Why is the UK struggling more than other countries?

[vinny41]

1 minute ago, josephbloggs said:

Sigh. No, there isn't, just as in the same way there is nothing stopping anyone from living and working in Thailand. It's that easy, right? Any 18 year old can come here and work in a coffee shop or a resturant and gain worldly experience? Correct?

 

Ridiculous.

Clearly you didn't bother to read the link provided

You’ll need a work permit to work in most EU countries if you’re a UK citizen.

In most cases, you’ll need a job offer from your chosen country so that you can get a visa to move there

https://www.gov.uk/working-abroad#:~:text=You'll need a work,what you need to do.

So once your children apply for a position in an EU country and the employer assists your children to get a work visa 

My understanding if you want to work as a Teacher in Thailand your are required to obtain a work permit prior to starting work

[placeholder]

1 minute ago, vinny41 said:

Clearly you didn't bother to read the link provided

You’ll need a work permit to work in most EU countries if you’re a UK citizen.

In most cases, you’ll need a job offer from your chosen country so that you can get a visa to move there

https://www.gov.uk/working-abroad#:~:text=You'll need a work,what you need to do.

So once your children apply for a position in an EU country and the employer assists your children to get a work visa 

My understanding if you want to work as a Teacher in Thailand your are required to obtain a work permit prior to starting work

Actually, my impression was that it was you who didn't read the link provided given what I posted above.

[vinny41]

2 minutes ago, placeholder said:

This is from your the page your link connects to:

 

"If you were legally living in an EU country before 1 January 2021, your right to work will be protected as long as you carry on living there. This is because you are covered by the Withdrawal Agreement.

You’re also protected by the Withdrawal Agreement if you started working in one EU country and living in a different EU country or the UK, before 1 January 2021.

You’ll have the same rights as nationals of the country you’re working in when it comes to working conditions, pay and social security (for example, benefits)."

 

See any difference between then and now?

He stated that his children can no longer work and live in the EU this is factually incorrect as per the UK Goverment link they can 

[vinny41]

4 minutes ago, placeholder said:

This is from your the page your link connects to:

 

"If you were legally living in an EU country before 1 January 2021, your right to work will be protected as long as you carry on living there. This is because you are covered by the Withdrawal Agreement.

You’re also protected by the Withdrawal Agreement if you started working in one EU country and living in a different EU country or the UK, before 1 January 2021.

You’ll have the same rights as nationals of the country you’re working in when it comes to working conditions, pay and social security (for example, benefits)."

 

See any difference between then and now?

He stated that his children can no longer work and live in the EU this is factually incorrect as per the UK Goverment link they can 

[placeholder]

2 minutes ago, vinny41 said:

He stated that his children can no longer work and live in the EU this is factually incorrect as per the UK Goverment link they can 

Fair enough. My mistake. But the fact is, it's a lot harder now than it was before Brexit.

[vinny41]

9 minutes ago, placeholder said:

Fair enough. My mistake. But the fact is, it's a lot harder now than it was before Brexit.

I think that depends on your skillset , If a Germany business is unable to recruit that skillset within Germany or the EU they will make it happen

[nauseus]

40 minutes ago, josephbloggs said:

What relevance does that have? I run a business here in Thailand and have done for over two decades so it did not affect my trade (not that I run a trading company, I don't). It has affected my family in the UK. It has affected my children who wanted to live and work in Europe to gain global experience and soak up other cultures. I always preached to them the importance of it because I have lived all over the world since I was 21 years old and it opened my eyes tremendously.   Now they can't as that right has been snatched away. So it has affected me.

And it has saddened me how my country that was built on tolerance and multiculturalism has resorted to an intolerant, inward looking, xenophobic place that cut off its nose to spite its face, and the majority of it was built on outright lies. And when we called them out people put their fingers in their ears and shouted "project fear". Six years later what is better? Name a single thing without using a generic cliche like "free of EU shackles". Name one. Blue passports made in Poland? Anything else? Remember, no generic cliches please.

For me, if I disagreed with it on principle but I could see the other side I would admit "I don't agree with it on principle but I can see some benefits much as I don't like them". But I can't see any.  And Brexiteers can't bring themselves to admit things are not working that well or that they were lied to when it is staring them in the face. They just gloss over it with "struggle makes you strong" or "you should (magically) adapt", or "it needs time, it'll be better in the future". When? How long in to the future? And how many people will suffer in the meantime? 

 

That's the difference.

There were lies from both sides. Your kids can still travel and work abroad. The economic difficulties of leaving were expected, are evident and have been acknowledged by several leavers on this forum over more than 6 years now, myself included.

 

Our reasons for wanting out, have also been well explained but are never credited, accepted or acknowledged by the remainers here.....to me, that's the difference. 

 

 

 

 

 

[placeholder]

6 minutes ago, nauseus said:

There were lies from both sides. Your kids can still travel and work abroad. The economic difficulties of leaving were expected, are evident and have been acknowledged by several leavers on this forum over more than 6 years now, myself included.

 

Our reasons for wanting out, have also been well explained but are never credited, accepted or acknowledged by the remainers here.....to me, that's the difference. 

I don't know about your reasons, but I do know about the reasons offered by the likes of Boris Johnson and Jacob Rees-Mogg. And they weren't touting sacrifices.

Anyway, as the older portion of the electorate that voted overwhelmingly in favor of Brexit is retired permanently, and the younger generations who were robbed of so many opportunities come into their own, it's practically inevitable that Brexit will be reversed.

Edited January 5, 2023 by placeholder

[josephbloggs]

20 minutes ago, vinny41 said:

He stated that his children can no longer work and live in the EU this is factually incorrect as per the UK Goverment link they can 

Picking on semantics is the best you can do? It was quite clear the point I was making.

Yes, technically my teenage children can work in the EU if they have a solid job offer with minimum salary requirements and probably requiring university degrees in a specialism, their employer can guarantee them, they meet requirements on skill sets and experience, and the government of the country deems that can justify a work permit. How many 18 year olds do you think that applies to?  0.01%? How many job offers like that are forthcoming?

So yes, technically you are right that it is not impossible for 0.01% of school leavers. But for the 99+% of school leavers who want to spend 3-4 years working around Europe to gain worldly experience, gain knowledge of other cultures, and generally experience life it is no longer possible. If more people had that kind of experience we wouldn't find our country currently being so inward looking and insular. It's why I always told my children they should travel and experience different cultures.

But no worries, they can go and flip burgers in Milton Keynes so all is good.

But well done, you picked on semantics and you can feel you got a victory. Excellent.

 

[josephbloggs]

20 minutes ago, nauseus said:

There were lies from both sides. Your kids can still travel and work abroad. The economic difficulties of leaving were expected, are evident and have been acknowledged by several leavers on this forum over more than 6 years now, myself included.

 

Our reasons for wanting out, have also been well explained but are never credited, accepted or acknowledged by the remainers here.....to me, that's the difference. 

Ok, apologies if I have missed some clear reasons in 100 pages of posts but all I remember is generic cliches like "free of EU shackles", "no longer governed by faceless EU bureaucrats", "free of EU tyranny" etc. Seen many of those but don't remember any clear, well thought out reasons (which if well thought out and explained I might well understand or acknowledge). I honestly don't remember any but maybe I missed them in such a long thread - easily possible.

So if you don't mind repeating yourself could you explain your reasons? Or point me to the post where you did it if it is not a pain. I am genuinely interested.

Would also like to hear which lies the Remain side came out with and how they compare with the scale of the Brexit lies?  Genuine question, not a loaded one.

Edited January 5, 2023 by josephbloggs

[vinny41]

20 minutes ago, josephbloggs said:

Picking on semantics is the best you can do? It was quite clear the point I was making.

Yes, technically my teenage children can work in the EU if they have a solid job offer with minimum salary requirements and probably requiring university degrees in a specialism, their employer can guarantee them, they meet requirements on skill sets and experience, and the government of the country deems that can justify a work permit. How many 18 year olds do you think that applies to?  0.01%? How many job offers like that are forthcoming?

So yes, technically you are right that it is not impossible for 0.01% of school leavers. But for the 99+% of school leavers who want to spend 3-4 years working around Europe to gain worldly experience, gain knowledge of other cultures, and generally experience life it is no longer possible. If more people had that kind of experience we wouldn't find our country currently being so inward looking and insular. It's why I always told my children they should travel and experience different cultures.

But no worries, they can go and flip burgers in Milton Keynes so all is good.

But well done, you picked on semantics and you can feel you got a victory. Excellent.

 

Youth unemployment In October 2022, 2.872 million young persons (under 25) were unemployed in the EU, of whom 2.326 million were in the euro area. In October 2022, the youth unemployment rate was 15.1% in the EU and 15.0% in the euro area, both down from 15.2% in the previous month. Compared with October 2021, youth unemployment increased by 102 thousand in the EU and by 81 thousand in the euro area. 

https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/documents/2995521/15497496/3-01122022-AP-EN.pdf/eaaa1272-82e4-2456-ed30-e6f29f801bd8#:~:text=Compared with October 2021%2C youth,thousand in the euro area.&text=In October 2022%2C the unemployment,5.8% in the previous month.

 

It would seem to me that the EU has sufficent unemployed people under the age of 25 so no need to increase it further by importing people from non eu countries

Edited January 5, 2023 by vinny41
typo

[nauseus]

21 minutes ago, josephbloggs said:

Ok, apologies if I have missed some clear reasons in 100 pages of posts but all I remember is generic cliches like "free of EU shackles", "no longer governed by faceless EU bureaucrats", "free of EU tyranny" etc. Seen many of those but don't remember any clear, well thought out reasons (which if well thought out and explained I might well understand or acknowledge). I honestly don't remember any but maybe I missed them in such a long thread - easily possible.

So if you don't mind repeating yourself could you explain your reasons? Or point me to the post where you did it if it is not a pain. I am genuinely interested.

Would also like to hear which lies the Remain side came out with and how they compare with the scale of the Brexit lies?  Genuine question, not a loaded one.

Yes, it is a pain. You'll just have to take my word for it.

[vinny41]

Youth unemployment figures UK

399,000 young people aged 16-24 were unemployed in July-September 2022, down 29,000 from the previous quarter and down 77,000 from the year before. The lowest level of youth unemployment since records began in 1992 was in June-August 2022, when there were 372,000 unemployed young people.

The unemployment rate (the proportion of the economically active population who are unemployed) for 16–24 year olds was 10.5%. This is up from 9.1% in the previous quarter but down from 11.2% the year before.

https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/sn05871/

 

These figures indicate your unskilled children have more opportunity seeking employment in the UK

[RayC]

1 hour ago, vinny41 said:

I think that depends on your skillset , If a Germany business is unable to recruit that skillset within Germany or the EU they will make it happen

Unless being a native English speaker is part of the job description - and there are increasing few of those types of jobs - the likelihood is that EU organisations will fill job vacancies from the EU workforce.

[Mac Mickmanus]

1 hour ago, josephbloggs said:

Would also like to hear which lies the Remain side came out with and how they compare with the scale of the Brexit lies?  Genuine question, not a loaded one.

They were all predictions for the future and both sides gave extremes of what could happen .

  A prediction cannot be classified as a lie

[stevenl]

42 minutes ago, Mac Mickmanus said:

They were all predictions for the future and both sides gave extremes of what could happen .

  A prediction cannot be classified as a lie

Except that remain predictions mostly came orare coming true and the leave predictions were already at the time known to be not realistic.

[Mac Mickmanus]

3 minutes ago, stevenl said:

Except that remain predictions mostly came orare coming true and the leave predictions were already at the time known to be not realistic.

Well , the Remain prediction was that there would be 500 000 job losses if the UK left the E.U , the outcome was that 1 Million jobs were added 

[josephbloggs]

1 hour ago, Mac Mickmanus said:

They were all predictions for the future and both sides gave extremes of what could happen .

  A prediction cannot be classified as a lie

So the central claim that we sent the EU £350m a week was a prediction and not a lie? And that we would send that to the NHS instead was a prediction and not a lie?

Farage's racist "Breaking Point" poster was a prediction and not a lie?  https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/jun/16/nigel-farage-defends-ukip-breaking-point-poster-queue-of-migrants

Michael Gove's "The day after we vote to leave, we hold all the cards and we can choose the path we want." was a prediction not a lie.

Boris Johnson promising we had an "oven ready deal" and he just needed to pop it in the microwave and we would be better off was a prediction and not a lie?

John Moyniham: "We are the fifth largest economy in the world. We will be able to have a decent deal with the EU. The EU needs a trade deal with us more than we need a trade deal with them." A prediction, not a lie, and in no way delusional?

"After we vote Leave, we would immediately be able to start negotiating new trade deals with emerging economies and the world’s biggest economies (the US, China and Japan, as well as Canada, Australia, South Korea, New Zealand and so on), which could enter into force immediately after the UK leaves the EU.” A predication and not a lie?

"Taking back control of our borders" was a prediction and not a lie? (Our border security had nothing to do with the EU and has got much worse since leaving)

Seems none of these "predictions" came true. Bad luck hey?

Edited January 5, 2023 by josephbloggs

[josephbloggs]

2 hours ago, vinny41 said:

These figures indicate your unskilled children have more opportunity seeking employment in the UK

Thanks for the pathetic dig about my 12 and 14 year old kids being "unskilled", nice. Like they should have engineering degrees or be qualified doctors by the time they are 17/18 just like you were I am sure.  Again always seeking to make it personal, really quite cheap and pathetic.

It's not about "opportunity", they will have plenty of that in Thailand. It is about life and world experience when they are young as I clearly explained.   You missed the point entirely, deliberately I suspect. Goodbye.

[josephbloggs]

2 hours ago, nauseus said:

Yes, it is a pain. You'll just have to take my word for it.

Ok then. I offered you an olive branch and an opportunity to engage in reasoned debate, I even said I was willing to admit you may be right on some points if you explain them. But you don't want to, why am I not surprised.

[RayC]

1 hour ago, nauseus said:

There were lies from both sides.

There were but the lies about the NHS from Leave were the ones which struck home with the electorate.

 

1 hour ago, nauseus said:

Your kids can still travel and work abroad.

With a lot more difficulty than pre-Brexit

 

1 hour ago, nauseus said:

The economic difficulties of leaving were expected,

I agree but Leavers didn't acknowledge that at the time.

 

1 hour ago, nauseus said:

are evident and have been acknowledged by several leavers on this forum over more than 6 years now, myself included.

They have been acknowledged by no more than a handful of Leavers - including yourself - on this forum and certainly not for anything like 6 years.

 

1 hour ago, nauseus said:

 

Our reasons for wanting out, have also been well explained but are never credited, accepted or acknowledged by the remainers here.....to me, that's the difference. 

 

I'll use three categories of 'benefits': 1) Economic 2) Sovereignty 3) Immigration/ Control of borders (probably a sub-set of 2) but never mind) Please add to this list if you think that I missed anything.

 

1) Economic: You have acknowledged that there have been economic difficulties to date, so moving on to the future 'sunny uplands'. This is promised but there is little, if any, evidence to support their existence. When this is pointed out, the reply is that no one can predict the future - a reply so simplistic it isn't worth acknowledging - and/or that we need to have more faith, a strategy akin to a child closing their eyes and wishing really, really hard for something.

 

Sovereignty: We have discussed this myth that the dastardly EU was subjecting the plucky UK to enact laws against its' will a number of times before. As I'm sure you will recall, the number of EU laws that had to be enacted by the UK against its' will prior to 2016 was 3%, similar to the figure for other members. The nature of an organisation such as the EU is that one member will never get its' way 100% of the time. Is it worth all this hassle to reclaim 3% of Sovereignty? Imo no.

 

While we are at it ....

 

Democracy: The EU is anti-democratic! Commissioners are too powerful! Possibly but there are moves to transfer more power to the directly elected EU parliament. 

Commissioners are not elected: Not directly no, but then neither are senior civil servants in the UK.

 

Corruption: The current scandal in the EU is just that a scandal. Hopefully, all those involved in the wrongdoing will be brought to justice. But is the UK any better? What about Owen Pattison? What about the expenses' scandal. Sadly, corruption is present everywhere. 

 

Immigration: I'm pretty sure that you haven't made a xenophobic comment either directly or indirectly. Sadly, that is not true of some Leavers, for whom the reduction in the number of EU nationals in the UK is a cause for celebration in itself. That is xenophobia pure and simple and, as I'm sure you'd agree, hardly a valid argument against the EU.

 

The justification on the grounds that restricting immigration would allow more UK nationals job opportunities has proved to be a false hope. Firstly, the UK has a labour shortage and those EU nationals would have come in handy. Secondly, UK nationals don't seem to be too enthusiastic about taking up certain jobs e.g. fruit picking. Again, those EU nationals might have come in handy.

 

I'm sure they'll be some comeback. 200 here we come!

 

[nauseus]

1 hour ago, josephbloggs said:

Ok then. I offered you an olive branch and an opportunity to engage in reasoned debate, I even said I was willing to admit you may be right on some points if you explain them. But you don't want to, why am I not surprised.

I told you why. It is a pain doing these reruns, of which there have been many. And the reality is that it won't make a difference - that much I have leaned after so long - I don't really want another opportunity to waste my time. Thanks.

[Mac Mickmanus]

4 hours ago, josephbloggs said:

"Taking back control of our borders" was a prediction and not a lie? (Our border security had nothing to do with the EU and has got much worse since leaving)

Seems none of these "predictions" came true. Bad luck hey?

Right so, E.U citizens now cannot come to work and live in the UK and we also have not taken back control of our borders ?

   You need to choose one , you cannot have both .

We have either taken control of our borders or we haven't .

"Oven ready deals" and "Buses with slogans on them" were FOUR Prime ministers ago !!!!!!!!!!  

[vinny41]

7 hours ago, RayC said:

Unless being a native English speaker is part of the job description - and there are increasing few of those types of jobs - the likelihood is that EU organisations will fill job vacancies from the EU workforce.

Not always I know many people that have British passports currently working in Europe They have a specialized skillset of which there is a worldwide shortage,

the EU businesses they work for handle all the necessary paperwork that is required for them to legally work in the EU

[vinny41]

8 hours ago, josephbloggs said:

Picking on semantics is the best you can do? It was quite clear the point I was making.

Yes, technically my teenage children can work in the EU if they have a solid job offer with minimum salary requirements and probably requiring university degrees in a specialism, their employer can guarantee them, they meet requirements on skill sets and experience, and the government of the country deems that can justify a work permit. How many 18 year olds do you think that applies to?  0.01%? How many job offers like that are forthcoming?

So yes, technically you are right that it is not impossible for 0.01% of school leavers. But for the 99+% of school leavers who want to spend 3-4 years working around Europe to gain worldly experience, gain knowledge of other cultures, and generally experience life it is no longer possible. If more people had that kind of experience we wouldn't find our country currently being so inward looking and insular. It's why I always told my children they should travel and experience different cultures.

But no worries, they can go and flip burgers in Milton Keynes so all is good.

But well done, you picked on semantics and you can feel you got a victory. Excellent.

 

 

8 hours ago, vinny41 said:

Youth unemployment In October 2022, 2.872 million young persons (under 25) were unemployed in the EU, of whom 2.326 million were in the euro area. In October 2022, the youth unemployment rate was 15.1% in the EU and 15.0% in the euro area, both down from 15.2% in the previous month. Compared with October 2021, youth unemployment increased by 102 thousand in the EU and by 81 thousand in the euro area. 

https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/documents/2995521/15497496/3-01122022-AP-EN.pdf/eaaa1272-82e4-2456-ed30-e6f29f801bd8#:~:text=Compared with October 2021%2C youth,thousand in the euro area.&text=In October 2022%2C the unemployment,5.8% in the previous month.

 

It would seem to me that the EU has sufficent unemployed people under the age of 25 so no need to increase it further by importing people from non eu countries

 

5 hours ago, josephbloggs said:

Thanks for the pathetic dig about my 12 and 14 year old kids being "unskilled", nice. Like they should have engineering degrees or be qualified doctors by the time they are 17/18 just like you were I am sure.  Again always seeking to make it personal, really quite cheap and pathetic.

It's not about "opportunity", they will have plenty of that in Thailand. It is about life and world experience when they are young as I clearly explained.   You missed the point entirely, deliberately I suspect. Goodbye.

8 hours ago, josephbloggs said:

Picking on semantics is the best you can do? It was quite clear the point I was making.

Yes, technically my teenage children can work in the EU if they have a solid job offer with minimum salary requirements and probably requiring university degrees in a specialism, their employer can guarantee them, they meet requirements on skill sets and experience, and the government of the country deems that can justify a work permit. How many 18 year olds do you think that applies to?  0.01%? How many job offers like that are forthcoming?

So yes, technically you are right that it is not impossible for 0.01% of school leavers. But for the 99+% of school leavers who want to spend 3-4 years working around Europe to gain worldly experience, gain knowledge of other cultures, and generally experience life it is no longer possible. If more people had that kind of experience we wouldn't find our country currently being so inward looking and insular. It's why I always told my children they should travel and experience different cultures.

But no worries, they can go and flip burgers in Milton Keynes so all is good.

But well done, you picked on semantics and you can feel you got a victory. Excellent.

 

Nothing Personal but all schoolchildren when they leave school are unskilled regarding the workforce

And given that the current

EU Youth unemployment In October 2022, 2.872 million young persons (under 25) were unemployed in the EU, of whom 2.326 million were in the euro area.

The EU has no need for unskilled young people under the age of 25 entering the EU and taking jobs away from EU young people

 

[Bluespunk]

5 hours ago, Mac Mickmanus said:

 

"Oven ready deals" and "Buses with slogans on them" were FOUR Prime ministers ago !!!!!!!!!!  

So what? 
 

They were promises made to show what brexit would deliver.

 

Neither has been proven correct.
 

Such promises should not be forgotten no matter how much you would like to avoid discussing them. 

 

Edited January 6, 2023 by Bluespunk

[placeholder]

5 hours ago, Mac Mickmanus said:

Right so, E.U citizens now cannot come to work and live in the UK and we also have not taken back control of our borders ?

   You need to choose one , you cannot have both .

We have either taken control of our borders or we haven't .

"Oven ready deals" and "Buses with slogans on them" were FOUR Prime ministers ago !!!!!!!!!!  

You're conflating 2 different issues. One is about illegal immigrants seeking asylum and the other is about restricting eligibility of EU citizens to work in the UK. Are you claiming that the UK has the asylum seeker situation under control. That is has improved since the UK left the EU?

[RayC]

5 hours ago, vinny41 said:

Not always I know many people that have British passports currently working in Europe They have a specialized skillset of which there is a worldwide shortage,

the EU businesses they work for handle all the necessary paperwork that is required for them to legally work in the EU

No, not always and, of course, where that knowledge is unavailable within the EU then employers will be forced to look elsewhere.

 

However, intuitively I'd suggest that these skillsets are more likely to found in a working age population of 327m (EU) than within a population of 42m (UK).

 

In any event, recruiting 3rd country nationals will be more costly and time consuming for employers than recruiting from within the EU.

 

It's also a fact that UK nationals are relatively disadvantaged now compared to 2019. Freedom of movement meant that Brits had an advantage over other native English speakers, not so now. Just as easy - or difficult - for an EU based organisation to now employ Aussies, Americans, Canadians, etc as it is Brits.

 

Bottom line is that it's a long more hassle for both UK nationals to work in the EU and for EU organisations to employ Brits than it was.

[Mac Mickmanus]

2 hours ago, placeholder said:

You're conflating 2 different issues. One is about illegal immigrants seeking asylum and the other is about restricting eligibility of EU citizens to work in the UK. Are you claiming that the UK has the asylum seeker situation under control. That is has improved since the UK left the EU?

With all the job vacancies n the UK , the UK should be providing a free  Calais-Dover rubber dinghy service 

[DaLa]

18 hours ago, RayC said:

The decision to leave the EU brought me insecurity and (some) stress overnight, so 'yes' I was - and remain - bitter.

 

This bitterness might have evaporated if I could identify some overall benefits but, sadly, I can't.

 

You mentioned that you run a business in the UK. Do you import from/ export to the EU now and did you do so pre-Brexit? If so, what effect has Brexit had on your business either financially or otherwise. What sector are you involved in?

 

(Will understand if you do not want to share information).

Hi Ray, apologies for the delay in responding and thank you for your question. Firstly I genuinely sympathise with regard to you own personal experience ‘created’ by Brexit.

 

This is my personal experience. I have run 5 businesses over 54 years. On occasions I’ve lost money, I’ve also made a good living at times and throughout that I’ve worked my fingers and brain to the point of exhaustion. If I include caddying as a 12 year old I’ve had 6 businesses as well as being employed for around 25 years.

 

The stress at times literally brought me to tears but I persevered and fought against the myriad of problems I was faced with on a daily basis.

 

Some of that stress was caused by larger companies ‘screwing’ me over, some by people I employed, some by customers that would delay payment, once for 9 months and several times not pay at all. Then there was the interference from Local Government, then interference from National Government, then to cap it all the EU piled on more regulation.

 

So how did I stand on the issue of the vote to leave / remain in the EU. Despite all the comments questioning my intelligence and business acumen because I appear to support Brexit. I didn’t vote. Neither have I voted in local or national elections for the last 30+ years. Simply, to quote Ricky ‘I just don’t care’. I have family in the UK and family here in LoS, that’s about as much as I can muster in terms of ‘supporting’ anyone, least of all some politician I have no allegiance to, and that includes ALL parties.

 

Back to your final question, I have an export business in the UK and return there twice a year then globe trot to sell my stock.

 

So this is how Brexit has affected me. 1 hours more paperwork on my shipping documentation the first time, thereafter I simply re-use the template. I understand there has been an increase in the cost of goods in the UK, obviously that is going to create hardship for some people, but that’s been the case for a long time. There have always been people that haven’t had the opportunity or resources to ‘ride a storm’. The NHS problems, GDP, unemployment / free movement in Europe. Together with homelessness and poverty are all problems that can be replicated in their own version in any other country in the world.

 

I’m simply too busy and concerned that I won’t wake up tomorrow to care about it. It would not have made one iota of difference to my ethos if the vote had been to remain in the EU.

 

I’ll finish with what matters to me. 7 friends / family dead in the last 3 years. Covid 19 restrictions on travel reduced my business turnover to zero for over 2 years (whilst expenses were still being accrued). I’m not crying about it, just soldier on.

 

I agree it would be better if we could see some tangible benefits of Brexit, but also be a little less negative unless as in your case you have provable hardship for which again I sympathise.

 

Best regards.