole history and it has corrupted all the politician with high rewards and pensions
@Rene Bosselaar the big lie is for fact the corrupted criminal deal wanted by the Lords and all politicians
This perfectly sums up the dangers of economic populism.
It's mindblowing that people believed they would keep all the advantages of being in the EU without a membership. It's not like people weren't excessively warned about what would happen.
@mike edwards worst analogy ever 😂
@marc biff there are dozens of brexer morons on tv or calling in who are outraged the EU doesn’t treat them like it did.
Stop promoting Project Fear.
This is a perfect example of English exceptionalism
@Laqueefa Steinberg There is huge inflation outside the EU too. It is almost as if the causes of inflation isn't connected to EU membership, but rather originates from Taiwan/China, the middle East and Russia.
Love the "Independence Day" comment. GB voluntarily joined a group of nations, then voted to leave and he's calling Independence Day. It appears that GB was independent the whole time it was in the EU. I wish, for my forefathers that the USA could have just left the empire under the same basis.
@Lunkan92 that’s actually the problem of EU. However it’s a different issue than Brexit.
Brexit is a divorce from EU with a hope of freedom will deliver better lives. But it was a economic suicide.
I wish that Wales and Scotland could just leave the UK.
But, we have no clause 50 in the UK allowing us to do that.
From our point of view the UK is a dictatorship.
@Lunkan92 No country was compelled to join the Euro when it was introduced. Luckily at the time we had a govt prepared to refuse, other countries didn't.
Whatever other "perks" we might have had don't compensate for the unlimited flood of cheap labour coming here nor for the loss of sovereignty.
Looks like the EUropean constitution is pretty fair...
The funny thing is britain had a lot of special perks that many other countries in the EU didn't have. Hell just look at the fact that despite the introduction of the euro Britain still was using the pound.
Things are fine, prices have gone up but so has the rest of the world.
Doing lockdowns and paying people to stay home has caused this inflation
"We can no longer blame the EU for outcomes we don't like"
Brexit supporters: "Hold my beer..."
Brexit was a huge mistake and now we have to the price for it!
The rest of Europe has to thank the British people for being the sacrificial lamb to show them the trouble of leaving the union. 😊
@Botany 500 Yes, you did. None of the troll crap that you write makes any sense. Didn't know they had internet in the loony bin.
@Pseudo Nym No I did not. You must back the slugs in Davos that would not pee on you if you were on fire. Whoever is in government is a corporate gopher. The goal is a return to the management of the EU. Right now, the Establishment is paving the way for pro pedo Starmer to get the nod, as his goal will be to finish off the UK for his handlers. There is a reason we are seeing Tory sleaze in the news, strikes and managed decline from the gophers in #10. Idiots will think they are voting for change, but nothing bar the faces will change. They are also war maniacs with bloodlust.
@Botany 500 In another post you claimed your little Davos conspiracy being the reason for the Brexiteers to vote leave. Now you're claiming that the very same government that advocated Brexit is going for an opposite agenda. You're contradicting yourself.
Britain lost 100 billion in revenues.
I bet most of that is in the EU.
@Pseudo Nym They are all in it together, as their previous shyster colleagues said.
"Take back control" written on the side of a bus. A German built bus. Oh the irony.
I’m sorry !you don't need to be an expert to know that this was inevitable...once brexit was passed...🤯😶
Seriously!!! you really thought you would have the same privileges?!?!?!?🤯🤔
Don’t feel sorry for any business owner who voted for Brexit not realising what would happen.
Yeah, they brought this on themselves
Brexit was, without a doubt, the stupidest thing the UK could have done in recent decades. I actually cannot remember something more stupid the UK has done in my lifetime. The UK voters traded a massive economic advantage for that warm and fuzzy feeling the UK is independent. With leaving the EU, the UK has lost ALL voting power as to how virtually all countries within a 2000km radius (except Norway and Switzerland) do business with the world, including how they do business with the UK itself.
And what is being shown in this video is true: The USA, the EU, Australia/Japan/Korea, and a slew of other countries all have seen big economic gains since the end of the pandemic, regardless of the war in Ukraine and the situation with Russia. The UK.... not so much. They cannot compete with the EU, and EU businesses are pulling out because doing business in the UK is now more expensive, more bureaucratic, and more cumbersome..... and as mentioned in the video, businesses in the EU can find plenty of customers within the EU, where UK businesses really cannot live without that radius of 2000km of EU countries around them. Brexit has been SO harmful to the UK economy it remains a question whether they will recover to pre-Brexit levels within the next 10 years.....
Leaving an economic powerhouse that literally SURROUNDS the UK in almost all directions..... I mean, even the stupidest voter could have seen how incredibly stupid THAT was.
I live in Portugal now after 40 years in the UK working and observing. I was born in the USA and have watched in disbelief as the UK succumbed to jingoism and blatant lies. Anyone who has studied the decisions made by the UK while within the EU will discover that you guys approved at least 95 percent of the proposed EU legislation - most of it not dictated as directives, but merely given in a form that could be (and was) shaped to individual UK country needs. The whole argument about taking back “sovereignty “ was therefore spurious, a case of the tail wagging the dog. The UK now is becoming a third world country, riven by political divisions and finger pointing, poorer by the year, more isolated and derided every day. I M so grateful to live in a free, affordable, liberal democracy, with access to huge opportunities and great healthcare. Not in the UK, but in the EU and Portugal.
I have to laugh when I see people complain about the backlash of Brexit. Common sense told you it was a bad idea. People told you it was a bad idea but instead you listened to Politicians. Good one.
Britian has nothing unique to export yet relies heavily on imports. What kind of absolute candy man would even think of something so ridiculous.
Literally all Europeans saw this coming, it was obvious, for EU it's just that a single one of the many rich countries is leaving.
Wooooow, what a terrible thing. What would EU do...
As a Scotsman, I’ve had real difficulty exporting my haggis to Europe. As soon as I release them on French shores they run away and refuse to stay there. I’m beginning to think that they think that E is actually equal to MC squared after all. Either that or Dirty Den is actually a dirty guy and should take a shower. Regardless, the moon is a balloon so let’s remember it’s Easter tomorrow. Cheers 😊
lol
🤣
As a historian, this is an interesting time that will definitely produce books and articles that place this whole thing in its context (both past and future). As someone living through this shitshow, it's frightening and disheartening. But Brexit has all the hallmarks of a catalyst that will lead to something worse. We're at the beginning of something terrible, I fear
This should be a golden opportunity for Labour. They can remind the electorate that they tried to protect them from this disaster.
40 years of staying in the UE had been an extraordinary succes for Britain: with a giant market at its disposal, being able to keep the Pound (and to control the EU evolution from inside), in an strategic situation, between the US and the EU, and all that without any sovereignty loss, as the Brexit itself proves.. all that was lost overnight because of a ridiculous little man and also because of an ill nostalgia for a long gone Empire..
@Peter de Valk Is that all?
@gwaponobby LOTS of reasons to be proud! We (The Dutch) dealt with water and the sea for more than 1,000 years and we WILL deal with it in 1,000 years to come, Don’t worry! Ever heard of the DELTAWORKS? Guess you do, since you “know” all about The Netherland. ONE of the 7 modern world wonders! ASML ring a bell? The by far most important chip machine maker in the world. Even China and the USA can’t level up with the High-Tech and complicity of what this DUTCH company is producing! Here’s a SHORT LIST of Dutch inventions and remarkable facts:
1. Microbiology (16th century)
2. Telescope (1608)
3. Metronome (1812)
4. Artificial Heart (1957)
5. Verified Navigable Submarine (1620)
6. Gin (1500s)
7. Stock Markets (1602)
8. Central Banks (1609)
9. Laserdisc Technology (1969)
10. Bluetooth
11. Wi-Fi (1990s)
12. Speed Skating (13th-18th centuries)
13. Dutch-Process Chocolate (1800s)
14. VOC; The first and biggest Multinational EVER. 8 times bigger than Apple!
I can go on and on, but I think you got the “picture”!
BTW, This might interest you: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baan_Hollanda
@Peter de Valk I don't know why you're so proud to be Dutch. I am happy for you that you are.
Isn't the Netherlands already almost sunk?
@gwaponobby Megalomania will sink your precious island. I'm Dutch BTW. And VERY proud to be DUTCH@
@Razvan1979 of course they are, sweetheart 😊
Every major political party (including the Tories) believed remaining in the EU would be in our best interests. But instead we decided to follow Nigel Farage and the rest is history.
@Count Fosco Exactly. Plus if I would be British Citizen what would make me very upset on what Farage did is the fact how UK showed to the whole world just how much Brits hate everyone and everything what is foreign, because that is what Farage used in his campaign to leave EU.
@Denise the menace And people who voted to stay in EU were not hijacked by Farage and Johnson?
@Kate Kiralova not all of us are idiots we knew what would happen . But we were hijacked be the two con men farage and Johnson . Both doing well now it seems .
Ah, Nigel Farage ..... the kind of captain to leave a sinking ship .... before everybody else!
As he did.
I don't think Farage believes in anything very much. But he is earning a fantastic income from all this. His own media firm pays him 30'000 Euro per month. And before that he benefited financially from being an MEP.
Ask a British Lamb and wool producer how good the Aussie deal is. Answer it’s a bloody disaster. But as a Canadian thanks because it’s been very good for us. We have picked up a lot of ex UK business in the EU thanks to Brexit.
Excellent video.
I really get bored with those people who voted for Brexit and who now regret it and say "we weren't told". The fact is, they were told, they just chose not to listen. They don't have any of my sympathy. What Brexiteers have done to the opportunities for a whole generation of young people is unforgiveable.
It's like shooting someone in the kneecaps and then saying, "I'm sorry you won't be able to run marathons like I did" and expecting to be forgiven.
@Botany 500 It is now much harder for tax cheats and dirty money to clean the money in the EU. After WWII, the only way sterling and the U.K. could survive was to become the center for suspect international money to be handled--the so called Eurodollar market--of which the U.K. through offshore secrecy jurisdictions was and is still the proprietor. Anyone who needs to shield money from taxes or official criminal scrutiny parks it in the U.K. After the war, British banks were officially limited in their ability to lend or do banking outside the U.K. The Eurodollar market makes possible international transactions involving everything from drug running to financing of insurgents/terrorists, Russians needing a haven for their wealth, etc. No, the EU is not perfect, but it is, at least, making an attempt to combat international financial crime. Furthermore, EU members must maintain financial discipline, with a ceiling on permitted deficit spending. In that regard alone, the U.K. is out of all responsibility and reason. The BOE, as central bank, serves to sweep deficit spending under the rug by flooding the economy with credit money, which only further aggravates the current commodity inflation. It also results in asset inflation, artificially increasing the "market value" of securities held mainly by the wealthy upper class and City bonuses predicated on artificially maintained "Market value."
@Lonnie Halouska The elite wealthy class make money or gain power with whatever system is in place, as they are involved in setting them up. Are you suggesting the EU is perfect, and their lackeys did not threaten the Greeks by telling them they would turn off their ATMs if they did not sign their mafia Troika deal? Von De Lair's husband also benefitted from a deal with the EU during the psuedo-pandemic.
Indeed they were told. But, they refused to listen, preferring to follow power hungry demagogues serving an elite wealthy class determined to hold onto wealth threatened by EU anti-money laundering and tax avoidance laws.
@Michael Keegan brexit geezer.
I think one of the good things about Brexit is that the companies are having difficulty hiring cheap labour, mainly those who work in hospitality and cleaning areas.
Any person illegally before could fake EU documents to work here, now they have to prove with the Home office letter of settle status or pre settle to land the job.
I've just had my experience in the cleaning field here in UK, I know not all companies are the same, but the culture on this workplaces from my experience looks like has always been of exploitation towards these workers on the cleaning trade, the managers abuses are enormous.
I myself had many wrong payments dealt by manager maximing profits for their own benefit so they steal workers pay reducing salaries.
They also never gives the annual leave, I had just resigned close to my second year employment in the company because I can't have a break at all.
Now I want to see where they'll find cheap labour after my notice period of only one week and find someone who can work a place that used to work three people before me.
I wish them good luck with all the dirty mess they'll have to deal till they find someone they can look down for that.
Brexit had very little to do with Macro Economics. It was almost entirely about Eastern European Immigration and English Identity
Get the "English"identity back, bankrupt cold and hungry
Some would even argue that it was to do with all immigration and backward nationalism as some of the leave voters erroneously believed that Brexit would stop all immigration and make Britain more mono ethnic. Perhaps it's up to people to do with their country as they wish.
I worked in road haulage for 25 years operating out of our base in Dover. We were in the 'common market' as it was then. We didn't do a lot in europe due mainly to all the paperwork needed. Then came 'the single market' what a game changer. Instead of our drivers leaving our yard in Dover, heading for the docks, and not really knowing how long it would take to clear customs and get onto the ferry to our drivers leaving our yard in Dover, straight into the docks and straight onto a ferry. Arriving in Calais straight off the ferry onto the motorway system and away. Easy. We saw our work increase rapidly as we did with all companies whichever direction goods were heading. Then the brexit vote. I dreaded it. I knew where this was going. I had done it. I had seen it. The real issues were that neither the public or the government had any idea how the system worked. Remember Dominic Raab who had no idea the importance of Dover. Oh come on. Really. And this is the problem. People in the UK had no idea how it worked. And now you have this mess. Its split the country. But make no mistake here. All the time you have so many Brexiteers in the current government this will never correct itself. What ever happens from here god knows. But trying to unite people is very difficult. It seems a very odd thing to me to destroy something that worked, to create what has been created. Hatred to our closest neighbour. Self harm to many. And the lies, oh the lies. And still the little boats arrive, it hasn't stopped. Despite what you were all told. Now do you realise what a stupid act this has all been.
@ron richardson 83% of lorry drivers voted out. They loved the idea.
Paragraphs mate....
Paragraphs.
I might have read your drivel if it were punctuated.
Please try harder.
Or maybe just try?
@Joe Bloggs what a spanner
@Gordon Simpson Did you ever cross a border with a carnet? I did, a fair few times, admittedly many years ago. 22 hour wait crossing into Austria was the worst wait. Entire contents of a light lorry unloaded in a compound until a custom officer was happy and then put it all back again. Multiple waits crossing every border. Usually manageable, but still a pain. I've seen the haulage queues at Dover. It isn't rubbish. You may think it is all for the greater good, but you cannot, honestly, dismiss it as rubbish.
I would sometimes see one of those trucks with the pretty roses all over the cabin; in Spain, in Germany, in France, in Italy... haven't seen one in years :(
The people who voted to leave must be crying now😂😂😂
Ahhh… the English! Can’t play Soccer and they’ve all blindly followed Rupert Murdoch down the rabbit hole to Brexit Blunderland. Pathetic!
It's OK though. I looked at the fine print and the 52% are obliged to pay the 48% any losses they have encountered.
This is absolutely perfect, as well as true . THIS FILM DESERVES AN AWARD!
I'm not sure, in human history, that a nation voted to commit suicide until Brexit
When your village gets swamped with immigrants maybe you'll wake up and see
@Retro The weird thing is, a lot of promises regarding work places were made and also keept. It's just that things went south once the guy in charge managed to get rid of all safety measurements regarding his power and area of influence. Which to be fair, weren't many and not really strong to begin with.
@Regular Channel Quite the opposite. Biden was the antidote for the literal suicide of the anti-vaccine MAGA-world as well as the economic harm that Ex45 caused to the country in general, whether his total lack of understanding of how tariffs worked or tax cuts that benefited the wealthy. Oh, of course there’s the little insurrection issue and election denialism, but that’s a whole other issue.
Honestly. Germany in 1933 might take that cake.
@Regular Channel Don't worry dude. The Brexit is even worse than the election of Biden.
People voted for a fantasy & now have to face the reality, the brexit unicorn was never real
Whenever I asked people “why do you want to leave the EU?” 99% of people said because of foreigners and taking back control. I asked them to elaborate more on this and they could never answer, I explained it would damage the British economy and there would be huge gaps in employment regarding low skilled essential work - now my neighbour who voted for brexit who’s a carer complains about all the hours she has to work and how they’ve constantly got no staff because the European staff have left. No words.
@Junkmytrunkas an american, are you "ok" for unlimited, unfettered immigration from south america bcos US companies sell cars there?
-with migrant access to US jobs (undercutting local US workers on pay) and free access to US welfare and state housing for migrant families on equal rights as US citizens?
How about having U.S.. Laws overruled by a committee in caracas- because the USA trades with them?...
- and mexican fishing boats 200 yrds off US coastline?
- still "ok" with that deal?
*~thats what being in the EU is*
I'm in the USA. The whole damn world knew Brexit was about bigotry and racism, plus some magical vision of "more money". Period.
@For Sure as long as they have visas.
@aliens 77 happily.. And flying the flag
@Jon Simmons tell that the africans and indians lmao...
I am an EU citizen and live between the Uk and Spain. When I buy something in the Uk I have it delivered to my daughter’s place in London. Anything else (shipping to Spain) is outright impossible. As a business head, I will very much think twice about how to expand our company to the Uk when the time comes, because everything has become a nightmare, the first thing being people mobility. Even my ability to be insured in my daughter’s car.
Good documentary. It is so sad what Britain has done to itself with Brexit. I am glad I made the decision to leave the UK years ago. I used to make a living in a small business exporting from the UK to Europe. The business no longer exists.
Yes because it's that common business plan of starting business in UK to sell to Europe which has helped massively to destroying our economy. Why couldn't you focus sales in UK, in your home country?
Take Lidl for example, a lot of people love to go their because it was cheap - it was a foreign company tho. If you started a business and sold your items for say 30% less of the price of other businesses, sure, you would lose money in an instant, however, as time goes on and you gain popularity for being cheap but good or better quality than the rest.. it is with no doubt those customers will now come to you. When that happens and the lack of sales starts to affect the other big companies, they will begin to follow foot and lower their prices to try and match yours. That is how an affective business can single handedly change our economy, but no, everyone, like YOU, are too greedy to do anything like that so just set up shop here to sell to foreign countries.
Leaving the EU is like playing world of Catan against three players who play together and expect them to give you everything while they don't need to trade with you to build their empire, but all you have to offer is stone which they already have lol
Excellent piece! As an outsider (🇨🇦), I try to keep up on general global affairs. I had the impression the 'leave' voters thought it would end 'immigrants taking their jobs' and be 'their own boss' (sovereignty). Since the UK left, I have looked high and low for anything that explained gains for leaving. At first, I thought, yes, there would be growing pains and Covid, then the Ukraine war were mostly the fault of lack of growth and huge utility increases.
This article does a great job of explaining everything. I also found on 2 different sources that FT is a 'centre' bias news source.
I just wish the UK well and hope the less advantaged can cope with the sky rocketing fuel prices this winter. ... It looks so bleak for them.
@rjmacf001 I try to be 'balanced' and realistic.
To be fair to the 'disadvantaged' Brexiteers, when someone comes along and claims to be the saviour to all your problems, they'll believe them.
- It's along the line of what you referenced about the US. When "you-know-who" 🙄 came down the escalator, he basically claimed to be the Messiah to all those people who lost their livelihood in the mines, factories, etc. They were lied to - and continue to be lied to. ("Mexicans are drug dealers & rapists"... I'll build a wall and THEY will pay for it")
I'd like to know something about Brexit in its'_Original_ form. ?Maybe? it was a good idea in version 1? I ponder this, because it wasn't just breadline people who supported it. There are those _Far_ smarter than me in 'high places' that voted to leave. I mean, there must have been _something!_
I'm completely open to hearing from ANY pro-Breiter to what they've gained - or even what they look to gain in the next few years.
@bugs972 Absolutely, Id love to see more funding for public services. I don't think this problem is unique to the UK - however, with the dire situation of energy costs there, it is so much more alarming.
Families like mine who are doing 'okay' want more help for the disadvantaged. We're FAR from 'rich', but fortunate enough not to have worry about housing, utilities or food (example of not being 'rich': our cars are old enough to vote, lol ) We try & do our tiny little part and donate to food banks every time we shop.
@Luna 333 food on their table, a job, or perhaps they care about available money for chronically under resourced public services.
You are too balanced and well informed Luna333...unlike the UK populace who stupidly voted in an "advisory referendum" and then essentially trashed their own economy (now being hidden as post pandemic complexity). Sadly the responsible politician ran away rather than sorting the mess he created of an entirely predictable 51/49 vote (see many US mid term results where totally unacceptable candidates get within a few thousand votes of being elected). So the country now gets what the ill informed under educated bare majority voted for. Being born and living here I now accept the UK deserves every inch of its precipitant decline in global standing as well as economic power. Canada (and the vast majority of the Commonwealth) would do well to pull away from their historical links to the former world power. You are being too kind in the face of rank stupidity.
@John Rafaello I don't think regular citizens, without investments care that much about GPD, unless it puts food on their table or gives them a job. Their struggles don't seem like a trite anecdote.
One of my favorite quotes: "For every complex problem, there is a solution which is clear, simple, and wrong."
There is a shadok ( French cartoon in the 60) say : "if there is no solution, so there is no problem because every problem has a solution".
That's nice.
At this point, the brits must be all diabetic with all that cake eating LOL
Unfortunately the EU were not interested in finding a complex solution.
I suggest the younger generations call the Brexshit old f4rts "The Entitled Generation" since they robbed them of the prosperity the geezers enjoyed for decades while EU members.
My thought is that the UK will struggle with a weak economy for several years, too proud to admit it's mistake and then rejoin the EU at some point 15 years down the road. I expect they will be reminded that the EU is not a revolving door, if you come back you will be expected to stay. The planet has become a much smaller place and every county must play nice with the other in order for trade to benefit all. You can't just take your ball and go home.
The EU won't take the U.K. back in any event. 1. The Eu doesn't need the U.K. trade anymore. 2. The Euro and 3. U.K. opposition to new EU anti-money laundering and tax avoidance laws. The U.K. will need to go on supporting sterling (as an orphaned currency) and surviving on laundering dirty money.
How do you reverse Brexit? Talk about it, make it the number one topic of conversation. Organise protests, regular weekly protests. Bang saucepans on the ground, bring children, stay peaceful. Make it abundantly clear that there is a national movement, a constituency not being served. This madness must end and we're not going away until it does.
However I don't think the British electorate cares enough. They might when the damage from Brexit becomes too much to bear but not yet.
i still dont understand how they are wondering that if you leave a union, you actually are out. Somehow many Brits thought that they could get business as usual without the negative effects.
"Some businesses won" yes, those who bank in the Cayman Islands or our other tax havens, they are also protected from the EU regulation of financial transparency. They won.
Post WWII Britain survived on laundering dirty money.
This video is the best summary of the Brexit ‘benefits’ so far. Anyone saying you can’t separate the effects of Brexit from the pandemic/war etc. needs to watch this.
@David Heron what, beyond all the obvious ones?
All of this talk of 'show me ONE benefit of Brexit' is immature and tiring.
I'm waiting for someone to show me one benefit of staying in the EU.
War and pandemic are only excuse to cover up the Brexit effects on people's lives.
Or perhaps that's why government is doing everything it can to keep the war going.
@Edward Burroughs i think you missed the part where you guys are vocal as Hell
@Andreas Otto Hansen Youre no shrinking violet (and a mind reader as well).
Great to hear English accents talking a semblance of truth. Don’t go silent again!
For those who want to make some sort of sense of Brexit and it's supporters reasoning, this TED video helps a lot: uaclips.com/video/8SOQduoLgRw/відео.html
It's explains the divide between liberals and nationalists.
The problem of why the Brexit happened is not the obvious fallacy of thinking that the EU had the UK under control, but the inherent racism and sentiments towards foreigners in general which is the underlying cause for this entire mess.
It was really the UK's own doing... other EU countries had strict rules on residency in their countries, but the UK didn't implement anything and just blamed the EU for all of their problems. You're right Brexit was the nationalistic triumph of anti-immigrant, English exceptionalism (empire 2.0), and 'sovereignty' ideologues.
UK is doing fine.
The sun never set on the British empire. UK is the richest, most powerful country on the planet.
......last century.
The current UK?
🤣😂🤭🤣
I'm a Brit living in Germany since 2010 and I run a small business here. Before Brexit I would order materials from the U.K. , the prices were competitive and delivery was quick. Since Brexit, it no longer makes sense to order from the U.K. The prices are not as competitive but the most problematic part is that delivery is often delayed considerably, due to customs issues. I can't rely on receiving orders on time. This causes real problems for my business as I order materials for specific projects with tight deadlines. The same products are available within the E.U. without the added hassle. The result: I now spend tens of thousands of euros a year in the E.U. rather than the U.K. I know other companies are doing the same.
@Mark_Brennan You can't be serious.
@Thomas V. Worm you can't have it both ways.
You cant say "oh look what you get for leavin, look how terrible trade is now" and "the EU is easy to trade with from outside" it's self contributory.
We have left the EU and are now being treated like everyone outside of the EU. We actually have it better as we have trade deals set!
I won't even bother talking to someone dumb enough to not see the basic undeniable logic of that. It's like arguing that 1 minus 1 is 2.
@Nasaie Sukhaimi more like arrogance🙂
@Triumphant Trump Your nickname says it all: you have no idea whatsoever about what is going on 🤣
@Bat Collins how's about a record low of unemployment rate?
The UK had it all - strong pound, free trade with the whole of Europe, growing economy. All buried in a single referendum.
@Mike R I lived through the 1985 crash where we came close to parity. But the difference then was that the exchange rate only dropped below 1.45 for a period of 1.5 years and was rectified by the US signing the Plaza Accord. Whereas today the exchange rate has been below 1.45 for over 5.5 years and counting.
So you are not old enough to have seen a weak pound or strong dollar before, I have seen parity
a dutch person living in Germany. My Son lives in London after going to school and uni in the UK. He is still doing reasonably well and has a permanent resident status. But nothing has improved after Brexit. Simply sending a box of cookies for Christmas has turned into an expensive and complex shipping exercise. What has the UK gained? Even the Tories have not come up with a good answer to this question. It seems to me that the turkeys voted for Christmas and it makes me sad. With inflation currently at about 10%, my primary concern is how to maximize my savings/retirement fund of about £600k which has been sitting duck since forever with zero to no gains.
@marc biff You mean a UK dominated pact...until the UK left and good riddance too.
@Pseudo Nym I am not in a German dominated pact anymore that is good enough for me.
@rinkydinkmcruk Yeah, that crazy freedom of movement whose lack has sent your entire industry, including the health sector into a downward spiral. The EU is no government. You have clearly not understood how this "Union" (!=state) works. Everything you complain about are directives and regulations that the reps of your government very much voted for and had great influence in shaping it in the first place. Nobody forced anything on you.
Meanwhile, plenty of Polish people are very glad that the EU Court of Justice put a stop to their government's attempts to dismantle their democracy. Not that you'd care, because you're ignorant about the many European rights that you lost and that goes way beyond the five fundamental rights you might be thinking of. Fact is, the UK's economy is in the dumps not despite, but because of Brexit.
@marc biff Exactly how are you as a person more free than before?
@Ken Williams LOL
I dont expect anyone to read this but...
Thank you FT for investing the time, resources and energy into making this type of material. This is why I am happy to pay a subscription to you (acknowledging that this is free to view on UAclips which amplifies my support for it).
When I was a child, I remember my dad saying to me, where to go for an unbiased opinion of world event was the financial papers like the FT and WSJ. They serve the markets.
We as a society in the UK need to be able to progress the conversation and acknowledge our current reality, to talk openly and honestly about perception of the uk globally.
In the UK, there has been no mainstream, honest, transparent, coverage of the macro effects of the decision to cut legal partnership with the EU. The UK, in these sad years, has become victim to the influence of the demigod' in boris and farage. Similar to america with trump and kanye.
We cannot go back across the bridge that we sadly crossed during Brexit. But we need to start creating our own new future.
@Pat McNeill, I'm not a Brit, so please don't judge me for this question. Why can't the UK go back across the bridge it has crossed, seeing that the perceived gains of leaving the Union are fast diminishing or not realistic? I'm just curious.
“Brexit isn’t a car crash, it’s a slow puncture”. What a line.
How anyone voting for Brexit believed that you can “divorce” but still remain “friends with benefits” is beyond any form of imagination. Childish actions often have bitter results.
I think one of the good things about Brexit is that the companies are having difficulty hiring cheap labour, mainly those who work in hospitality and cleaning areas.
Any person illegally before could fake EU documents to work here, now they have to prove with the Home office letter of settle status or pre settle to land the job.
I've just had my experience in the cleaning field here in UK, I know not all companies are the same, but the culture on this workplaces from my experience looks like has always been of exploitation towards these workers on the cleaning trade, the managers abuses are enormous.
I myself had many wrong payments dealt by manager maximing profits for their own benefit so they steal workers pay reducing salaries.
They also never gives the annual leave, I had just resigned close to my second year employment in the company because I can't have a break at all.
Now I want to see where they'll find cheap labour after my notice period of only one week and find someone who can work a place that used to work three people before me.
I wish them good luck with all the dirty mess they'll have to deal till they find someone they can look down for that..
I Hear yous Knocking but you’d can’t come in 😅you came in like Wrecking ball
@ElGrandoCaymano the want to Join European Union 🇪🇺 my Son Wrong again cause England have Scotland on the Floor
😂Well Done England 🏴 what Another great Carry on Films you’ve Made Savage Mistake Bigtime
@JCRger Not sure where you’re going with this. I’m not stopping them and I hate all of the UK establishment parties so I don’t support anyone who might be. They can craic on as far as I’m concerned.
Lmao UK donated it's export business to EU
Well done Boris, Lebedev, Putin, Orban, Saudis, Farrage - hope the bags of money was worth it. Sad fuppers
As someone living in Australia, I'd like to thank the English for the hugely generous trade deal they signed when they were desperate for something, anything to show Brexit was a good idea, and the big export of your best and brightest young people to us who have rightly realised what an unfair, elitist craphole the UK is and are leaving in droves.
@gwaponobby 5th generation Aussie mate
As an Australian. Yes! This is exactly how i see the UK
@Rosco1953
As someone who is a citizen of Germany, I cannot detect even the slightest desire of Germans to leave the "sinking ship EU". I have not even heard that. There will certainly be a few individual emigrants, but that has more to do with romance than with the EU. On the contrary, I experience Germany as part of the EU more as an immigrant country. And these are not only war refugees. Especially the young people from all over the world enjoy the situation to be able to study here almost for free including all health care. As for me personally, after 35 years as a tax-paying worker, I succumbed to a serious illness that made me unable to work. The social net in my EU state makes it possible to live a financially carefree life despite the illness. The cost of medical care alone would have led me to ruin elsewhere, which I would not have been able to pay for the rest of my life. I can hardly imagine, except perhaps for these romantic reasons, a country where I would rather live. I will reach retirement age in four years. It may be that I would then like to spend my twilight years in a country that can give me more sunny days, but as I said, that is a luxury question with the desire for romance. Not everything is going well here either, but a hell of a lot is being done right and as a non-wealthy man, I am proud that my daughter was able to complete her studies with an exchange year that took place completely uncomplicatedly with only the slightest effort in another EU state.
@no way
It’s pretty good down here mate. Everyone wants our minerals, gas and oil, and it seems everyone in the EU wants to live here. Thousands of French, Italian and Germans here now…..
@Rosco1953 Lmao keep living in fantasy land my guy
I wasn't sure about the benefits of Brexit, but at times I thought it might be a good idea. Since the UK left the EU, I can no longer order things from Screwfix as easily as I used to. In fact, I no longer order anything as custom fees outweigh the benefits. I suppose the UK really has to send all the doll bludgers back to work to get things done, eh? Well done UK, keep it up!
I, a millennial voted to remain as it made sense to remain aligned with our European counterparts. I knew the EU had issues but the benefits far outweighed the downsides. My household is what could be considered solidly middle-class. But I remember remarking on how the poorest amongst us would feel it the most and that's what we're seeing now. Some of those now being affected voted to leave, some to remain and some didn't even bother to vote at all but everyone is suffering. Suffice to say Brexit had been an abysmal failure. The people that told lie after lie to manipulate the masses into voting Brexit into effect are now nowhere to be seen. David Cameron rarely makes public appearances now. Nigel Farage is still out there with his little radio show but you rarely see him on telly or the news anymore, and Cambridge Analytica got dissolved before it could be investigated and it's owners brought to justice . To top it all off, now more than ever Scotland wants to leave the Union. The message Brexit send to me and many other young people is that you have to be extremely selfish when it comes to your future prospects, wealth and well being, even to the detriment of others. That's not the kind of country I want to live or grow old in. There has to be a better way forward that serves everyone equally, especially the younger and older people amongst us.
@Mynydd y Quartzite because the Brexit bus of lies is out of control, driving the wrong way, and swerving round corners at 100mph, and the drivers want to go faster and further astray, When you take a wrong turn, you course correct, you don't just keep driving off a cliff
for sure. aren't you?
European “counterparts” is quite different from European “partners” indeed, isn’t it?
All remainers hell bent on getting us back in !!!😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
Amen to your comment. So well put.
Countries like Spain have high unemployment, taxes are generally high, it's more expensive to run your own company, there is way less government support, you get less for your money and salaries are much lower compared to the UK. Let's get a little humbled for a change...
The lady from the tea company, I'm sorry, but how the hell did she believe that leaving a single market is going to be good for her exports/imports? Am I wrong for immediately assuming that this is not going to happen?
like.... why did they leave? I'm so happy I still live in the EU, but I simply can't understand the stupidity of wanting to leave... for no reason.
Wait.......leaving one of the biggest trading unions in the world has damaged the UK economy?! Who would've predicted that?
@Great Dude France and Germany economies is not collapsing LMAO only Britain is
@John Collins so, stay hostage to EU or face harsh penalties? Sounds like URSS to me
@Harold Should not have left in the first place! Why would they offer favourable deals to their future competitors? Would have been better to change the aspects of the EU laws and regulations that were not liked than to leave.
@Mitch They can't stop third world manufacturing but who shut down manufacturing in own countries and sent it all to be manufactured in third world or China?
@Cynthia Morris yeah true, but some is needed to do the hard work. And here comes your problem
Brexit was insanity. The Tories should be removed from power forever. Never forget never forgive.
I remember Putler celebrating Brexit lol. If there ever was a greater sign haha
Looks as if Putin knows something Brexiteers apparently don't know.
Well done brits.... Now enjoy the results of ur own votes... Btw it's interesting to see ur new prime minister is INDIAN 😉
They were told, "We send so many million Pounds to the EU everyday. "
They never asked, "How many million Euros does the EU send back to us? "
GB has clearly shown other European countries that you do not leave the EU without major problems and huge costs. Thanks to Great Britain for sacrificing to help us understand.
@Botany 500 wtf you’re on about lmao
Average Ukip voter
Can't have people thinking for themselves. The EU Davos technocrat gangsters don't want their corrupt club broken.
"Nobody is ever useless. Anyone can always at least serve as a bad example." Thank you tories.
at least they didn't cut a hole in continental europe
@Sazzbot Where did I say it wasnt?
Brexit appears to have been Robert Mercers advert for his new Election marketing machine?
It does make a person wonder how many Euro Leaders were purchased by patronizing the Mercer/Bannon firm?
It appeared that Mercer recovered his original investment in Media, and his application of the Algorithm that made him wealthy at Renaissance.
The last six years since the Brexit vote have been like watching a car crash in slow motion. My younger sibling, I am ashamed to say, voted for Brexit "just for fun"! In summary, he was fed up with the increasing disparity between the economic boom in London and everyday life in his part of the country, where the reality was boarded-up high streets, unaffordable higher education, an influx of Eastern Europeans and latent feelings of outrage and envy, poor health care, and so on. In his eyes, things could not get any worse than they were. He hated the Tories with every fibre of his body, and Cameron had, after all, asked people to vote to remain.
unaffordable higher education? its free at the point of use. you only pay back years after if you earn enough money.