What an enormous waste of time and money for everyone involved Brexit has been. To think this entire farce followed from a non-binding referendum with a 2% majority in favour.
Put it this way, people will lose their jobs because of increased friction with our closest trading partner - the whole sovereignty-argument is complete drivel: If we were able to leave unilaterally then we were - by definition - never not sovereign.
This may be lost on those not from the UK, but a huge amount of the cultural angle of the leave-vote was based on a "We don't want to be ruled by Germans, we beat them in WW2" - it was never about anything concrete, it's just about a vague fuck-you (in the wrong direction) in response to the Status Quo.
The whole modus operandi of Brexit - for decades - is to just make up anything that sticks and blame it on the EU, and because the EU doesn't have a public face in British life there's no feedback.
In Summary: We've either done something bad or pointless, all to please people who will be long dead before we get to have our cake and eat it in the future.
Well, they are somewhat delusional. I don't mind them being happy, so don't tell them the following:
Most of what they think of as "law", such as criminal law or the rules of the road, always were written in the UK.
The "law" that was being written in Brussels (with plenty of UK input) was to a large extend rather specific and trade-related. Yes, it was evil EU legislation that mandated orange juice to contain actual juice from real oranges. Terrible!
You gotta label what's in the bottle! Common quality standards for oranges! Minimum labor standards for those picking the fruit! Common labeling of origin and type of agriculture to ensure labels like 'organic' have meaning! Frictionless trade! Mechanisms to resolve contract disputes across borders! visa-free travel to orange-growing Spain!
Such audacity! Such impervious intervention in our sovereign right to be f'''d over by corporations!
I'm happy for them (truly—this isn't snark), but unfortunately I have far more faith in EU legislators to support my rights, my community, and my general wellbeing than a Conservative Party government.
The European Commission are all right wing pro business people, except with even less oversight than national governments.
Why would you trust Ursula von der Leyen over Boris Johnson? They are cut from the same piece of cloth.
I think you might read the wrong media. It was the UK (with little brother Denmark) that kept the EU firmly on an economically liberal course.
First thing the Commission did after the Brexit notice was to publish a 'European Pillar of Social Rights' and to launch processes for common minimum social standards. Yes they do trade but look at the lineup and commissioners and half of those have social portfolios.
It's probably more a matter of faith in an expertocracy with political checks and balances and ultimate political decision but apolitical implementation.
Considering that UK businesses will now have to follow rules that the UK has no say in making, doesn't really feel like a great improvement. Especially since UK law was always legally supreme and new EU laws had to be ratified by parliament anyway.
Can you elaborate on your guess? Why would the "upper owner class" benefit more from BREXIT?
Not saying you are wrong. I just want to understand your thought process.
