Brexit explained

I hate to nit pick about facts Oracle but what the hell now that we are good mates. You quote 4% per annum fall in DGP - I think this is a guesstimate from the CBR. An actual figure I read recently was an overall fall of 5.5%. From my point of view with everything that has happened since Brexit - Worldwide pandemic and Russian invasion of Ukraine I would probably settle for this sort of figure. Of course we desperately need a new Government with fresh ideas to stimulate growth from now on. 

To answer your question, I think the main fact that people are disgruntled about is that they were all told that things would be better after Brexit but in fact they are worse. 

I love that Hotel California comment Rob. I can totally see that we are worse off now generally than we were before Brexit - I get it. My explanation though would place the reasons at the door of the pandemic, fuel crisis and shambolic governance rather than leaving the EU. 

At the time of leaving even with a steady tide it was going to take  a number of years before the financial benefits would show through to GDP; the actual choppy waters have, of course, lengthened that timescale considerably. If I had had a crystal ball which would have predicted the above circumstances I think I would have probably chosen to vote for steady as she goes rather than leave in all honesty.

It requires every passenger to get out of their vehicle and give fingerprints and be photographed. There’s a fee, of course. Can’t remember the exact details as its introduction has been postponed twice, maybe more.

iirc, the ETIAS last for 3 years. However, the havoc it will create when folk are getting them for the first time at the point of departure will be far worse than we’ve seen recently.

It’s great putting advance passenger info on the sites that allow/require this. If only something like that can be done for this then it would be great. However, how can you be sure to get the right fingerprints etc other than by a personal appearance somewhere?

The current visa system requires all applicants to turn up at Wandsworth, Manchester or Edinburgh with lots of info and proofs of various things - place to stay, health cover (a GHIC card) and adequate finances. Those are for visas of 6 months or 12 and other visas for studying or working off different lengths.

No politicians would remind those in the queues that its what they voted for. 

It's due to cynical electioneering from Johnson (a proven liar who many people were willing to vote in as PM) et al. in constant "campaign mode". Elected off the back of Brexit, and backed by most of our media, they polarised the issue to discredit any actual discussion; any criticism or proposal that differed to theirs was labelled a "betrayal" by people "who wanted to reverse Brexit" and so on.

There were multiple directions post-Brexit could have taken but this ended up being an internal power struggle in the ruling Government who were also maintaining their own power by describing themselves as the only party in favour of, and able to deliver, Brexit. 

Despite my view it was an error at the time, where I viewed the benefits of EU membership outweighing the cons, nothing has appeared to convince me otherwise as essentially no new benefits have appeared. My view is in part due to that deliberate polarisation above combined with the selection of Johnson as their leader, the Conservatives have ensured public trust in politicians is at an all time low so I wouldn't trust anything describing new deals as "world leading" and so on; this is just meaningless campaign talk yet again. You reap what you sow. But we can at least agree it has been mismanaged to an extreme level by a group of incompetent and corrupt politicians.

Well, you are not telling the whole story though Roy.

I assume this 'deal' is the one negotiated by Boris Johnson - who then, two years later, threatened to tear it up himself!

"Boris Johnson on Monday defied a chorus of criticism and published legislation to rip up his 2020 Brexit deal with the EU, insisting there was “no other way” of protecting the peace process in Northern Ireland."

(Financial Times, June 13 2022)