At least I will get a new blue covered British Passport when my commie red European Passport expires.
2
Welcome to the world of every American who can't believe trump is president but have to live with the horrific consequences of those who were idiotic enough to vote for him. What happens next is anyone's guess, but there will be much upheaval.
3
If the Remainers want to speed up Great Britain’s return to the E.U., they should stand down and let Brexiters have EVERYTHING they wished to have.
History tells us that no one wants to stay in the Dark Ages for very long.
3
Congrats, Britain. Looking forward to ripping you off in a trade deal. Also, apologies in advance when you start getting a "taste" of our flavourless, chemical-laced food. Now that you are great again, when do you get India and Australia back?
4
What next for Britons? Higher drug prices, way higher, if Trump get his way. He wants the folks in Briton to pay the same amount for their drugs as Americans.
1
Reduced to the most basics, Brexit was a fight between the mobile, and well off (who profited from being in the EU) vs the less mobile, not well off (who lost out to e.g. Polish plumbers)
To see the data for yourself click below to see Fig 1
https://blogsmedia.lse.ac.uk/blogs.dir/107/files/2019/03/Screenshot-2019-03-13-at-8.33.47-PM.png
The caption is, quote
"Figure 1 shows the pattern highlighted by other analysts: people in households with incomes over £50,000 were substantially more likely to vote for Remain, and the opposite can be observed in people whose households are at the other end of the income distribution, especially those around £10,000"
The more well of now mourn, the less well off celebrate
--
LSE is the London School of Economics
1
Boris wants Britain to be "Singapore on the Thames". A one party, authoritarian state.
Instead, one generation from now, England will be America's European Puerto Rico, eating genetically modified foods, chlorinated chicken and hormone-laden beef.
Then, when they get sick and fat from all their American food products, they’ll have the “freedom” to pay outrageous medical costs in the by then privatized NHS.
Freedom in the neo-liberal lexicon means freedom of the strong to predate on the weak. Free Trade is a particular example of this. A rational person must expect the UK to be brutally savaged in dealing with the EU, US and China.
3
Now that Britain has officially left the EU, at least UK politicians won’t be able to blame the EU any more for their own failures.
6
For those Brits who got their wish, I hope you get exactly what you feel you deserve, no more, no less. For the rest, I wish you the best under your new circumstances, especially those in the fields of science and technology who thrive on collaboration and cooperation.
No nation is an island, not even the U.K.
1
My fool-ass brother in law, now a Londoner, voted for this. Dumb. So many pyrhhic victories for the bad guys now. Fortunately, pyrhhic victories forecast a downfall. It will be painful though and I’m not adverse to some pain to fix this problem. Anyone else? Or too afraid?
2
Britton will be fine. Switzerland and Norway are not in the EU and seem to be doing great. In fact leftists often site those countries as models to be replicated in America.
On another note, I and most reasoned people are starting to just tune out any time a leftist claims an "existential threat" is occurring because of a policy difference. The would will not come to an end when Britton leaves the EU. Life will go on.
2
Remainers are still going through the stages of grief, and I take no pleasure in seeing them writhe, however much they schemed to thwart the democratic will of the British people. The reality is, the UK is leaving the anti-democratic, hyper-regulated embrace of the Continent, and Britain is choosing its own path, subject to continuing democratic oversight. You don't like it? Don't play games with technicalities and misrepresent your opponents. Win the next election. Everyone will respect that result.
2
Well, it's ironic that Brexit now happening in the UK the same day that our cowardly US Senate is letting our criminal President off the hook by denying any witnesses to a trail. Putin's victory is complete. Not only will the world's Democracies rue this day, the world's economies will, too. This will do absolutely a lot of damage to an already teetering global economy. Boris Johnson is just the man to give it a self-satisfied shove down the slippery slope. I hope he enjoys his brief time in power.
4
It's keeping illegal, disruptive migrants out of Britain which is at the heart of Brexit and the ascendency of Boris Johnson.
I would imagine that if Britain could avail itself of the economic benefits of EU membership, without getting stuck with EU rules as to immigrants and border control, that they'd enthusiastically go along with that.
I don't blame a country for wanting to exercise border and immigration control so as to preserve its national identity and not have to deal with incompatible migrants that Germany, mostly, let into the continent, and who would dilute the prevailing culture.
2
@MIKEinNYC This is a misunderstanding of the British situation with regards to migrants. The migrants that Brexiteers had a problem with weren't in Britain because of the EU, but because of Britain's own colonial past. Getting rid of Polish plumbers and French bakers won't change a thing.
1
"What’s Next for Britons Who Lost the Brexit Battle?"
Does anyone care, anymore than one cares what happened to Bob Dole or Mike Dukakis or Thomas Dewey?
1
David Cameron used 60 million Britons as a pawn in his gamble. He lost it all. He panicked. He disappeared. He left the country and the people to face all the consequences on their own. Quite a leader indeed!
3
Oh man, the re-moaners are out in force today, all perfectly clairvoyant. Is it midnight in Brussels yet? Can't wait to hear them gripe tomorrow, NOT.
4
Boo-hoo. Most Americans don't have the "right to live, work, study in another country". We survive just fine. These people need to get over themselves!
2
With Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales probably voting for independence and a return to the EU what remains of the UK will have a very rough negotiation ahead. Not to mention the potential loss of its UN Security Council seat. England’s star has finally imploded. Will Germany be its successor?
1
Brexit was a vote against Tory austerity, which has brought right wing nationalism and the historic past of the Empire to the fore.
The reality of BREXIT for ordinary people without access to the single market and customs union, with no other trade deals in sight will be vast import duties on everything including food and energy. Poor people in this country even those in low paid work are dependant now on free handout's of food from food banks, which are a major growth industry in the UK, because of 10 years of the Tory war on the poor. I dread to think what will happen to these people and everyone who is not super rich, with the likely hard BREXIT which the Tories have planned for us as an act of tyranny.
Unfortunately ordinary and poor people have been conned by the Tories, who despite proclaiming austerity is over, are now planning a further round of devastating cuts in essential public services and they will be the one's who will not be able to exist under the Tory regime.
This is what you get when you vote Tory.
47
@Koret "Brexit was a vote against Tory austerity". Well, for some it was, but for majority of Brexit voters (who are right wing Tories), it was a vote for more austerity. These and other mutually-exclusive goals are one of the myriad reasons why this will turn into a disaster
8
The younger the individual, the more likely they voted Remain. It's time for Remainers to look around and determine if maybe their future lies on the continent. Berlin, Amsterdam, Barcelona and so many other cities big and small will welcome you. Brexit is going to have long-term negative consequences for Britain but the people who voted for it will be either dead or enjoying their retirement checks for it to make a difference to them. Come live in a country where the Murdoch media machine doesn't exist. You won't regret it.
105
I predict a massive “brain drain” from both the UK and the USA as the most intelligent and ambitious young people leave their increasingly insular and anti-scientific home nations for more exciting opportunities.
77
@Ben
Reminds me of how many celebrities declared they would leave the country is Trump won. Made vows on video and uploaded them on youtube even. I don't think a single one actually followed through. Or that the US had any appreciable brain-drain because of the same Trump and his love of anti-scientific nonsense.
Don't be over-dramatic.
22
@Ben
The UK are looking at introducing immigration points based system similar to Australia. They want to actively encourage the best people in the world regardless of nationality.
2
The UK cannot leave the single market, the customs union and lose access to completely frictionless trade without taking a very serious economic hit and anyone who says it can is either a liar, hard of thinking or both.
Much hinges on the type of trade deals the UK manages to cobble together but they will be massively inferior to the ones enjoyed now via EU membership. Then there is the chaos that will hit the UK at the end of the transition period.
It's sad witnessing a national breakdown and seeing the increasing desperation as the UK realises it is making a monumental mistake.
What Brexiters have yet to realise is that when idealism collides with reality, reality always wins.
Brexit has promoted racism of every sort and the nastiness triggered by Brexit ensures the worst in all its supporters, leaving Britain deeply divided. It will take generations for the rift to heal.
The credibility of the UK has been, and will remain, hugely diminished in the eyes of the wider world as a result of this Brexit stupidity.
Would you choose to emigrate to a country of ignorant, arrogant, closet racists - especially when you will be trapped there by the curtailment of 'Freedom of Movement' within the EU?
Little England's Brexiteers will live to regret this Friday. They will control virtually nothing of merit - especially not when they grow old and infirm.
Cold, wet, grey, and miserable. What fun, eh. Where did it all go so wrong?
Friday 31st January 2020.
45
@Chris
Or you could come to Scotland, where we need you. We try to make things easy to come here, but English governance gets in the way.
England isn't a dreary land of closet racists and xenophobes either but there is a mobilised generation of voters out there who are living in a 1950s fantasy of England that never existed. Trump voters, looking for someone to blame for... something.
The people who will be most affected are not allowed to vote because they're not old enough. I don't think England really understand what it has just done.
6
@Chris problem is a lot of them probably won’t live to regret it because they’ll be dead. It’s the younger people who didn’t want Brexit that will be left to pick up the pieces.
4
Personally I would from the depth of my heart welcome Scotland back in the EU. This great and tolerant people would bring with them all we appreciated and liked about the "British", but without nearly all the negative bits, which were deeply English. But I see this won't be easy, and its up to the Scots. I wish you luck.
I do not think that the repercussions of Brexit on the integrity of the United Kingdom were fully thought out. I think it would be truer to say that no-one in the Leave camp gave a moments thought to the possible consequences of all their mindless and jingoistic politics upon the integrity of the UK. They never gave a moments thought to anything else and have been winging it ever since June 2016.
The Brexiters banged on endlessly about freedom and independence from Brussels and the EU, now they have to say why the aspirations of Scots, Welsh, Irish and English for independence from Westminster are not equally valid.
"Brexit: The undefined being negotiated by the unprepared in order to get the unspecified for the uninformed."
3
Next for the Brits is the icy reality of being on their own. Better put away those dreams of past greatness and concentrate on having a functional country, which will require to keep a smile every time you turn towards the EU.
7
“But cutting the European Union adrift carries its own risks...”
Benjamin, The E.U. is properly moored to a union of Social and economic interests that is and will remain quite strong. The U.K., soon to be England and Wales, will be adrift for decades. A pariah state that hated Europeans so much that it blew itself up.
5
In this article, as in so many other wilting, weepy, wistful "isn't it awful how the Brexiteers are taking the country down the road to ruin" articles, there is zero discussion of the political impetus behind the Brexit movement. The profoundly anti-democratic moves by the EU - like ignoring the rejection of their proposed constitution by multiple EU countries and then ramming it down the throats of Europeans via the Lisbon treaty - are completely ignored. The same exact tone, and lack of fact-based discussion, can be found in the coverage of Trump supporters. Brexit and Trump are treated like bad weather - something that just came along, out of nowhere, and no one could do anything about them. So unfortunate, so awful. Actually, today marks a joyful new beginning for the English. And I say "Godspeed, lads".
9
"ardent pro-European Britons, who by some measures outnumber those favoring Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union"
Really? How come the election went 180 degrees opposite and Britons are exiting today?
6
@Jamie because the UK has a first-past-the-post electoral system, which means Johnson won a big majority, despite the fact that 54% of voters chose parties that favored a second referendum to reverse Brexit. Sound familiar?
5
Could it happen? Brexit and Trump acquittal on the same day? This could become an international day of mourning for The Left.
4
Best option: move to Scotland and campaign for Scottish independence.
3
Will Brexit lead to Ukexit?
And how will that play on Masterpiece Theater on PBS?
2
‘Le Morte d'Arthur’ deja vu all over again. And again, ad nauseum.
I think I’m beginning to understand why chivalry is dead.
I’m hoping your politicians are stalwart enough to prevent trump from destroying your NHS. The Guardian writes that you may be paying more for your prescription drugs. Big mistake don’t do it. You maybe opening the door to US meat. Don’t do it. I pay premium prices for organic meat and poultry. The ag industry here owns the USDA.
2
They voted on this. They elected a man to do this. Then they voted again to do this.
And when it happens, they can't stop complaining about it.
Now they want to march like the 'not my president crowd'. But just like then, nothing will change. You are still your own country, just like he's still our president.
Sorry but the Left since unable to grasp and accept reality. Here and in the UK.
6
@AutumnLeaf forgive us for not rolling over and accepting this suicidal project, a month after 54% of voters chose parties that rejected it
3
I understand the desire to remain and fight the battle. But it might be wise to undermine them instead. Give them more of what they want.
Isolation.
3
Johnson et al have always taken the position that Britain can leave the EU but still -- somehow -- enjoy all the benefits of EU membership. He and they are in for a very rude awakening because no one (outside of the Brexit fantasy universe) believes that the EU is inclined to do the UK any favors at the moment. They are in a position to extract their pound of flesh, and are (no doubt) anxious to do so.
Add to that the likely loss of Scotland to the UK sometime in the next ten years and the pretty much certain loss of northern Ireland to the Republic. Boris might not be the last PM of the United Kingdom, but he certainly put the dissolution into motion.
This is not going to be pretty.
3
Britain leaves with no agreement on a new relationship between it and its nearest trading partner. It is a leap of faith in the skill of British negotiators and the kindness of Europe, so recently spurned. What could possibly go wrong?
7
If the UK (or Britain as it will be known) ever rejoins the EU, they will drive on the right side, measure distances in kilometers, and speak fluent German and French as not-so-foreign languages.
9
As an American child, I recall the day in 1957 when the Treaty of Rome was signed. A local radio station was reporting on it in the car driving my group of friends home from school. The only words that stood out in the otherwise boring story were "to prevent a new world war".
I think that the motive of preventing World War III has enjoyed an undeserved place in the defenses of what soon became the EU. In reality, the goal of economic cooperation (an early term for globalization) led the uniting Europe of my lifetime into the formation of an ill-advised, and economically unsound political union.
The EU needs to re-think itself, and has been told that for decades now. It is no accident that the EU's overtures to Ukraine occured before the Russian Ukraine War began, and might even have been the direct trigger.
6
It is strange to listen to Americans who are such big fans of the EU, which 52% of Britons voted to leave. I am fairly certain that if the US voted on joining Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean and Central American nations in a 'union', with identical passports, a new capital city in, say, Guatemala, open borders and an invitation to join a shared currency, more than 52% of Americans would say 'no way' - in fact, probably pretty close to 100% would reject such an idea.
15
@George Haig Brewster
Yes, you are right. And. how would americans like it if they had to abide by rules and regulations imposed by unelected bureaucrats based in Guatemala.
1
Apples to oranges. Guatemala is not Germany. El Salvador is not Spain. And the scale of the US versus the UK relative to the size of the unions they can join or reject is one of orders of magnitude.
3
@George Haig Brewster In reality, North Americans have long enjoyed a version of what you describe. Until recently, it was easy to cross the Canadian and Mexican borders, without a passport. NAFTA has (for better and worse) created a very integrated economic market. I suppose Mexicans and Canadians might balk if a single currency were proposed, though both would do better without the current unfavorable exchange rate.
Your terrifying vision of a new national capital in Guatemala does not, of course, bear any resemblance to the way Brussels interacts with EU member nations, all of which have their own capitals.
Mr Mueller, you state "And now, on the precipice of Brexit, ardent pro-European Britons, who by some measures outnumber those favoring Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union..." If that's the case how did the the 'leavers' win the referendum?
9
@Philip
They were confident that their countrymen would see that voting for Brexit be a huge mistake. They were so confident that this was an impossibility that they stayed home.
6
@Philip It didn't help that Corbyn was pro-leave despite his party's membership supporting Remain. That crippled Labour's efforts.
“They marched by the hundreds of thousands to stop Brexit,” while inside parliament, Brexiteers made speeches denying that they existed, saying “The whole country” -- never mind Scotland -- “wants Brexit done now.”
The Tories took us in. Thatcher kept us in. Brexit's hardly a “left-wing” nightmare.
4
Reading some of the angry / vindictive / just plain ignorant comments here, one might forget that, as they write-off the entire British population as racist, imperialists yearning for the ‘old days’, (at least) 50% of the Brits want to remain in Europe.
The result of the recent election was not a vote against Europe, so much as a vote against the extreme socialist policies of the Labour party. A result, I fear, will be mirrored here in November.
18
@GBP
Pish and tosh. The vote was a unified conservative minority (which happens to be racist and imperialist) winning over a splintered and therefor impotent majority who , as you say, wanted to remain. Here in November, it will be a unified conservative minority winning because of arcane Electoral College rules.
1
“extreme socialist policies of the Labour Party”
Like what?
The failed, stingy, magical right wing thinking of the majority of British voters is what's blame for UK’s crumbling infrastructure, education crisis, the decline of manufacturing, the housing crisis, the failed status quo, their failed politicians and their failed Brexit as voters here want to have their cake and eat it too.
They want to continue to get ridiculous capital gains increases on their homes but also have affordable new homes, have maximum shareholder dividends but also optimised companies, have basement level taxes but also Scandinavian public services and top notch infrastructure. World class education but on a shoestring and paid for by students.
Voters can't seem to compute that if you constantly vote for low cost, low investment governments, large scale immigration is both necessary and inevitable as if you haven't spent enough tax money into investing in skills and training, businesses will need to get those skills from somewhere.
Voters keep voting in the Tories time after time after time to keep their taxes low and then whinge and whine when houseprices continue to rise, immigration continues and infrastructure becomes 3rd rate as a result of their selfish election choices.
Unfortunately, many truly thought Corbyn was going to turn the UK into Venezuela for daring to suggest that corporation tax should go up marginally to pay for investing in better infrastructure, skills, education and housing
3
Even the Guardian called Corbyn's manifesto "the most radical" in decades. The UK, like the USA, is a free market, which governed correctly, is the best tool in the bag for creating prosperity. Rather than fix the problems, Corbyn wants to bring it all in house, and far too many Brits remember the stagnation that resulted last time, and the winter of discontent. But don't take my word for it, Labour were battered by, arguably, the weakest Conservative party in living memory, lead by a clown.
As a Welshman now living in France, I can recall the majpr advantages that the Single Market brought to my industry, no more customs forms, no more hours wasted at freight agents getting goods cleared.
For those who claimed that the EU was a bureaucratic nightmare I can only assume that they had no experience of shipping goods to what was 12 or so different countries and the amount of paperwork involved before the EU.
It's a sad day for those who wanted the UK to stay, but hey let's start a Br-entrée and get back in!
25
Welcome mates to the new Appalachia.
19
So Great Britain is out of the EU. Next will be Brittain negotiating with the EU to retain all the benefits of membership without any of the responsibilities. I wonder if the EU will tell the huge number of Brits who live and work in or retired to the EU that they now must follow the national rules for non-EU people. As an American, if I wanted to retire to France, there are a whole lot of conditions that I would have to meet to be given permission. If I;m a citizen of an EU country. there are not regulations on moving to another country. It is like me, a Californian moving to Kansas. I'd just pack up the moving van and go.
18
The British people are not stupid. They recognized the bureaucratic morass that was the European Union, and chose to get back to being a self sufficient economy, beholden to no one. Over regulation by the permanent political bosses in Brussels was rejected in favor of financial independence. Good for the British people. The European Union is not long for this world.
24
@paul: My gosh: so much wrong in only a single paragraph.
(1) The UK hasn't had a self-sufficient economy in centuries and it's not going to have one now. The will remain utterly dependent on trade with EU nations.
(2) Brits had better pray that the EU is in a generous mood because -- being ten times larger ... they can crush the British economy any time it likes. They don't even have to close the borders to bring the UK to it's knees -- just build in a couple of hours delay at the Chunnel before letting the trucks pass.
(3) Then there's northern Ireland, which is now effectively part of the Irish economy rather than the British. Political union with the Republic is only a matter of time. Not sure how Johnson intends to explain that one away.
And (5) the EU not long for this world? Well you might have forgotten the history of Europe in the 20th century, but I can assure you that the French, Germans and Italians haven't. Nor do they have any desire to repeat the experience which is why they value the EU so much. Just because the Brits have just experienced a moment of collective idiocy doesn't mean that the rest of Europe is going to do the same.
3
@paul
Dear me, "beholden to no one" what a joke. This is not 1066, this is 2020. There is no 'beholden to no one'. It turns out the earth is round, we are all stuck on this blue marble in space, and we're in this together.
Yes the EU had problems, but a tiny nation can not swim against the global tide of change.
2
@paul "bureaucratic morass". Really? If you want to see a true "bureaucratic morass", wait until the UK is logged out of the EU's customs software and has to start filing in forms for all the goods coming into and out of the country.
Brits will know this time next year how Brexit looks. There will certainly be victims and it is questionable who the winners will be if any. Have faith, we Americans have had to live with trump for three years, we are still here, damaged and disillusioned but still here and fighting back.
39
@Steve - That's somewhat of simplistic view.
Britons may have to get visas to enter any country.
Many Britons who are either retired or nearing retirement and want to spend a number of months in warmer climes will no longer be able to do that. They will have to return after three months, wait three months before they can return.
How that is good, is beyond me.
6
@Steve Well, the Clean Water Act has been gutted, which will kill a lot of children. Medicaid has been curtailed, which will kill a lot of poor people. Wildlife protections are being stripped away, which will decimate the bird populations. Refusal to address climate change will produce floods again in coastal cities (Houston, New Orleans, New York, and no doubt now many others). I don't think it's accurate to say, "We are still here." Some of us are--especially those who are benefiting from the dramatic upward flow of capital to the top 5% or so of the population.
10
England's decision (after all, it was England, not Scotland, not Northern Ireland, not Wales) is unfathomable.
OK. People are misinformed, easily riled up, and the English always looked down their noses at (though desperately wanted a summer home and their holidays in) France and Italy. Anti-immigrant sentiment in general and anti-Polish feeling in particular have been growing and growing, cynically incubated by politicians. But still, what of the economic, cultural and social benefits of membership in the EU & what of the terrible consequences of facing a rogue US alone? What of the political consequences with respect to Scotland and Ireland?
Thus we thought "they'll come to their senses"; "there will be a second referendum and it will all go away"; "politicians will discover a soft-Brexit that's really no Brexit at all"; "Johnson is a buffoon like Trump and can't possibly win".
Yet here we are.
The UK spinning down the barrel toward isolation, disaster and utter humiliation. Trump is heading for a second term. The US congress is in no mood for concessions of any kind to either the EU or England. The wheels are about to fall off an overheated and artificially inflated global market, led by a massively indebted and unbelievably badly managed USA. Everyone else from China to Canada to Chile is looking for friends and cover & England doubles down on its folly. Utterly inexplicable; totally absurd.
An unhappy ending is assured.
9
Whether in America or the UK, liberal socialists will always dismiss an electoral defeat. They can not bring themselves to accept the fact that their bizarre perspectives on world matters are shared by very few.
21
@William: And in America conservatives steal an election and then claim that Trump was elected by the "Will of the People" when the People voted for Clinton over Trump. The REpublicans ignored the US constitution and stole the election. I do not believe that the Republicans love this country since they are so eager to destroy the United States Constitution. I am sure that in the next Presidential election they will use illegal and immoral tactics to defraud American again.
21
@William "Very few" = a substantial majority of the popular vote. Republican Dictionary™ at work again.
1
@Jeff how did they steal the election?
Step 1-dump Corbyn
Step 2-realize it wasn't anti-EU but it was for pro-stablility (no more Brexit wrangling)
Step 3-organize under new leader and run against BoJo, Farage, and the gang
Step 4-For Scots only, leave leave leave!
10
@MomT
Running against BoJo (I still like his book) and Farage will neither undo nor change the disaster for England and Wales that is Brexit.
And England is to hang on to Ulster? There are some who might see that differently.
The UK should get treated like any non-member nation by the EU. Similar to Russia, Ukraine, or Turkey. Trade should be on that basis. When you're out, you're out. Northern Ireland needs to choose to stay part of the UK or not. If not, and they don't want a wall between them and Ireland, then perhaps join the EU as an independent country. Scotland needs to decide the same and perhaps build a wall. Just get on with it. Hope you like Ale with Fish and Chips because French wine, Belgian chocolate, and Parmigiana are going to get scarce and expensive.
31
@Irish It is not actually up to Northern Ireland whether it remains part of the UK or whether they are part of the EU absent the provison of a referendum imposed by the British parliament which is deeply unlikely to happen or believe me Britain would have dumped Northern Ireland on Eire long ago.
4
@John Wallis
It may be that a U.K. with a tattered economy, short of cash, and losing its North Sea oil fields to a newly independent Scotland will simply be unable to provide tangible support to the Unionists (meaning those in Ulster who wish to remain in the U.K. - too many uses for one word, I know). England will be unlikely to pay for the posting of a garrison in Ulster to help the Unionists keep the Catholics in check. Eventually, those who wish to be British will be forced, by being cut adrift by the adrift U.K., to repair to Britain. It will likely be bloody, as there are lots of currently under engaged terrorists on both sides. But it is inevitable.
3
@John Wallis
So, that's what the Brits were doing in Ireland all these years. Looking for the exit. Amazing, it's them taking so long. 350 years, or more depending on your historical perspective; because the ports and the airports are all very well sign-posted.
3
“In the U.S., we’ve seen mass mobilization in defense of migrants, Abolish ICE protests,” said Ana Oppenheim, an organizer for Another Europe is Possible, a leftist anti-Brexit group."
If Ms. Oppenheim were actually paying attention, she would have known that the loudmouthed abolish Ice / open borders protests had exactly the opposite effect that their organizers intended, guaranteeing that their demands will never ever be listened to. Attitudes will also harden in the UK against the EU if folks over there adopt the same strategy. Count on it.
10
Some people are looking forward to witnessing the implosion of Britain, no longer anything great, from this final blow to its former might. Football hooligans and all, it will go kaboom and finish up as Europe's Argentina.
11
@Tournachonadar
A question: if Canada, Great Britain, Australia, NZ and the more stable Caribbean nations all decided to jettison Great Britain's monarch as their head of state, become republics and elect reality television hosts as their leaders, where exactly in the world could still be called stable? In or out of the EU, Great Britain and its head of state are still the keel that keeps much of the world upright, so I wouldn't count them out.
5
Congratulations Britain, now you're on your way to being a Russian colony. Sad and pathetic, once an empire.
20
@Eric
Before we gloat, we might take notice that we are on a path with a similar endpoint.
11
Divide an conquer. A proven military and geopolitical strategy for thousands of years.
Today there are big threats to the free world. China. Russia. Many others. Then we have climate change.
We need the free world to work together today more than any other time.
With Britain breaking away from E.U. and with America fractured, how do we address these big big threats?
31
"pro-European Britons, who by some measures outnumber those favoring Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union"
Polls schmolls- The only number that truely matters: election day results:
Results Votes %
Leave 17,410,742 51.89%
Remain 16,141,241 48.11%
Valid votes 33,551,983 99.92%
If w believed-anymore-in polls we owould have a different US administration.
8
@Michael If we believed in votes, we would have a different US Administration. Hillary Clinton receive more votes than Donald Trump but the Republicans used the Electoral College to steal the election.
11
@Jeff
Every president has HAD to used the electoral college to win
@Michael that was nearly four years ago. The following year there was an election called to "strengthen the hand" of the government in negotiating Brexit. The voters chose to hobble it instead. And last month, 54% of voters chose parties who rejected Brexit. Its Britain's archaic electoral system that distorted the votes and gave us this abomination
1
I have a lot of sympathy for the non-Brexit voters.
Boris Johnson pushed for the “divorce” and he succeeded, for now.
But I believe that he shares a lot of personality traits with Trump and, if It’s correct, be prepared to take the blame if something goes wrong.
Good luck.
11
I think the Times is overstating this. Apart from political representation in the EU, nothing really changes today. Britain is still in the EU for all intents and purposes, for now.
They will most likely proceed to negotiate a deal like Norway or Switzerland, as their financial industry nor car manufacturing can afford to break supply chains or lose passporting and euro-denominated trade.
As Britain is already opted out of Schengen and the euro, being only an EEC as opposed to full EU member will change very little for businesses and travelers.
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@Amber Most Americans will not understand your last paragraph. Explain why that is significant
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@Dennis Byron
Simplifying, the Schengen agreement is free travel without the need for passports within the EU. If you are an EU citizen you can travel through any country in Europe, the same as you can travel through the USA from state to state. The UK requires people to prove they're eligible to enter and the EU requires UK citizens to prove they can come to Europe.
Utterly, utterly pointless. You can travel from California to New York without a passport. I can travel from Paris to Sofia without a passport. But I need a passport to fly to Paris and so does my French counterpart.
The EEC is the European Economic Community - essentially a block of trading rules and agreements - which the EU has said is not up for negotiation during Brexit. We conform or we die, economically. The government has said they will not conform and want to turn the UK into an Asian sweatshop in terms of workers rights and laws. The EU has said 'good luck with that, not on our borders' and rightly so.
This will end with something that resembles the UK in the EU but not actually being in the EU so someone, somewhere can say 'we left!'
And in 20 years we'll rejoin.
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@Amber
The UK had a deal like Norway. They left it. I suspect that the French and the Germans will have very little interest in a new deal that looks a lot like the old system. If for no other reason than to acknowledge that the UK chose this path, and cannot be trusted to maintain any relationship with the EU. Put another way, if I’m the EU, and the dismembered carcass of the UK wishes to enter into arrangements on customs and borders, I am going to demand that the UK put up serious money in an escrow account, payable when the UK finally, inevitably decides they don’t like the Norway style arrangement either
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Brexit should be an opportunity for the EU to do some self-examination and ask why one of its most powerful economies wanted out.
Imagine if a professional services firm lost one of its biggest rainmaker partners. No entity can win in the end by losing the rainmakers and retaining the hangers-on.
The next large economic downturn will show that the UK was wise to unshackle itself from the horribly uncompetitive and bureaucratic EU and go it’s own way. The downturn will also cause other strong countries to seek to leave the EU, unless it starts restructuring itself now.
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This is government, not business. A lot of bureaucracy that was handed off to the EU now needs to be picked up in London. That is good if you want more government jobs and higher taxes. Then of course, you aren't going to get the same trade deals. So I guess increased tariffs will be the taxes to pay for your expanded bureaucracy. Of course that all means slower economic growth with less money left to spend in the private sector. What is so good about this again? Lotus will maybe go back to making the Esprit because they can have popup headlights without the EU regulation? That would all be worth it if true. But they would still want to sell them in the EU, so that isn't going to happen, just like the US made Corvette doesn't have popup headlights for the same reason. OK, so no impact on cars. what about the web. Nope. website want to do business in the EU as well. So deregulation of EU rules means nothing because everyone in the UK wants to sell into the EU. So, all of this nonsense could have been avoided by staying in the EU and just reversing some of the open migration rules for work permits. Good luck with all that Brexit. My money is on Megxit doing better.
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@Newton Guy
You are absolutely wrong, where do you get this unshackle itself from? The UK makes its own laws as do other countries in the EU, who will unshackle itself from the horribly uncompetitive & bureaucratic Westminster is Scotland & Northern Ireland, because Ireland has a higher standard of living than the UK because it is part of Europe.
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@Newton Guy Why did Brexit come about? Because wealthy Britons saw in the US that you can stoke hate and fear and racism in conservative voters using simplistic lies to make them vote against their own best interests.
Brexit has nothing to do with untenable European politics, and everything to do with sociopathic greed. Borish Johnson and trump are practically the same person.
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Only in the liberal NY Times can a historic Conservative victory in the UK be dismissed and inconsequential polls which show their preferred outcome leading are boosted.
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@Ed Brexit was one of the most thoroughly misrepresented political campaigns in the history of the UK. Even so, at its most popular point, it could claim no more than 52% in support (with 74% of the electorate taking part). Far from being an historic victory, it is depressing example of the power of populist propaganda over common sense government.
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@Ed 54% of the UK voting public rejected the Conservatives. The country is split down the middle on the issue of Brexit. This is an article about those on the losing side. What's wrong with that? There have been plenty of profiles on Farage and his fellow neo-Moseleyites
I think the issue of Brexit will come back a lot sooner than 30 or 40 years. The current English government (and I mean English, not Great Britain or the United Kingdom) has no interest in reaching any kind of fair and cooperative relationship with the EU. Its base is relentlessly anti-European and hungry for any opportunity to vent its spite. IN addition, every European walking around in the UK today now has a target pasted on his or her back. The mistreatment of these 3 million or so will poison Europeans in general against little England. Meanwhile, little England will be busy inflaming the rest of the UK (Scotland, Northern Ireland and even Wales - I wonder how the Channel Islands feel about it)?
Also, Johnson won a lot of support from the old Labor wall part of Northern England by promising an end to austerity. I doubt the rest of the Tory party has any intention of carrying out such policies, even if Johnson was sincere.
In the next few years, we're going to watch one of the top powers in the world completely unspool, maybe to the point of violence. EU peacekeepers, anyone?
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Grotesquely true
Move to Greenland. According to Trump, it is like New Asgard.
3
so much more needs to be done to understand and expose the funding behind Brexit, funding that allowed for extensive data analytics and targeting of vulnerable swing voters. Who really wins from this move and why? Russia? 1% tax evaders? This capturing of electoral processes goes far beyond UK and even US...
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Weren't "battered at the polls"- votes for remainer parties were in the majority. Battered by the ludicrious UK election system and its first past the post gerrymandering.
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B.M writes "ardent pro-European Britons, "
Member of the UK that identify as British are pro EU and talk about Europe as the European Uniion
Where those who say they are English, talk about Europe as the Common Market and have no desire to join it politically
The former group, typically much wealthier than the second, already found a way to keep Europe as close as possible:
They are getting EU passports ! Britain allows dual Citizenship !!
1
It’s impossible to get a passport (and hence dual citizenship) from an EU member state unless you have family ties there. So most Britons, regardless of wealth, can’t, and have had the priceless gift of free movement taken from them.
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@Will P
Free movement, for work, is great if you are highly educated and multi lingual. This isn't the case for the vast majority of people that work in the UK. I work in financial services in London and know of no one that has used this priceless "gift". However, I do work with dozens of great people from continental Europe who have used it.
It seems those who use freedom of movement have tended to be retirees who have moved to Southern Spain to enjoy a better climate and cheap lager
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@Will P
Any British person can travel freely throughout Europe. If you mean living and working there, very few did anyway, because working anywhere except Ireland requires fluency in a second language, and I know very few British people who have that.
Also, very few British doctors, for example, are desperate to go and work in Romania, but the reverse would be true. So they had to compete for work in the UK with incoming doctors from many other countries, which ended up driving them to the US, Australia and elsewhere.
7
After the British Boomers leave power, England if not the UK will be right back in the EU.
3
There is always this notion that when the old people die off then the young people will run everything and everything will change. Actually when the old people die off then the young people become old and they think about things in a different way.
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@JerseyGirl
Yes, you are right. As young people become older they acquire more common sense.
JerseyGirl, I don’t mean ‘die off’. Just LEAVE top level powers and make new careers.
I'm very sad - I voted Remain in the 1975 referendum as well as the 2016 one. It's a gray day for Europe and a very black one for the UK.
But, I'm relieved it's over. for now. Because, once the Tories had succeeded in suppressing the evidence of the fraudulent, illegally manipulated 2016 vote, the battle was lost. The charlatans trumpeting 'democracy' always held the high ground. It's incredible to me that Boris Johnson continues to refuse to release the 'Russia Report-' even in redacted form - because there's 'nothing' to the findings of the security services regarding external interference. Or, that even three years on, the police and the National Crime Agency are still 'weighing evidence' on illegal, secret, dark money donations to the Leave campaign [1].
Brexit lovers, official and unofficial, now seek to stifle free speech aka, criticism of the disaster on the grounds of 'patriotism'. It won't work.
[1] Wherever you post, a Brexiter will pop up to claim that Remain cheated as well. This is FALSE. Remain have been cleared of unlwful conduct.
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@nolongeradoc Same here in America brother. Exactly our situation. This is a conspiracy in both our countries. Welcome to the Putin World Plutocracy.
Between this and Trump's vindication in the Senate today the Republican party just might get tired of winning.
15
For those of us living in EU member states (The Netherlands for me), we cannot wait for this mess to be done with. Some could say they never wanted to be in the EU to begin with: they pushed for Article 50 in the Lisbon Treaty and never accepted the free movement principle, opting for a pretty hard border all these years. The Dutchies I know say good riddance. The Amsterdammers I know are hoping there will be less Britons visiting, as they don’t add to their or the city’s coffers (that can be said for tourists here in general, but the Britons are notorious). So while Juncker, Tusk, Macron, and Merkel might feign sadness, the people themselves are relieved. That godforsaken island is more trouble than it’s worth.
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@JM, Before you get all excited about what the Dutch want, the Netherlands has it's own immigration problems and will be solving them with or without EU permission.
6
After the EU accession of 10 expansion states in the early 2000’s, the UK was one of only three countries to allow citizens of those 10 to move to work. The others all availed of a ten year deferral. The Netherlands did not allow the right to work. Germany did not allow the right to work. France did not allow the right to work. For all the talk of free movement, none of the EU’s founders allowed it. This is why the UK is filled with millions of Polish, Latvians, Lithuanians etc. It was this willingness to open up to the ‘new Europe’ by the Blair government which arguably provoked the Brexit backlash, as wages stagnated and the population rocketed ahead.
29
How can you call Brexit a left-wing nightmare?
The only leftwing party in the UK, the Labour Party, only accepted the referendum result under sufferance and the majority of its half million members wanted to remain. The aim was to have a plan in place first not simply cut the country aimlessly adrift.
The only people who wanted Brexit were the newspapers and their friends, along with those that had been bombarded with news stand headlines and, being totally fed up with the fuss and the sate of the country, were persuaded by the message "get Brexit done and we can sort out the rest later" with a deluge of Tory piecrust promises
14
@Jed Bland. Why did all those Labour voters in Labour seats change and vote for the Brexit supporting Conservative candidates then that gave Boris Johnson a thumping majority?
Here in Hove by La Manche in Sussex, I feel as though this brexit country is no longer the one in which I live. For a month now I have not been in a pub, and shall continue this as a protest against brexit. A pub should be a place where people mingle, but it is now no longer possible to do so.
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As an American ex-pat living in Northern Ireland, today is a dark day indeed. Brexit day here and impeachment witness vote day in the US.
What on earth has happened to us?
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@Christine Yes, it is bewildering. Literally a bleak day here in Hove. Shall walk later to the Peace Statue on the border of this town and Brighton, where, at six o'clock, there is a gathering with candles in glass bottles. I retreat with books, music. Yesterday I asked a Public Question at the Council, and was told that it would not be taking part in the 2022 "festival of brexit". Which is something. We need to foster the Re-Join movement.
14