Brexit

[MisterIceTeaPeach]

It's certain now. Great Britain is going to leave the European Union after a very small majority voted for it in the referendum.

This result has massive consequences for all members in the EU, the EU itself but also for the future of GB.

England is a new government lately.

Theresa May takes over David Cameron's job as Prime Minister. Against all expectations she chosed the major Brexit-proponent Boris Johnson as foreign minister.

England is in danger to get isolated economially and the EU is in danger to break apart. After the "Brexit" EU-opponents in France and Netherlands tasted blood and want to establish a referendum in their country too.

In general the number of the EU-critics raised in the past months.

What's your opinion of the "Brexit"?

Edited July 15, 2016 by Ayama Wirdo

[Parrhesia]

It's fucking depressing.

this is an article i guess

Edited June 24, 2016 by Parrhesia

[Shuuda]

Personally, I voted to stay, but the campaigns seemed like such farces that it's hard to muster up any kind of passion.

I am however, amused and perplexed by my Twitter feed. I get the slightest inkling that deep down, people really hate democracy.

[HF Makalov Fanboy Kai]

I can say i have no real opinion on it due to not living in the UK, but my UK friends for the majority either didn't care or they wanted to leave, so i'm glad they are happy at the very least.

[Sasori]

I'm not British myself, but as someone from the Netherlands I did follow a lot of the news on the Brexit.

I did not expect Britain to leave at all. Just yesterday they said that the polls where split, but that a majority of gambling offices thought the remain camp would win. I knew emotions ran high, but I thought most people would't vote for such uncertainty when they where actually voting. I hope things will work out for Great Britain, but I don't think this will be an improvement for anyone involved. They have to start from scratch when it comes to trade, the vast majority of experts where against a Brexit and today the Pound is making a historic fall.

To me this looks like Great Brittain jumping of a cliff without knowing if their parachute works. They might land safely, but they could be in for a nasty fall.

Perhaps one positive side of this is that the EU will finally wake up and realise how many people hate their guts. I'm pro EU and even I think they really need to work on their image which is just very bad lately.

I just hope my country doesn't do a referendum like this although I'm very sure there's one party over here that can't wait to start talking about it.

Edited June 24, 2016 by Sasori

[Res]

I don't know what to think. I left the UK 8 years ago so I'm a little out of the loop, and relying on my family members to keep me informed. My sister said Nazi symbols were sprayed across all the Leave posters in my home town, and the UKIP members responsible for the posters were refusing to have them removed or cleaned.

My family were literally in tears this morning...

Like I believe there are legitimate concerns to be had with the EU, but according to my family & friends, they feel too many voted for xenophobic/racist reasons. Nothing to do with the how the EU is governed beyond 'immigrants taking our stuff!'

Edited June 24, 2016 by Res

[blah the Prussian]

Personally, I voted to stay, but the campaigns seemed like such farces that it's hard to muster up any kind of passion.

I am however, amused and perplexed by my Twitter feed. I get the slightest inkling that deep down, people really hate democracy.

Well that last bit is good news for me at least. :p

More seriously, yep, this sucks. Life is going to be significantly more difficult for all my British friends, as now they're going to have to get a different visa to live in the Czech Republic. Sigh. I must admit I don't understand enough of the economic effects, but I believe that the only way for Europe to remain relevant is through the EU. The Anglophile in me is pissed that the Brits just shot themselves in the foot; seriously Johnson, would you rather surrender a little of your sovereignty to the EU, or the massive amount of sovereignty Britain has surrendered to the US since WWII?

[thepeaguy]

I voted out for various reasons. I don't really care if Bremainers want to imply that my stance is racist or whatever - let them.

The Bremainer camp online have been nothing but disgusting with their bile because democracy didn't happen the way they wanted it to. I'm not saying all are like this, but the ones I dealt with have been condescending prats to the Brexit voters.

And the "Great" in GB will never come back because we don't have an empire any more. Personally, I want England to become its own sovereign state again. Let Scotland have their independence.

Edited June 24, 2016 by thepeaguy

[Raguna]

I can't say I understand the political climate of the UK or whatever term it prefers to be called, but I'm with blah on this one. Losing a bit of sovereignty isn't going to hurt you and may in fact help you because you have other countries alongside which can be relied on through the European Union. You aren't losing complete sovereignty like the case of the colonies and in the long term it can even bolster European unity instead of promoting regionalism.

Also have to be pretty honest Res, that sounds like a real scary and crazy thing to go happen around the fact of a nation leaving such an organization. Is there truly a need for the Nazi comparison in the first place? I'm genuinely curious because as some others, I'm not in touch with the worldviews outside my little home outside Europe.

Edited June 24, 2016 by Raguna

[HF Makalov Fanboy Kai]

granted these days nazi and hilter mean "people or opinion i don't like." so i take these words with a grain of salt.

[Bandit]

I'm personally really upset to see Britian leave, what's worse is that the same people who voted to leave will be the first to complain when tax rises, university and science funding is cut (likely leadin to another rise in tuition fees, remember how well that went last time.) and unemployment rises.

Plus now there's no Human Right's ACT, the EU one was universal. Since the consitution of the UK is uncodified (it's been awhile since I studied this so please correct me if I'm wrong) law changes are a lot easier to pass, so 80% of the laws Brussels made and prety much out the window. Plus immigration is tiny, it's not even EU immigrants that are the "main problem". Not only did immigration help greatly, but most were from China, India and Australia. Any of them in the EU? Nope!

This is going to be awful, worst thing to happen to Britian in decades. Now just need Donald Trump to become president to make things "better". It's almost like watching a car crash in slow motion, you slowly watch that car you love be destroyed in front of your eyes with nothing you can do. Poor people going to uni, this is going to hit them really, really hard.

[CooledEvergreen]

As someone who is Irish, the main thing that I've heard about Brexit is that if they leave, our economy would suffer quite a bit, which is especially bad for us since our economy has been improving for the past few years, and that border control between the Republic of Ireland and Northen Ireland is going to be changed, presumably for the worst.

[Raven]

At least one good thing has come out of this so far. David Cameron's finally resigned as the UK Prime Minister.

[Res]

Also have to be pretty honest Res, that sounds like a real scary and crazy thing to go happen around the fact of a nation leaving such an organization. Is there truly a need for the Nazi comparison in the first place? I'm genuinely curious because as some others, I'm not in touch with the worldviews outside my little home outside Europe.

I'll ask her to clarify, but when my sister said Nazi symbols I'm pretty certain she meant her words literally, so actual Nazi symbols! :(

How the ages voted: https://mobile.twitter.com/benrileysmith/status/746106721756680192

[Irysa]

At least one good thing has come out of this so far. David Cameron's finally resigned as the UK Prime Minister.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson won't be any better.

On subject of result; it's shitty but I don't think it will be quite as catastrophic as pundits are saying it will be. However I think that the future of the United Kingdom is basically over now - Scotland is certain to leave following this result, and I would not be surprised if Northern Ireland reunification ends up happening either.

Thanks Corbyn and thanks Labour for a half hearted and unenthusiastic campaign. Thanks Cameron for using a referendum with long term lasting effects on the country to settle inner party disputes. Thanks to all UK broadcasters for vying for an American "Fair and Unbiased" style of reporting, where campaigners are allowed to throw around lies without being challenged because to call them out would be seen as breaching neutrality.

Edited June 24, 2016 by Irysa

[CyborgZeta]

I'm not British, but my views align more with Leave, so I'm pretty happy with the results.

So much is bound to happen now. What a time to be alive.

[Rend Keaven]

Not only did I voted to stay, but I was also a Yes voter in the Scottish referendum.

Why I voted Yes you may ask? Because in case shit like this happens.

[Time the Crestfallen]

I don't know a whole lot about this issue to comment on whether this was the right thing to do. I will however, say that it sucks that N. Ireland and Scotland had to be dragged along.

[tuvarkz]

The news have made my day. It's time for the EU to crash and burn before it becomes an undemocratic superstate. The current economic freakout is just speculators going crazy over a leave that hasn't even happened yet. Short term the GB economy will take a hit, but it will recover in the mid-to-long term. And Boris seems to be the favorite for new PM, fantastic.

[Tryhard]

I voted in, but not for the establishment that I frankly have no love for either, nor because I agreed with either sides campaigns, it's just that I hate the idea that many of the people want to leave the EU's biggest concern is immigration, ironic considering Britain as a nation is the one who historically had invaded everywhere. Mostly they have no idea where they're going with it.

The pound dropped over 8% in value as a result over the course of the day, so that's fun.

Not only did I voted to stay, but I was also a Yes voter in the Scottish referendum.

Why I voted Yes you may ask? Because in case shit like this happens.

We're going to probably be hearing about a second Scottish referendum soon, and it wouldn't surprise me if Northern Ireland were far behind.

Edited June 24, 2016 by Tryhard

[Time the Crestfallen]

We're going to probably be hearing about a second Scottish referendum soon, and it wouldn't surprise me if Northern Ireland were far behind.

Yep. I hate to be presumptuous, but this could very well be the death knell for the UK

[blah the Prussian]

The U.K. shouldn't be even allowing a referendum. Seccesion is absolutely inexcusable.

[Crysta]

This is going to be awful, worst thing to happen to Britian in decades. Now just need Donald Trump to become president to make things "better".

You move to Scotland, we'll move to Canada.

I have only a passing familiarity with Brexit but I didn't like what I saw on the tin; I remember seeing and watching some pretty blatant xenophobia but I was all like "surely cooler heads will prevail and this is a loud minority."

I was wrong. I hope I'm not wrong in November.

EDIT: It's a little more disturbing because like 70%+ of the vote turned out. >_>

Edited June 24, 2016 by Crysta

[Water Mage]

I've been researching this, and I still don't propley understad it.

It seems to me that cons outnumber the pros.

I'm curious. Could someone explain to me what were the reasons why people voted in favor of the separation?

[Sunwoo]

Watched the votes being counted up with Shin and a few other people on Skype chat, everyone was flipping out over every leave and stay, couple of jokes about how Scotland really wanted to stay and how they were carrying the "stay" votes. It pretty much ended with us going, "… Yeah, there's no way 'stay' can win now."

Looks to me like the majority of people technically voted to leave, but a lot of people didn't actually want it or expect it. Or something. Why did Britain vote to leave if they didn't have a proper exit plan?

Edited June 24, 2016 by Sunwoo