Do you think we have benefited from Brexit?

Good post Scot, you took the words out of my mouth. I would have voted to to stay in the EEC/Common Market. We were conned good and proper because I think they always knew how it was going to turn out. The EU is one of those elite clubs, and like ‘Hotel California’ you can never leave.
Have you noticed that the main campaigners to rejoin the EU live in other countries…Not being a little bit selfish are we?

No, the point was that the move was approved by 75% of the voters.

1 Like

No it wasn’t… :018:
The EEC didn’t become the EU until November 1st 1993 and nobody voted for that.

EEC

1 Like

That is just silly semantics and you know it.

If I had written “You are absolutely correct, as I recall the vote to continue in the Common Market in 1975 was something like 75% in favour, perhaps a similar margin should have been mandated for leaving.” it would make absolutely no difference to the point I was making.

Hate to be proved wrong Brucie?

The common market was a trading partnership which was a good thing. No surprise there was a large vote to remain. The EU is a large political conglomerate between different states. Just another level of bureaucracy. The two things are completely different

3 Likes

There is no point regretting the demise of the old common market. It is long gone and for good reason. It was not sustainable in the form that existed back 30+ years ago nor did it serve the need to make Europe into a major global economic bloc. And if Europe could not become a major player globally then there was zero chance of the individual European countries doing so. And if you are not a major global player then you are beholden to the US or (now) China.
So the choice back in 1992 was to let the common market continue but wither or to enable closer links, closer alignment, and a single market across Europe. It is clear quite a few wished the UK had been on a path of keeping only a common market … but aren’t willing to acknowledge that this would not have led to anything other than individual European countries sharing less and less.
It is also clear that the other major global players dislike the idea of a powerful, influential EU - otherwise Trump and Putin would not spend so much time trying to trash the EU.

But isn’t nearly all our stuff (and the EU countries) supplied by China or the far east anyway?

I’m not talking about buying some TV’s. That is not beholden. This is about financial and tech decisions and ownership. This is about international politics. And energy, as we’ve seen this year.
Consider, oil is traded in dollars. If one European country sells oil to another European country it is traded in dollars, not euros or sterling. Most international trades are priced in dollars - although China is very keen to grow their trade in renminbi. The US pretty much dominates all tech - except China is catching up fast. One place where the EU has established itself is its product & production standards - these are globally recognised. There can be changes to policies, exchange rates, export constraints, tech access - all without European say so - certainly not UK say so. There is a desperate need for a EU power bloc and currency. If you think the UK lost sovereignty being in the EU then just consider how little sovereignty on such key issues the UK has on its own.

I’ve been reflecting on this. Not to further deny the motivation of Scottish voters that you have suggested. Because that is self-evidently an example of after the event thinking. But to consider this notion of sovereignty.
Scotland lost so much of its sovereignty three centuries ago. In that time some aspects and periods of Scottish history are times of thriving. Some, particularly later periods, are ones of suffering. So loss of sovereignty can mean success and can mean failure.
More, the concept of Sottish independence before Brexit was to be a free nation within the EU. The movement of sovereignty was from London to Brussels … but in the exchange Scotland would be gaining massively more decision making and, the saying goes, being a nation again. A sovereign nation within the EU.
So it is very possible for some of us to really not understand the bleating by the English about sovereignty whilst in the EU. It was such a minor thing, an alignment of standards and a tweak of funding, that compared to what Scotland has lived with - it matters not a jot. And the benefits more than compensate for the illusion of loss of control.
You may “feel better” for this illusion of sovereignty. But consider - that helps no-one else.

You’ll have to explain what you actually proved. I was merely suggesting that there should have been a more robust criteria to pass a vote to leave than a simple majority. Whether it was for the common market or for the EU was neither here nor there.

It is over two weeks since I invited clarification on what Brexit apparently did not happen and on what decision making restrictions were imposed by being in the EU. No responses.
Why?
My guess is there are no replies because both notions (there was a better Brexit to be had, and the UK was controlled from Brussels) are memes rather than facts. They get repeated in shoddy newspapers and GBNews and then they get repeated again down the pub. At no point in all this repetition are these memes challenged - so they continue and in some people’s minds they become fact. They are not fact and the lack of substance for either claim demonstrates that…

Hardly surprising Lincs when you have so little regard for the average person on the street and disregard any source that items might have been gleaned from unless it’s one that you find appropriate. Which of course would be in favour of the EU…
It’s a circular adventure just posting things that have been discussed in detail before, and most of the information stated in posts doesn’t come from one or recent reports, very difficult to track down now for you shoot them down and assume they come from shoddy newspapers or GB News.
.

1 Like

So you are saying that you need to find a right wing pro-Brexit news source to find any insights on the Brexit that could have been or the specifics on loss of decision making whilst in the EU? Surely these are easy to set out - as many people make these claims all the time? Why even need to go to a news source, isn’t the info just right there?
Nope, you are evading the question and ducking out of trying to answer - simply because both are false claims. I have little regard for people who make empty claims and then completely fail to back up the claim with details & facts. Everyone else, especially average people, I hold in high regard. I respect them enough to provide justification for any claims I make. But folk who won’t justify claims are the folk who think average people are gullible enough to believe such empty claims. That is having little regard for average people.

We haven’t benefited or suffered IMO, end of?

1 Like

so has any decision been made yet

The jury is out on this one, make yer own mind up.

But it was nice when we could lay down the law, when we ruled the eu, it was like having an empire, again. Now we’ve got nowt.

Thanks for your opinion.
My experience is that I have directly suffered. My observation is that the UK has also suffered. Others share that view.
End of.

My pleasure