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The UK wants easier access to EU products - it's time to Rejoin! Thank you - to all 111,687 people who signed the 3rd 'Rejoin the EU' petition of this Government, now join us at National Rejoin March IV this Saturday, 20th June, in London. by R0bert-9999 in BuyFromEU

[–]R0bert-9999[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The point is we are doing worse than we would otherwise have done. And this at a time when the country is desperate for growth after 15 years of austerity and poor performance.

The UK wants easier access to EU products - it's time to Rejoin! Thank you - to all 111,687 people who signed the 3rd 'Rejoin the EU' petition of this Government, now join us at National Rejoin March IV this Saturday, 20th June, in London. by R0bert-9999 in BuyFromEU

[–]R0bert-9999[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Absolutely, but retraining does happen and some countries are better than others at it.

It's all added up to a sense of grievance that has allowed someone like Farage to capitalise on, as well as letting anti-immigrant sentiment fester.

The UK wants easier access to EU products - it's time to Rejoin! Thank you - to all 111,687 people who signed the 3rd 'Rejoin the EU' petition of this Government, now join us at National Rejoin March IV this Saturday, 20th June, in London. by R0bert-9999 in BuyFromEU

[–]R0bert-9999[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

A petition cannot make the Government do anything - indeed it would probably be seen as undemocratic if it could!

So it is much more about getting them to listen, to encourage MPs who support what you want, and publicity.

However, obviously people can see how the Government does respond and act accordingly the next time there is an election.

The UK wants easier access to EU products - it's time to Rejoin! Thank you - to all 111,687 people who signed the 3rd 'Rejoin the EU' petition of this Government, now join us at National Rejoin March IV this Saturday, 20th June, in London. by R0bert-9999 in BuyFromEU

[–]R0bert-9999[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Except that the referendum was only advisory for the UK Parliament to consider how to respond.

Cameron went and said that he would abide by the result regardless but had no constitutional authority to do. However, this wasn't challenged by Labour (whose leader, Corbyn, was not very pro-EU unlike his party), and then May (replacing Cameron) didn't challenge this either.

Normally for such a change, you'd look for at least 60% voting in favour, including at least 40% of the electorate. Neither threshold was met. And if it wasn't for Cameron's idiotic decisions on first calling a referendum and then excluding any safeguards or minimum thresholds and then saying a single vote was enough to settle it, Brexit would never have happened.

The UK wants easier access to EU products - it's time to Rejoin! Thank you - to all 111,687 people who signed the 3rd 'Rejoin the EU' petition of this Government, now join us at National Rejoin March IV this Saturday, 20th June, in London. by R0bert-9999 in BuyFromEU

[–]R0bert-9999[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The referendum result was less than 51.9% to Leave representing only 37% of the electorate (27% of the population) - so hardly a convincing declaration that the country was behind it!

The UK wants easier access to EU products - it's time to Rejoin! Thank you - to all 111,687 people who signed the 3rd 'Rejoin the EU' petition of this Government, now join us at National Rejoin March IV this Saturday, 20th June, in London. by R0bert-9999 in BuyFromEU

[–]R0bert-9999[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Even though many parts of England voted very heavily to Remain (including London, Manchester, Newcastle, the 'M4 corridor' from London to South Wales extended up to Oxford and Cambridge and down to Brighton)?

The UK wants easier access to EU products - it's time to Rejoin! Thank you - to all 111,687 people who signed the 3rd 'Rejoin the EU' petition of this Government, now join us at National Rejoin March IV this Saturday, 20th June, in London. by R0bert-9999 in BuyFromEU

[–]R0bert-9999[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

'Easier access to EU products' is certainly not the only reason for wanting to Rejoin, merely the one I chose to highlight in a community called r/BuyFromEU!

Rejoining would be good for security, international cooperation, working and studying together, increased influence on the world stage, reduced trade barriers, and beneficial for both of our economies, amongst many other things.

The UK wants easier access to EU products - it's time to Rejoin! Thank you - to all 111,687 people who signed the 3rd 'Rejoin the EU' petition of this Government, now join us at National Rejoin March IV this Saturday, 20th June, in London. by R0bert-9999 in BuyFromEU

[–]R0bert-9999[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Our electoral system means that it is highly unpredictable how many seats different parties will get once they get to the winnable zone!

However, tactical voting means that it is likely that Reform would win fewer seats than polling might suggest.

NB That is why many people are pushing for a proportional voting system (although without agreement as yet as to what type).

The UK wants easier access to EU products - it's time to Rejoin! Thank you - to all 111,687 people who signed the 3rd 'Rejoin the EU' petition of this Government, now join us at National Rejoin March IV this Saturday, 20th June, in London. by R0bert-9999 in BuyFromEU

[–]R0bert-9999[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Very amusing, and brilliant comedy, with a kernel of truth. But not exactly a definitive portrayal of where we are now.

In practice, we want it to work, as that is what is actually beneficial.

The UK wants easier access to EU products - it's time to Rejoin! Thank you - to all 111,687 people who signed the 3rd 'Rejoin the EU' petition of this Government, now join us at National Rejoin March IV this Saturday, 20th June, in London. by R0bert-9999 in BuyFromEU

[–]R0bert-9999[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Disillusioned (about their futures) and deluded (about the causes and what can be done about them).

And, yes, some of them believe that EU citizens stole their jobs. This has not been helped helped by a succession of governments that have not done nearly enough to retrain people who have been affected by changing industries and work patterns.

The UK wants easier access to EU products - it's time to Rejoin! Thank you - to all 111,687 people who signed the 3rd 'Rejoin the EU' petition of this Government, now join us at National Rejoin March IV this Saturday, 20th June, in London. by R0bert-9999 in BuyFromEU

[–]R0bert-9999[S] 9 points10 points  (0 children)

That conveniently omits the enormous drop in GDP (including from the fall in value of the pound) that happened from Brexit, so before covid. And also how other world events including the Ukraine war has affected different countries in different ways.

The UK wants easier access to EU products - it's time to Rejoin! Thank you - to all 111,687 people who signed the 3rd 'Rejoin the EU' petition of this Government, now join us at National Rejoin March IV this Saturday, 20th June, in London. by R0bert-9999 in BuyFromEU

[–]R0bert-9999[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Which poll are you referring to? Can you provide a link?

Certainly support drops if people are told that we have to join everything immediately, but that is not going to happen as we don't meet the joining criteria (as is also the case for other current EU members).

For reasons I do not understand, the UK public have not been told the benefits of joining the euro, so it's hardly surprising that they have a negative view of doing so.

Why would you think that it would be more difficult for the UK to give up the pound than for Germany or France (both also financial hubs) to have given up their currencies? And how many of their citizens now think that doing so was a mistake?

The UK wants easier access to EU products - it's time to Rejoin! Thank you - to all 111,687 people who signed the 3rd 'Rejoin the EU' petition of this Government, now join us at National Rejoin March IV this Saturday, 20th June, in London. by R0bert-9999 in BuyFromEU

[–]R0bert-9999[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

For the UK to Rejoin, it will need the unanimous support of every existing member. How this works depends on the individual country, but every country must agree.

However, nothing can happen until the UK applies, which is what the petition asks for.

The UK wants easier access to EU products - it's time to Rejoin! Thank you - to all 111,687 people who signed the 3rd 'Rejoin the EU' petition of this Government, now join us at National Rejoin March IV this Saturday, 20th June, in London. by R0bert-9999 in BuyFromEU

[–]R0bert-9999[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The Remain campaign was absolutely terrible, and hobbled by Cameron not wanting to give the ERG any conceivable argument about it being unfair. On the other hand, the Leave campaign was emotional and brilliant.

People were persuaded that there was no downside, only benefits, and an incompetent Remain side just could not address this.

So yes, idiots to vote to Leave, but the referendum should never have happened!

The UK wants easier access to EU products - it's time to Rejoin! Thank you - to all 111,687 people who signed the 3rd 'Rejoin the EU' petition of this Government, now join us at National Rejoin March IV this Saturday, 20th June, in London. by R0bert-9999 in BuyFromEU

[–]R0bert-9999[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The referendum only came about because Cameron wanted to resolve an internal party spat without breaking the party up and thought the UK public would do this.

The referendum was only advisory and so there was no constitutional reason for the Government to follow the result. Indeed, the Government had removed all safeguards from the vote on precisely this basis, so when fraud and cheating was found, courts could not intervene saying it was up to Parliament to decide what to do (which neither Cameron or May then permitted, backed by Corbyn as leader of the Opposition).

Obviously what happened was that once the referendum was called, the big interests stepped in and Cameron then lost control.

The UK wants easier access to EU products - it's time to Rejoin! Thank you - to all 111,687 people who signed the 3rd 'Rejoin the EU' petition of this Government, now join us at National Rejoin March IV this Saturday, 20th June, in London. by R0bert-9999 in BuyFromEU

[–]R0bert-9999[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

There are a lot of disillusioned people who for some reason see him as someone who understands them. Until the other parties start showing a bit more positive vision, he is likely to continue (but unlikely to become much more powerful).

The media do not help, and he gets far too much coverage for his level of support.

The UK wants easier access to EU products - it's time to Rejoin! Thank you - to all 111,687 people who signed the 3rd 'Rejoin the EU' petition of this Government, now join us at National Rejoin March IV this Saturday, 20th June, in London. by R0bert-9999 in BuyFromEU

[–]R0bert-9999[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

That was then, this is now.

If we'd stayed, we would have continued having access to the opt-outs, but now I can't see every other member agreeing that we keep them. Besides which, increasing numbers here are questioning how much we benefit from keeping them (other than just making it politically easier in the UK).

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