Crazy isn't it.. again, I'm just ashamed my country can come to this point. The leave side didn't even have a plan as to what to do.
Johnson doesn't look like he wants to go through with it. He looks like he just woke up and found that he got some girl pregnant that he doesn't even like.
Yeah, the damage to the EU is also a huge issue. It's terrible it's come to this.
There is precedent for a second referendum - Ireland did so in 2009 on accepting the 28th Amendment. I admit, this is a lot bigger.
I think the context here which may help this to make more sense to those outside: a lot of British people voted for leave on false claims. Ok, lots of elections have false claims. But these were enormously misleading and widely spread. It seems like there are a lot who regret their decision, though I'm not sure what % they represent. If there is a general election called early with a party that explicitly backs EU membership winning, then there's no way we can leave without another referendum. And if we vote to stay, I think there would be grounds for the EU to get us to accept a lot of things which we might not have before.
But yes, it's a totally miserable situation for everyone.. you know what, I'd even say it's miserable for the politicians who 'won'.
As in your other comment, it's true also that despite 'paying more into the EU than receiving' directly, the benefits have been large. In fact the whole argument that the UK will be better off financially leaving is missing the point. The UK received big benefits from being in the EU and trying to calculate some in/out net contribution is again, missing the point entirely.
However, and I know this will grate horribly, but the EU might have to wait, whether it likes it or not. If article 50 is not invoked, no one can force the UK out. What's more, there are gathering suspicions that the UK could consider a second vote in some months' time. Only by waiting could this happen.
For context: I am British and do not want to leave the EU, despite my best efforts to find the positives in my other comments. I think that the UK had a good deal before and was able to influence policy from within. Now we will be punished by the EU and break up internally.
But beyond all of this, I don't want to live in a country where people have voted so stupidly, and so nastily. One
of the leave campaign's biggest claims has been proven to be false. Actually proven to be false. And people voted on that. This in my view is almost grounds for a voiding of the entire process. I feel ashamed of my country and I'm a "true" Brit by their standards. I consider myself lucky in that I can leave and live somewhere else, and this is what I intend to do. I no longer feel a part of the country of my family and of my life so far. And I didn't see such a strong feeling coming until it hit me with the leave vote.
The strange thing about this for me, is that you had an excellent experience with the British people but now you are effectively calling for them to be crushed by this, at least, the 48.1% who voted remain, plus all the young people who couldn't vote but would have voted for remain.
I think it should be said to clear things up that EU citizens in the UK are not going to be "chucked out". This is not going to happen and the major political figures have said as much on live broadcast today. Yes, it would be prudent to get indefinite leave to remain if you can or something more solid - whatever you can. But the UK needs you and even if a hardcore right wing lunatic tried to expel you it is completely impractical.
I also noticed some Irish people mentioning they would have to sell their house and leave - please for your sake, look up the official information on Irish/UK rules, you will find that they have freedom of movement regardless of the EU and in fact it goes much, much further than the EU rules.
"Irish citizens automatically have a right to reside in the UK as part of the common travel area. If you were habitually resident in Ireland or any of the other places in the common travel area before you came to the UK, you will automatically satisfy the conditions of the HRT." https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/benefits/coming-from-abroa...
I think everybody needs to try and calm down. Even though a great many of us would have preferred not to leave, this can be OK.
The UK can easily end up in the EEA which has freedom of movement etc anyway.
Be able to set immigration to points based - like the US, Canada, Australia. Why should we discriminate against Indians, Chinese, Bangladeshis, Africans for the EU? I like immigrants and I think they help our economy, but I want this to be run better.
I don't agree with how the EU subsidizes e.g. French farmers at the expense of e.g. African farmers.
To not be a part of what seems to be a failing system and having to answer to the un-elected European Commission, and to therefore avoid being swept along in integration which isn't so good.
It might sound odd, but I didn't vote for leave. But I can see that now that this is what we have, maybe there are some reasons to be positive.
"We will fuck UK over"
"Now we will finally pursue tighter integration"
I have to say, with this kind of attitude, I am even more glad that the UK has left the EU. Who would want to be partners with this kind of spite and hatred?
That may be so, but - at the risk of sounding like a 'Brexiter' - at least the UK has its own currency! It can be devalued. The UK has that control and can be competitive. What would happen to one of the EU countries if it voted leave but had the Euro?
I think Sandworm's comment is not really sensible. Most people surely buy on some price to quality benchmark, i.e. value. If German cars are suddenly x% more expensive, well that will have a big impact. Not to mention US/Japanese/French cars being perfectly decent!
This is also a very astute comment I think. The EU and those with interests that are similar will need to increase scaremongering even more to try and prevent other countries from leaving the EU. I wonder what will happen at Greece's next bailout/imposed conditions breaking point...
As other comments have noted, the point is that the EU will not want to give the UK a good deal on leaving, because the EU does not want to give any encouragement to the other countries which want to leave the EU (some of which want to leave more strongly than the UK do - apparently).
Secondly, why would the UK end up with a Norway or Switzerland deal, when the UK is the 5th largest economy in the world? This is unprecedented. This isn't some one sided negotiation.
The EU needs the UK. If you sift through the garbage press, you'll see that the BDI in Germany - "The Voice of German Industry" - says that trade curbs against the UK would be "foolish". Of course they would be! Do you know how many German cars are sold in the UK each year?
"About a fifth of all cars produced in Germany last year, or around 820,000 vehicles, were exported to the UK, making it the single biggest destination by volume." Source: FT.com
"The UK is the fourth-biggest export market for German engineering companies, with sales of €6.8bn last year." Source: FT.com
The scaremongering goes on even after the vote has been called...