Drunk Texan Reacts to Brexit

[@theblackfox8920]

You have no idea how mad our fishing debates are, sometimes French and British Warships have to go out to give a "show of force" against each other, its a very very hot issues in Europe

[@mogznwaz]

Only because the Mediterranean has been so grossly over fished there's nothing left. So much for the EU being some bastion of 'sustainability'

[@skittles074]

@@mogznwaz bang on!.. I've fished it multiple times and it's a graveyard.

[@LeMerch]

But the British think that the fish in their waters are theirs even tho they spawned in Irish waters.

[@skittles074]

@@LeMerch ofcourse they're ours if they're in our water, I wonder if this is the same argument you take with the refugee's / supposed economic migrants???

[@matthew_turkmen7482]

you are stupid to believe in such a thing, we are all part of NATO, Napoleonic era was over long time ago

[@joelcardoso3617]

Erasmus + is, roughly explained, a programme where university students, professors and researcher can spend a period studying/working in another university or company associated with an university. Basically an exchange programme. Almost every contry in the european continent, including Turkey, Ukraine and Russia, participate in and contribute for this programme.

[@mogznwaz]

My niece is on Erasmus at the moment in Spain. She is the very privileged child of very privileged parents who could afford to send her to study anywhere. Erasmus doesn't benefit the vast majority of young people especially not from working class backgrounds. It's just another elitist money spinning scheme.

[@naongalahad7043]

@@mogznwaz I went to Sweden on Erasmus and I can assure you that i'm not privileged, nor my parents. It heavily depends on which country you are going, Norway or Iceland will be way more expensive than Greece, Turkey or Germany. You also chose where you live, if you have money you can decide to live by yourself in the city center in a nice place and that will cost a lot, or you can find a more modest place where you can live with other Erasmus students and share the rent. Sure it isn't free and you have to pay the travel, rent and the inscription fees in the school you are going to, it might be too much for poor families but it's not only for the elites either.

[@mogznwaz]

@@naongalahad7043 It's definitely not on the radar of most working class kids. Therefore why should they care, why should Leave voters care, to stay in an expensive programme that only benefits a very few people, who are *mostly* quite privileged? You might not think you are privileged but you probably are.

[@user-mo7dd1vt1s]

> Turkey > Europe ?? Do Muslims spread peace ?

[@tomkinsley2275]

As a Brit, I can confirm that Brexit is widely considered a UK push back against European political “integration”... wherein the EU is slowly trying to become a kind of United States of Europe. A lot of EU nations like this notion, but many in the UK have always felt uneasy with this. The UK is one of the only European nations whose democracy hasn’t collapsed in modern history due to war or communism, etc. This has given the UK less psychological impetus to give up its current national identity to join a bigger European one.

[@user-mo7dd1vt1s]

Oh please....Germany anyday.

[@jonathanhodgson2142]

@@user-mo7dd1vt1s off you pop then mate.

[@Lleruelu]

I'm an EU citizen from Spain, I studied some time in the UK, my sis is a nurse over there and has an English boyfriend. Brexit makes no sense from the economic and practical standpoints, but it was a political/emotional/identitary decision imo. The EU is gradually becoming an ever more integrated and political union (not just economic), and most Brits never really saw themselves as Europeans and were not very engaged in the European project, so they simply "updated" their relationship with the European continent via referendum. The EU agrees to this whole process because the UK is just exerting its right to leave the union as stipulated in Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union. So their departure may be sad, but is not a traumatic event like unilaterally tearing apart a federal union, as it happened in the US. So I'm very happy because the Brits can have what they voted for, and we Europeans can continue strengthening our union, all without any serious conflict. Long live democracy and peace!

[@iancredible-]

I disagree with you on one point, Brexit makes all the sense in the world for economic reasons, for example the U.K just dodged having to pay the E.U £90 billion net for their coronavirus fund and won't be shackled to paying hundreds of billions paying back "mutual debt", on top of that the U.K doesn't have to pay membership fees or contribute to E.U projects and also gets its fishing waters back. The U.K can also strike flexible trade deals that suit its own economies needs. Brexit makes a lot of sense from an economic standpoint, it didn't make sense being politically and economically ruled by the E.U just to trade.

[@lesonline2268]

Cool. Just keep your warships out of Gibraltar. When you say "us Europeans" you do appreciate there is an ever growing movement across Europe dissenting this "closer union" you appear to appreciate. Greece have been pounded into submission and the same is being attempted with Italy who effectively could scuttle the whole project with their Euro debt. Don't believe it's all unicorns and holding hands. It's far from it. You are correct that we've always felt British more than European and that is probably mostly down to the French, who I expect even you will acknowledge are by far the most bolshy. We may have been noisy inside the EU, but the rules we signed up to we obeyed. The French frequently do not. They have already been boasting they've ignored the fishing rules and quotas. So yes, attitudes and perceptions do play a big part.

[@iancredible-]

@@lesonline2268 I hope they bring in all the warships they have to show just how hypocritical they are, it will also make the U.K navy finally patrol out water properly and even secure funding for a stronger fleet.

[@rogersponge6153]

The EU isn’t Europe! It’s a political system. There are 44 European countries according to UN. And U.K. is one of them.

[@alexsullivan7491]

We may now have left the EU but we still intend to have a strong link to our European partners. We chose to leave for a number of reasons but the political leaders of the UK chose to do so for the economic and geopolitical benefits. The UK on its own has a lot to offer the world and won’t be limited to one institution but I hope we can still have a mutually beneficial relationship. I also hope we can rekindle our older relationships such as with our Commonwealth members and other nations around the world, maybe one day form an agreement on free movement with the CANZUK nations.

[@Dreyno]

The British fishermen sold their quotas to European fishermen decades ago. Now they’ve claimed their waters back despite the quotas held by foreign fishermen who legally purchased their quotas. They also demanded to sell their catch back into the European market having taken their waters back and left the common market. Mainly because a lot of their catch has no market in the U.K.

[@davesden1]

To what I remember the EU made the fishermen scrap their boats so they had to sell the quotas

[@carlosandleon]

@@davesden1 How?

[@Subjagator]

@@davesden1 The EU didn't 'make' the UK do anything of the sort. What happened was with a much larger market now available thanks to the common market, most of the new jobs that developed in England weren't fishing jobs, so comparatively speaking the industry was stagnating while others were growing. The exact same thing happened in Ireland. When they joined a massive part of their economy was based around fishing and agriculture but with access to the entire EU market all the new jobs were in engineering, aerospace, organic chemicals, IT and technology, pharmacology etc.. Over time the fishing and farming communities became less and less important overall compared to the newer industries developing. And they were generally better jobs than fishing and farming, employing more skilled and higher paid labour that gave the population the ability to travel all over the EU and potentially the world and get a good job. But if your family have always been fishermen or farmers I can see why you might see the EU as a bad thing, but for everyone else who doesn't want to be a fisherman or a farmer, it is a very good thing overall.

[@Thelovelosthighway]

@@Subjagator Rubbish yes the EU did!!! The UK water use to be 100% after the EU we got less than 13%, do your research and stop talking rubbish

[@tomconnor7786]

@@Subjagator That is nonsense, fishing grounds were declared a common resource immediately before the UK's accession. Hence UK fishermen only had a minority of the rights to UK waters.

[@Davey-Boyd]

The comments are going to be fun, I'll go and get my popcorn!

[@bdnn3374]

Me too..

[@stevecrooks8705]

got my beer ready to go

[@helloweener2007]

The comments by Brexiteers you mean I guess?

[@tobytaylor2154]

@@helloweener2007 not now we've left, all the whining now is from remoaners who can't accept it

[@Joe-fe4xi]

@@helloweener2007 You’re literally one of the comments he’s on about 😂

[@webbemntt]

As European (Italian) I'm not happy with the fact that our fellow uk friends have left. But i have to say that brexit has speedup the integration process of EU, since was the UK always vetoing stuff in the European Council. As example starting from this year frontex the European border protection agency will be having a new standing corp with agents and uniforms of the eu.

[@ianc7866]

new EU army!

[@webbemntt]

@@ianc7866 hope soon

[@MrScotalot99]

As a Brit I think it’s Important to remember that the UK are still fond of the European countries just not the business that seems to run it

[@cncmne7404]

@scabthecat It hasnt been formed yet.

[@cncmne7404]

@scabthecat That , altough grammaticaly correct , is just an assumption. I wouldnt dismiss it just yet , especially what is happening in the US.

[@Funkenwolf]

Not sure if anyone has explained Erasmus yet. But it is basically a student exchange program, where you go and study at a different EU university, for (normally) one Semester and live in the country during that time. It's a great program and a opportunity to learn about different cultures and languages. You study for free and get a sponsorship and in return same applies to students of the host university. Why the UK cancelled it is beyond me, as you do not have to be part of the EU to be part of it and it would have at least soften younger voters a little bit, who made out a high percentage of remainers. But what does a Kraut now about the Brits, eh?

[@Bill-2203]

As a Brit My perspective leading up to the in out referendum vote was that being a part of the EU was dragging us into an ever closer political union that we didn’t want in the first place, we joined what was called at the time the European economic community which was only about increasing trade to deter us all from starting another world war but over the decades the EEC gave way to the European Union which is effectively trying to become a United States of Europe setting laws for all its members which in my opinion seemed to undermine the strengths of our economy and boost the strengths of other EU Nations so it was my view that leaving would have an economic cost but doing so would allow us to maximise our potential, short term pain long term gain. I voted to leave and don’t regret it at all I’m actually really pleased with the end result considering the amount of concessions the EU wanted from us when all we wanted was to continue free trade and to have our own government decide our laws. who we could actually remove if they did a poor job there was a sense that whenever there was an issue the government could simply say we can’t make the changes you want because it would break EU law so now our politicians are fully responsible for their failures

[@DrunkTexanSays]

Yeah I can imagine. Its similar to if a US state left the Union (aka left the US). Its a huge deal!

[@lostonexxx]

Very well said.

[@Paul-hl8yg]

Bill .. You are a great man! 👍❤🇬🇧

[@givenfirstnamefamilyfirstn3935]

And Scotland and Northern Ireland voted to remain in the EU and are being dragged out by English Nationalists who now look a lot more foreign than our established European friends. Having your perceived national identity violated by people who are actually quite alien is a far from trivial matter. Remember Virginia and Washington wanting to move Federal Troops through it to access the South!

[@Paul-hl8yg]

@@givenfirstnamefamilyfirstn3935 The eu referendum was a UK wide vote, just like any other election! The difference in the Scottish vote, between leave & remain was seven hundred thousand votes, out of four & a half million! .. If i were Scottish, i would not allow the snp (a staunch nationalist party) to take away my electoral freedom, by rejoining the eu. The UK works well together & has a strong currency & economy. Scotland will certainly be poorer out of the UK, its People will be poorer & have no Democracy! The latest poll, gives most of the Scottish want to remain in the UK .. They're very wise!

[@MrMikeyb1978]

This is a very divisive issue in the UK and Europe. It ultimately comes down to a vote in the UK. 51.9% of voters, voted to leave the EU for many different reasons. And 48.1% of voters, voted to remain in the EU again for many different reasons. Both have pros and cons and even though the vote was very close, the UK voted to leave. And I personally believe the UK will be stronger for it in the long run. Only time will tell.

[@ToothbrushMan]

"And I personally believe the UK will be stronger for it in the long run. " Every respected economic institution on the planet disagrees with you

[@ToothbrushMan]

@@julielynch6319 "Those would be the same 'respected economic institutions' that foresaw 2008 ?" I'm always amazed at the stupid comparisons between Brexit and the credit crunch. No, they would not be the same economic institutions. The credit crunch was about finance, Brexit is about economics. Learn the difference. You don't get to rubbish forecasts because the forecasts aren't "exact". That's just stupid. Even weather forecasts aren't exact - they come with probability. And just because they get it wrong sometimes doesn't mean that ALL weather forecasts are are wrong - that's just dumb. It's the same with economics.

[@ToothbrushMan]

@@julielynch6319 "my point was that institutions (respected or not) whether on economics, finance or politics get things wrong - not everything (they get things right as well) - just some things and those things have previously unforeseen results." No. Your "point" was clear. You are trying to smear the conclusions of economists with the mistakes of financial institutions, and hoping that nobody would know the difference. All forecasts are subject to error. It's only the idiots that say they know with certainty what will happen in the future. But when you are making predictions about the future, forecasts made using 200 years of scientific advance, supercomputers, peer reviewed journals, Nobel prizes, budgets of millions and the cream of the academic crop, plus a proven track record of correct predictions going back decades - those predictions hold a LOT or credibility - be it in medicine, meteorology or economics. So if you want to rubbish the conclusions of nearly every economist on the planet you had BETTER have something really, really revolutionary. "You appear to believe that Brexit will end up an unmitigated disaster for the UK." I do not "believe" anything. I am quoting the economists. And the economists Do think the Brexit is an unmitigated disaster for the UK: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_effects_of_Brexit en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impact_of_Brexit Lots of references to the economic institutions. I tried looking, but I failed to find *anything* good about Brexit in these articles. Just one quote: "Research by the 'Centre for European Reform'[clarification needed] suggests the UK economy is 2.5% smaller than it would have been if Remain had won the referendum. Public finances fell by £26bn a year. This amounts to £500m a week and is growing. An estimate suggested Britain's economy is 2.1% smaller than it would have been after the first quarter of 2018.[94]" And the CER are *critics* of the EU! So much for the "350 million a week" eh? "I disagree with this as I think that we must wait at least a decade to see whether that is true or not. No one knows what will happen - it may prove to be the most terrible choice ever made by the UK or it may be our best decision ever. My point is that at this time WE DO NOT KNOW and it is neither stupid nor dumb to hope that things will turn out for the best." So you DO think you know better than the experts. And you justify this by saying "WE DO NOT KNOW" as though not knowing the exact outcome invalidates all economic forecasts? This is ridiculous. Economists are not idiots. They DO know what they are talking about and have a proven track record to boot. No, they do know the exact future. Nobody does. But if they can reliably predict a 99 and instead get a 98, then that is hardly them getting it "wrong" is it? "Finally, who ever believes in weather forecasts....." I rest my case.

[@givenfirstnamefamilyfirstn3935]

_Once_ the odious creeps who expound English Nationalism are no longer in the ‘U.K.’ it _might_ be stronger.

[@ToothbrushMan]

@@julielynch6319 I would suggest you look up the term "nationalism". Think skinheads (National Front) and fascism. It's not a benign ideology.

[@thomaslewis3071]

I think ultimately it all boils down to one thing, what the EU wants to be. Its wants to be a kind of United States of Europe, the majority of British people just want to trade on good terms with them, in both directions. It does not want to be part of a superstate. The EU has never hid its ambitions to become a superstate, but British politicians who wish to be part of it, have, and are on record doing so.

[@petermizon4344]

Bollocks Garage con again

[@thomaslewis3071]

@@petermizon4344 The only people who deny the EUs constant furthering integration are those the British who want to remain a part. Certainly EU officials dont deny its aim of ever closer integration.

[@ToothbrushMan]

@@thomaslewis3071 "the majority of British people just want to trade on good terms with them," ALL of the British people were told that we'd still be in the SM and CU after Brexit!

[@thomaslewis3071]

@@ToothbrushMan Many things were said in the campaign, but it was clear to Brexit voters that Brexit meant leaving the customs union and single market The only people I've encountered who use it in an argument are those who wanted to remain. I've yet to talk to a leave voter in favour of staying in either as staying in either would negate any of the ideals that drove people to vote for it.

[@ToothbrushMan]

@@thomaslewis3071 "Many things were said in the campaign, but it was clear to Brexit voters that Brexit meant leaving the customs union and single market" This is a claim that has been debunked so many times it's become ridiculous. It was the Remain campaign that was insisting that leaving the EU would mean leaving the SM and CU! ‘Absolutely nobody is talking about threatening our place in the single market’ - Conservative MEP Daniel Hannan “utterly achievable in the EEA and make no mention at all of leaving the single market”. Oliver Norgrove, Vote Leave staffer And your personal testimony ("I've yet", "I've encountered"...) is irrelevant.

[@rumbles]

Uk guy here.. Since the UK joined the EU 40 years ago our fish waters have been depleted of fish. Basically the EU have had most control leaving us with 1% of fish being our GDP .. it used to be 15% 40 years ago and it almost killed our fishing industry. EU super trawlers come in and scoop up huge amounts of fish leaving our small fishermen with scraps. We want our country back. 🇬🇧🇺🇸🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

[@arjanzweers6542]

Well you got your fighing waters back but I really do wish you the best of luck of selling all of your fresh fish to a currently non-existant market in the UK because you lost 80% of the market for fresh fish with the Brexit

[@OrangeeTang]

At sea (Not including jobs attached to fishing industry) fishing is worth 6.9 billion per year. UK coastal towns will finally recover after 40 years.

[@jojeification]

I love people who think the new generation will want to be fishermans, just shows how disconnected the people who voted for the leave really are to the country they actually live in.

[@lorddraagon]

@@jojeification Fishing is way better than wasting your money on preposterous arts and drama degrees and bloody geoglogy.

[@thomas1404]

Part of brexit was to get control of trade and industry. Problem is that the UKs main industry is financial (banking/insurance) and we have just gone and shot ourselves in the foot. (Making sweeping generalisations here) The UK has a North south wealth devide. With financial institutions based in the south and shrinking manufacturing industry in the North. For years the media and government have directed alot of blame to the EU instead of admitting they have done virtually nothing to resolve this disparity. The increase of immigration into these areas which have higher levels of unemployment exasperate the issue and resulted in just over half the country sticking two fingers up at the government. Fishing and other brexit issues made up such a stupidly small amount of our gdp but have become such big issues its laughable. Its like trump pushing for coal mines when coal is no longer the main means of energy production in the US.

[@gazmundo1987]

That's a good point. The demographics of the majority of leave voters came from towns and cities that over the years has been deindustrialised. An example of this is when the EU gave grants to large companies to relocate their factories to poorer EU member states. The general idea of the EU (as noble as it is) is to spread the wealth and success of the bloc across all states as to not create a wealth disparity. As we all know this hasn't quite gone to plan, due mostly to the Euro (you can't feasibly integrate 20+ nations with different economies into one single currency). As a wealthy country, this has created a lot of hostility amongst the working class, with that and an open border allowing for cheaper labour to undercut local workers, it wasn't going to be easy to convince the working class towns and cities to want to remain part of the bloc. Shortly before the referendum, Tata Steel announced that they intended to pull out of the UK. Steel had been hit very hard by the Chinese dumping steel on the market, undercutting absolutely everyone, and the industry suffered. EU state aid rules prohibited any state from stepping in to help, so it wasn't financially feasible to operate here (which according to then Welsh First Minister Carwyn Jones, Tata would only stay open if we remained in the EU). Upon a vote to leave, Tata announced that they had reversed their decision, and in the last four months especially, have made larger expansion plans here in Wales. The idea is that in the future, we will be in a stronger position to create employment. Whether that will happen or not, we will see.

[@dm0065]

Whats up man, im in Spring and have actually been following this since the referendum in 2016. Its been really interesting, and there were several times where it looked like Brecit wouldn't happen, or it would be a fake one. But it looks like they made it and got a real Brexit. Watching it has been like watching a great game in quintuple overtime and your team barely winning by a 60 yard field goal. Theres lots of bitterness but I'll tell ya what I think, the UK did the right thing here.

[@DrunkTexanSays]

Spring as in Spring Texas?? I TECHNICALLY live in Conroe but im about 10 mins from Spring Texas!

[@dm0065]

@@DrunkTexanSays yup, small world man!

[@mogznwaz]

👍🇬🇧

[@dm0065]

@@MimeticMimic Very fair. I cant think of another example of a political fight quite like this, where a big change in the direction and character of the country is at stake, and it takes an all-out fight over the course of 5 freakin years. As bad as it got, Im glad you guys never got in as bad a shape as we have over here.

[@am-jddr]

Thankyou

[@Will-pz6vw]

the fishing debate is a political one because fishing makes up a tiny part of GDP. In 2016 when the UK had the referendum Borris was one of the only well known politicians to campaign to leave (some say because it would of been better for him politicaly than him actuallly wanting to leave) so this led to Borris being elected prime minister (eventually). The UK has had many chances to have a deal but was rejected by the House of Commons and the deadline extended, so Borris basicly gave the choice of the two evils leave with a deal or without one.

[@BigAlCapwn]

"The continent of Great Britain"

[@danieledwards3376]

It's great but unfortunately we have this annoying little island called Europe right off our coast .

[@DSP16569]

@@danieledwards3376 The little Islansd is Eurasia and includes China, Russia and India :-)

[@michaeldunham3385]

@@DSP16569 your point is what?

[@jamesoakley4570]

@@michaeldunham3385 because the actual land mass of the entire continent that houses Europe and Asia is called Eurasia

[@TheAnon03]

@@jamesoakley4570 I'm pretty sure it was an humorous comment

[@pulsey2001]

The UK is moving towards CANZUK 🇬🇧🇳🇿🇨🇦🇦🇺 🤝 👍

[@yaboiicecream3144]

Yes man, Big up CANZUK

[@daviducockny]

We are changing our goal post to another fantasy... Seriously, who would trust the UK with an international treaty that includes freedom of movement?

[@zoltanercei1094]

you wish , hehehhe Little England becoming irrelevant, especially with the brexit criminals in charge. No other country want to make serious arrangements with UK when they don,t respect their own word !! Japan deal is hugely beneficial for Japan, so money speak, but others ???? USA will wait a long time until start talking with brexit UK, Canada has EU deal and will take years until UK is allowed on the table to figuer out how to change trade with Canada... with COVID brexit disaster New Zealand and Australia are laughing at UK wishes (of course respectfully and privately )

[@Andrew-is7rs]

@@zoltanercei1094 50 trade deals, CANZUK, CPTPP, India, Australia, NZ, Singapore, Canada, Brazil .... all coming. Your perfectly stupid and hysterical reply perfectly sums up why the UK voted to leave the EU. Luckily for brexit people like you spoke, guaranteeing brexit. Oh, and if you think the EU is ‘doing ok’ just ask the Bundesbank which country dodged a financial bullet, just google ‘target2’. This isn’t me stating the EU is f’d, it’s the Germans. The UK has signed near £1 trillion of trade deals, with a £20 trillion Atlantic trade deal and a similar Pacific trade deal coming. Keep trying

[@thereita1052]

@@Andrew-is7rs most of the trade deals are just previous EU trade deals ripp off. The chanel than made this video (tldr EU) explains it so basically this Is just as the same

[@mattg5878]

ERASMUS is basically a scheme whereby foreign students, or British students who have foreign parents, who are studying at British Universities (usually studying "Modern Languages" get to go and study in a different city in Europe for a bit of a jolly. I went to a top 5 university in the UK, which mostly focuses on Science and Engineering, and I knew no-one who went on it who was not studying French/ Spanish etc etc as a degree. We in the UK cant really use ERASMUS, as none of us speak a different language unless through parents. We, for some reason, just can't lean other languages.

[@marconatrix]

C'est la vie! ;-)

[@matthew_turkmen7482]

I am from Croatia, we didn't even notice someone left. :D And that part about hostilities between EU and UK is false, we are all (almost all) in NATO, so we will continue to work together as a team, don't worry. Brexit is just a technicality, nothing serious is going on, we just need to write some new agreements. Greetings from Croatia. :)

[@stevenmacdonald9619]

Had just a few days to readjust??? The referendum was June 2016. Everyone in the world knew it was coming for four and a half years!!! 🤣🤣🤣

[@WJS774]

Blame the Remainers. They're the ones who went on like they were actually going to get the result overturned for three-and-a-half years.

[@templetonpeck393]

Ok, so. You said you read the comments, hopefully this helps. The video you reacted to, I would say correctly avoids getting into the weeds with the information behind each of those things on the list. For starters, fishing waters. It's a well known fact, and statistically proven that people in the UK don't eat a whole lot of fish. Yes, fish and chips is a national dish, but it's generally not something we have every day, and we don't really like the fish from our local waters. Europe on the other hand really really loves fish, especially the ones from our local waters, specifically the French, Spanish and Dutch. Up until recently, our entire fish stocks were basically controlled by the EU through the Common Fisheries Policy, so our fishermen would end up going down to Spain to fish, and the Spanish, Dutch and French fishermen would come to our waters. So from our government's perspective, fishing waters were a large and rather juicy bargaining chip. Hence us still not getting much back in the deal over 5 years. Whilst the video suggests that the EU could enforce tariff sanctions, I can't see it happening unless the relationship gets worse, or other countries who like fish leave the EU. ERASMUS, the education part that you were confused about is a scheme, that allows UK and EU people to learn in different countries around the UK and EU, so a UK student in an EU uni, or vice versa. That is all ending, but this video doesn't point out that the loss of Erasmus is only a short term issue, we will fill this back up by getting arrangements with lots of other parts of the world. The USA, Australia, Japan, places long ignored that shouldn't have been. Most of the issues for the UK in this are short term. We are now moving globally. There will be teething issues, and every bad thing will be highlighted heavily by our fear-mongering press, but we will be better off outside. The EU accounts for only 17% of all global trade, which is actually down from 33% in the 1970s when it was formed. The purpose of the block is to be a protectionist racket for the member states. Preferencing an interior countries products over someone outside the block. Putting massive tarrifs on goods from outside the block. Going forward, we can be a lot more global, and gain some of the sweet sweet 83% of other trade in the world. This video also doesn't really say much about sovereignty, we can now make and enforce laws without EU interference from the European court of justice.

[@ybkseraph]

Couple of points: 1 - fisheries in U.K. have now trouble to access the EU market because of red tape. Nice to control the water and fish as much you like - as long as you have a market to sell the fish to. Maybe the bargain on common fichery policy was about exchanging fishing rights with market access rights ? Made sense ? 2 - Erasmus program - U.K. gvt indicates the creation of a U.K. programm called Touring open to the world. So I guess EU students will be able to participate - will it be the same for U.K. students in EU ? And more importantly EU students have the right to settle and work in 27 countries - U.K. student not and have smaller horizons as a result 3 - sovereignty. U.K. was always sovereign and the proof of this is that no one put into question U.K. decision to leave EU. Sovereignty is only a currency that a nation trades for practical advantages (such as trade deals). Right now U.K. has the sovereignty it believe it didn’t have but it will have to trade it (as it just did with the FTA) to get trade facilitation with EU. Note as EU is able to raise trade barriers if U.K. diverges from EU regulations. There is always a trade off in relationships. And usually the bigger partner gets the advantage. To illustrate note how the trade deals cover goods (where EU has a trade surplus with U.K.) but not services (where U.K. had a trade surplus with EU) 4 - this whole process has put a very big strain on U.K. union itself and it might be that the result will be an independent Scotland and the reunification of Ireland both of which did not support Brexit and were not listened to by U.K. gvt in negotiation with the EU

[@templetonpeck393]

@@ybkseraph I'm not saying there aren't going to be teething problems. But all of these things will get worked out. Fact is, we don't eat the fish from our own waters. We used our waters, quite well, as a bargaining chip to get more out of them. They're the stupid ones if they are making it difficult to get the fish or other things into France, it's French consumers and others that will suffer. But hey, their 'red tape' will be irrelevant in a few years time anyway. As for sovereignty. If unelected bureaucrats in Brussels can dictate to us what our laws are, and how we control our own borders, then we aren't sovereign. If Brussels can force countries to vote again and again until they give them the answer they want, those countries are not sovereign. The sovereignty is with Brussels. Sovereignty is absolute power over yourselves. That was not the case before we left. The much derided common fisheries policy being a key example of this, but there are plenty more things the UK signed up for that went against our interests. The EU work through threats and anti-democratic processes. We said no to that. You say "no one put into question U.K. decision to leave EU", were you walking around for the past 4 years with your eyes closed? It's been nothing but that on both sides of the channel. Legal arguments and otherwise. Part of the reason it took 4-5 years is because of this wrangling. I have no doubt it will take longer still Look, Either way you slice this, it doesn't matter. Whether you believe or don't believe that we did or didn't have sovereignty. Now we are independent, we can choose our course for ourselves, like we did for 1000s of years before the EU, and will 1000s of years after the EU is a distant memory. This is what independent, self-governing countries do. The EU is a joke in substance and merit to the member states. The sooner the other members realise that, the better. As for the EU being obstreperous, they should go right ahead and impose those sanctions. All it will do is solidify support for Brexit and the escape from that shower of Eurocrats. We buy more from them than they do from us, they'd be shooting themselves in the foot and will simply bring about their collapse sooner. The member states will be economically damaged by a decision like that. We, on the other hand, will go and buy/sell things from/to South America, India, Australia, Canada, Iceland, or any of the other 60+ countries we already have free trade agreements with, thanks to Liz Truss. The EU being their usual protectionist selves is their business. I care not for their nonsense. they no longer hold any power over us other than the control of a tiny market. Californian, Australian wines, American and Japanese cars, we can replace literally everything they provide cheaper elsewhere. I'd personally be thrilled by a no deal tbh. Because this isn't, in any way, about short term economics. The EU are a backwater. They have shrunk in comparison to the rest of the world and totally lost sight of their actual reason for existence. Protectionism never works and eventually costs you. The UK in this equation are the outward looking free traders, and the EU are the inward looking protectionists. I know which one I prefer being. As for the 'strain' on the union, invented by the SNP and some loud idiots. They simply won't get their vote. It's a pathetic stance to have, and will be rightfully ignored. the UK voted to leave. Scotland are part of the UK. 40% of Scotts still voted to leave even if it wasn't the majority. Using Brexit as a political tool to get what the SNP always wanted won't work. It's hilariously transparent that they don't give a shit about Scotland, only independence from a 400 year old union that benefits them more than us. Their hospitals and schools are a disgrace, the SNP manage nothing but independence. Their trade is massive with England, but much much smaller with the EU. They would be insane to leave. They can't even join the EU anyway, the EU have even said so. They have a 10% deficit, the EU only allow members with at most a 4% deficit. Not only that, they got their independence ref a few years back, it WAS once in a generation, as stated by SNP and conservatives alike. Like with all refs, it's the will of the people, theirs was to remain in the UK. A changing landscape doesn't automatically allow them to ask again and again. Especially when their argument is total bunk, because they just want to run to the EU and loose independence that they just regained. It's a nonsense. When the going gets tough, the UK sticks together. This independence, anti-union narrative is the truly damaging thing to the union, not Brexit. Which the Scots, Welsh and N Irish will soon see the benefits of, and immediately change their tunes. And don't be silly, they were all listened to, but it's a negotiation, you can't have too many red lines. We have the right also to back out of this deal with 9 months notice. If it's not right for us, we can go WTO without losing any sleep.

[@moonshinepz]

Just reralised I couldn't manage enough points to get a work permit in my own country if I wasn't British already 😬

[@PreppedScots]

Scottish person here 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿, the Erasmus scheme was basically an initiative to allow students in colleges, uni and such opportunities to get work experience and also study within any of the other EU countries, I was a part of this in 2017 and I worked in IT in Cyprus for a few weeks just before I turned 18, in my case it was all expenses paid, hell they even funded my passport application and they give you an allowance also, that may vary however I’m just going off my own experience Also just found ur channel and tbis is the first vid I’ve seen but seems good so far, Gettin a sub lmao keep it up bud

[@Eufnoc]

I love TLDR news, great channel. I've just watched your other video on the difference between GB/UK etc

[@DieNWOsiehtAlles66]

Fish was a purely political issue to "take back control". It equals 0.02% of british GDP and 0.0072% of EU GDP.

[@cianmcguire5647]

And yet with the new red tape for exporting the UK has decimated its own fisheries

[@bastiaan4129]

I believe something like 94% of all British fishermen voted leave, so no need to feel sorry for them.

[@Daniel-gs9eh]

Why are the EU in british waters anyway

[@bastiaan4129]

@@Daniel-gs9eh because Brittania hasn't ruled the waves for hundreds of years by now.

[@guyselway4865]

@@Daniel-gs9eh British regulators sold licenses to European firms ages ago. British fisherman them blamed the EU for what was partly their own balls up

[@Hfil66]

Probably the best way to think of Brexit is to look at the relative rights of the Federal Government and State governments in the USA; and look at the attempt by the southern States to secede in the 1860s, but the US did it with a bit more violence than the UK did when seceding from the EU. The UK (or just over half the people in the UK, the other just under half had a different idea) felt they were not happy with the way the EU was taking the UK and so chose to secede from the EU.

[@trevtall1094]

Likely more Brits would have voted out if they weren't threatening us with doom and gloom. The Remoaner faction of the In voters will be the ones who would pick the EU over UK all else been equal and why rejioning the EU is impossible without vote rigging.

[@Soordhin]

Well, to be honest, i have no idea if the US constitution has actually a procedure for leaving the USA. The EU treaty has that provision and the UK used it. Quite lawful after it fulfilled its own constitutional requirements, a vote in favor in the House of Commons. The referendum in itself has no constitutional standing, after all it was only an advisory referendum and not legally binding, therefore it is of no consequence in invoking the Article 50 of the Treaty of Maastricht (which is the legal instrument to leave the EU). And unlike the USA, the EU is not a federal state, it is legally "just" an international organisation, on the same level, but with more binding provisions, as the united nations for the whole world.

[@markillsley7667]

@@Soordhin It was not only advisory the people of the UK were told that the result would be respected by all sides,well that was up until they did not got the result they expected. Erasmus was not great for the UK because we have more than 50% of our students are going to English speaking countries to study,the USA and Austrailia have more students going there than the whole EU combined. The Turing scheme will pay for UK students to go to the country of their choice at a fraction of the price,i saw a report that the EU are asking for countries to double their contributions for the next seven years and that they wanted to link the UK contribution to GDP,that would have cost the UK more while we were getting much less.

[@Hfil66]

@@Soordhin It is difficult to make exact comparisons, but the creation of the United States in the 18th century was not so very different from the creation of the EU - it was merely intended to be a collection of independent States that were cooperating for their mutual defence. Although the United States did have a President, just as the EU has a President, but that was merely selected by the States (hence the electoral college system), but the emphasis was very much upon the autonomy of the individual States. Over time, the power of the federal government grew, and the individual States became ever more subordinate to the federal government. This is very much analogous to what was perceived to be happening with the EU, but still at a very early stage. To much of the population of the USA, the civil war was what defined them as citizens of the USA. Until that time, most people in Kentucky, or Virginia, or Maryland would have seen their first loyalty to their State and only a secondary loyalty to the federal government of the USA. With the civil war, and people from many States fighting shoulder to shoulder, there grew a common identity of being American.

[@Soordhin]

@@markillsley7667 ​ I was purely talking about legal instruments here. And the referendum was, legally speaking, only advisory and not binding. If it had been binding, it would have to be rerun as vote leave (now officially an EU organisation), legally speaking, broke the law in the campaign and therefore, in a legally binding referendum, the result would have been null and void. In reference to the legal instrument of article 50, only the votes in the HoC have weight, any polls of the population do not. No idea where Erasmus comes into the argument here, it has absolutely nothing to do with the topic debated at all. It is a purely UK decision to withdraw, same as it refused to get visa free work for musicians in the EU.

[@Andreas4696]

By the way, this video goes through the changes for EU citizens, such as myself. There's a similar video that goes through the changes British citizens will experience.

[@SillyhAsH]

That's the fun vid.

[@helenwood8482]

There are no British citizens, love. You only get citizens in a republic. We have the honour to be subjects.

[@Andreas4696]

@@helenwood8482 Subject status was abolished in 1983. And no, not only republics have citizenship. You're a British citizen.

[@MaximilienRobespierre1]

Fishing represents about the same as the lawnmower industry to the economy.

[@MartynDavies]

I calculated about 1/40th of the size of the automotive industry.

[@zexal4217]

Nice to see you here Max, seeing some of the arguments here had almost killed my brain cells so nice to see some reason!

[@susiepoulter4548]

I'm old enough to remember England before we went into Europe. Although l voted to stay in the EU. I'm not too worried about leaving. It seemed we were giving more and more to Europe than receiving. We're a small island but a fairly wealthy one and we will get back on our feet l have no doubt. Bound to be a few hiccups. But as a brit, we love a challenge..👍🇬🇧

[@ottomaier8219]

"'Im old enough to remember England before we went into Europe." Well then you know how it was called "The poor man of Western Europe"🧐 "... were giving more and more to Europe than receiving..." Clearly to become the fifth economic power in the world and have the most special rights of all members !!I believe you see it that way, but for me it's more like laughing at your statements ...😏 "...small island but a fairly wealthy one.." Yes small already, but wealhty in the time of the EU ..."...on our feet l have no doubt..." exactly "back to the roots" (50s, 60s and 70s). "Bound to be a few hiccups" Best joke in your whole comment!👍 "...we love a challenge..." This is nice....!! But the story is already prescribed, economically the UK will no longer aim high (if UK leave the largest single market in the world, who's surprised) and world politics the same (as you mentioned small island)...before UK were a strong member of one of the 3 big power blocs (USA, China and EU), now UK can suck yourselves into the USA as a puddle, but the power remains the USA and UK are just clinging...😐 "America first" is the motto and not "USA and UK first" ... mmmh...has the USA already lifted the punitive tariffs on UK steel??... mmhh...Nooo 🤭

[@susiepoulter4548]

@@ottomaier8219 keep your hair on sweetie! 😜 life's too short! Don't get your Knickers in a twist. 🤣🤣🤣😘😜😜

[@ottomaier8219]

@@susiepoulter4548 Nice that you can laugh (I only said the facts)... I have full hair thx sweetie...😎 Yes, and in 2 years I will enjoy myself even more when the UK banks' accreditation (Eu Pass) is over.🧐 Upps, Bum Bum Boris has not told his compatriots until today that there are still transition periods (ovenready Brexit and so on)🥳 But like you said "life's too short" then laugh until you can (won't be long)🤭 But as Rees Mogg said, "MAYBE" in 50 years there will be something "POSITIVE" to say about Brexit !! 🤣🤣...in 50 years "maybe"--->👻

[@susiepoulter4548]

@@ottomaier8219 Bum, Bum Boris.🤣🤣🤣 You are so funny.🤣🤣🤣🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧

[@derickdoig4008]

Google the cod wars.

[@grumpynanny7402]

My hubby was in it. Throwing fish at Icelandic fishing boats.

[@eointolster]

Uk lost twice lol

[@tinaforbes1059]

You can called it , fishing without nets.

[@mogznwaz]

@@MimeticMimic If we'd really been at war Iceland would not have won.

[@cyboot214]

@@mogznwaz and would have been kicked out of nato and lost control on the the sonar net that kept USSR subs out of the Atlantic ... glorious really...

[@offal]

kids who are born here from EU parent arn`t automatically UK citizens.

[@VolkerHett]

And the UK does stop legal immigration.

[@izzyolim2008]

My older sister is not classisfied as a British citizen even though she was born here and live here her WHOLE life (15yrs) for the reason that when she was born my mums indefinite leave got delayed and didn't get it until like 2 months after my sister was born, my dad's 'blue card' (residency at the time) had run out a few months before and didnt realise , they lived here 7 years before she was born

[@libanabdi2253]

They are UK citizens if the EU parent had Permanent Residence Status (lived in the UK for 5 years and applied for the certificate certifying this).

[@steveclayton4249]

Same the other way round, my British friend and his British wife work and live in Germany. They had a child in Germany, the child is classed as British.

[@timothymartin5538]

@@steveclayton4249 exactly, British citizenship is predicated on ethnicity or generational settlement

[@Loki1815]

I have noticed that you offer your apologies for the fact that you may be drunk whilst making your videos! I would say that the amount of alcohol that we are talking about would just be having "a few liveners" before setting out for having a drink, drink! This better explained by a video, link provided: kzbin.info/www/bejne/g2e5iZV4f6upiKc I hope this helps...

[@user-sp8kb3is5w]

The EU was simply a free trade agreement in the beginning, the idea behind that being trading countries were less likely to go to war with each other. Now however The EU has massive power over its members controlling just about everything, from how powerful our vacuum cleaners are to open door immigration. The EU has grown and many more countries have joined and the issue with that is each country then has less power over the blanket laws that cover the EU countries, so sovereignty decreases with each country added. The EU leaders that create these laws are not voted in and they cannot be voted out. It costs the UK billions to be a member of this union and gives free access to UK fishing stocks. I voted remain because i had no faith in my government not to fuck it up ( and i was right) 4 years later and I'm glad we a re leaving the EU, its a pretty self serving corrupt waste. When coronavirus hit The EU basically abandoned Italy , bankrupted Greece and it was everyone out for themselves. The EU want a European army which will force members to send troops to join. Non of the above is what we signed up fore in the first place. Good riddance im glad we are out!

[@helenwood8482]

It was presented as a trade agreement. Ted Heath said later that he had lied about that because we would never have voted to join if we knew we were surrendering sovereignty.

[@user-sp8kb3is5w]

@silverfoxeater Thanks for the detailed reply, Had I given enough of a fuck about leaving KZbin comments as yourself I would have spent much longer elaborating a more comprehensive answer. SO here we go! Yes technically they are voted in and out by the people, but we vote a representative IE Nigel Farage (lol) to be ours, but that's the issue many people have, we have one representative in a room full of them to vote on shit that we don't care about. For example. EU majority votes that everyone must wear green hats, we vote no, most vote yes, and boom, more shit we gotta do that we don't want. A quick google and I found this www.which.co.uk/news/2017/08/eu-vacuum-cleaner-ban-2017-everything-you-need-to-know/?source_code=911CRJ&&source_code=911CRJ&gclsrc=ds&gclsrc=ds Not read it but it was along the lines of what i was talking about. I do not read the daily mail and i will not assume you read the guardian. The bottom line is, The EU is no longer what its supposed to be, why do you defend it so much? No need to be abusive, it makes you looks like a douche and degrades your argument. Rule Britannia. x

[@clarkfinlay78]

The breakdown of the vote was 48% to 52% to leave, 2 of the 4 countries within the UK voted to remain 2 voted to leave, divided is not the word. The original vote was over 4 years ago some people believe the balance has changed on this, some believe it hasn't but the deal and the process was the biggest family argument to could ever imagine. It pushes Northern Ireland and Scotland (those that voted to remain) more likely to want to leave the UK, Northern Ireland is currently considered to still be in the EU for goods and services as they cannot reintroduce a border with the republic without the risk of restarting the conflict in that country. So Boris may be responsible for the break up the on United Kingdom

[@andrei8081]

No, Nigel Farage and David Cameron are responsible. David Cameron failed to campaign the positive things about being in UE. Nigel Farage filled UK with lies about a great future to come. Like Guy Verhofstadt said, i am sure that in the next years to come, british people will want to rejoin UE. I am tired of these negative things about Federal UE... we live in an a time of Empires: USA (USA is so strong economically because the Unionst won and brought them toghether), China (massive population, stealing tech, comunist party that holds people in line), India (the next country to develop, massive population... just like China). So instead of uniting into an Empire... we divide ourselves into small tiny little countries which count too little on the global market, army, economy etc. We want more Europe!

[@Commsfarage]

@@andrei8081 loser

[@screamostar3dyoutube478]

Its our own fault we voted for it in a democracy. Its happening now though so maybe we should now push through and make the best we can out of what we have

[@screamostar3dyoutube478]

@@MimeticMimic If it turns out to be a mistake I'm sure were clued up enough to do something about it. How about first we get back on our feet and see how the cookie crumbles before saying it was right/wrong?

[@coldcomfortfarm8557]

Deluded

[@rachelc3279]

I just discovered your channel today after watching other Americans who are interested in the UK and/or Europe - you're the only one who has watched a Brexit-themed video! I personally voted to remain in the EU and I would probably do the same again today. However, I have reluctantly accepted the result and I am glad an agreement has been reached. Over the last few years our news headlines have been dominated by Brexit (except in 2020...) and as someone who did not want it I just shut myself off from it. So watching this video through you has given me a better understanding of the deal. Thanks!!

[@tobytaylor2154]

Am I hallucinating lol. A remainer who accepts the result and another who's seen the light. I heard ppl like you existed but never come across any.

[@tobytaylor2154]

@Shaun Rooney i forgive you lol jk. My mind was made up under labour when the Lisbon treaty was signed, they were gonna offer a referendum on it, but they changed it from a treaty to another name to get around having a referendum. That was the final straw for me. We had the one opportunity there taken away until Cameron put his money where his mouth is and called one. At least he stuck to his word, not for one minute he thought leave would win but he knew it would get him votes to be in office.

[@tobytaylor2154]

Rachel, to help cheer you up, as of a cpl of weeks ago, we have signed 58 trade deals with countries outside the eu on top of the deal with the eu.

[@richcbri]

All the people who think the UK will do better outside the EU with out selling out what it is to be British, your delusional, all the rules that "held us back" were British or British sponsored, animal welfare and environmental regulations being two examples, we'll make the best of if, but we will be poorer than we could have been, yes the EU is a hot mess but we were better trying to fix it from the inside having a veto than being pushed around by it on the outside with limited options to say no.

[@tobytaylor2154]

@@richcbri in the coming months or a few yrs depending on what it is and with this pandemic going on, we will unalign with the eu as and where we choose. You're assuming that we will choose worse regulations than the eu. In fact at 12.01 am one law did change with immediate affect which was animal welfare. A law that we've stopped was where electricity is used to catch fish, not in our waters anymore. It's the same old same old tbh, all I hear now is how worse off we are going to be, there were several reasons for wanting out, one was the economy. Not everyone voted for that reason, some would accept a bit less money in their pockets to get out for their reasons.

[@gustavmeyrink_2.0]

The thing with the fish is that the British eat cod but there is practically no cod left in UK waters so they import most of it from Norway or Iceland. 80 to 90% of the fish they do catch in their waters is exported to the EU and this will become problematic due to inevitable delays at the borders which are largely caused by the UK government having made practically no preparations for the new status quo.

[@kDM7824]

Because the UK parliament spent the best part of 4 years trying to overturn a democratic vote. They put their fingers in their ears and stamped on the floor like an unruly child hoping we would change our minds. 2 general elections and 1 EU election reaffirmed the original referendum result and they finally decided to do what they promised.

[@trevtall1094]

Most of UK fishing qouta was crappy mackerel that we don't like while others especially France and Spain took most of the best types of fish. Likely much of the fish available in the fish mongers or chippy was caught in the UK took to the mainland to sold and processed and returned to the UK. The EU is very good at making things seem fairer on the surface.

[@morakskuld7126]

The eu are trying to mer ake an example of the UK so other countrie are put off leaving the eu, on the 1st of jan the nederland borderguards even took there sandwiches of UK lorry drvers.

[@ripvanwincle2258]

@@maxk.l.25 Typical remoaner arrogance.

[@kimetzfu426]

Really amazed about how most americans don't know about Brexit. Like, it is one of the most important geopolitical issue of the last 5 years, and it will shape the future of the EU and the UK for decades to come. It is kind of Florida leaving the USA because they don't want to follow federal law anymore, but with the UK and the EU (though they are not as closely integrated in the EU as a US state would be in the USA, but you get the point)

[@alexeastlake3316]

Basically, if you are not sure what Brexit was about (in Texas), the UK joined the EEC in the 70's when it was a free trade area agreement, but it has since become a political union - the EU, aiming to create a United States of Europe. This was never put to a vote, and when it was, the UK voted no and to leave/Brexit. Some would say that it was always a political project and always had that aim, but it was always played down in public, especially in the UK.

[@floydlooney6837]

I fully support national sovereignty for the UK and for Texas.

[@PhyllisGlassup2TheBrim]

Texas is a state, the UK is a collection of 4 countries within a union. I fully support national sovereignty too. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland should free themselves of the English oppressors.

[@dylanguitar]

@@PhyllisGlassup2TheBrim No, I am welsh but I don't believe wales has the finances for that, also do you realise how much overlap there is with citizens either side of the border

[@PhyllisGlassup2TheBrim]

@@dylanguitar You mean people travelling to work and live in Wales? Well obviously *that* would have to stop. I'm sure Wales would manage very well as a sovereign country doing deals all over the world. Wales has a lot of things to sell to England so I'm sure it'd do well. Don't talk the country down, get behind Wales, it'll be great once you leave. Why should England be able to tell Wales what to do and be in charge of making laws?

[@lukebtaylor7]

@@PhyllisGlassup2TheBrim insert eyeroll

[@Wichnam]

@@dylanguitar Same as with the EU, so the problem is what now?

[@tonzelle2720]

We in the rest of Europe do not understand why the UK wanted out ..

[@ianmerricks4818]

48% of us in the UK don't understand it either mate, we're just stuck with the outcome.

[@pasikuisma1948]

@@ianmerricks4818 Its a terrible deal to UK if EU keeps as is. If EU tries to become a federal union then it will break apart anyway and it is going to be a brilliant move. So its up to Germany and France if they want to suicide EU by trying to create a federal union. Northern Europe will leave if they will have to pay rich italians low taxes with their poorer higher taxed populations.

[@thewilliamrobinson1]

Interesting to hear a bystanders view. As regards fishing, it's a tiny part of UK economy but somehow has become a big issue for years. Looking at these comments I really opened a can of worms here. Feel free to fight it out ad nauseum but i'm going to put a pin in this one. I don't think were gonna solve it in a youtube comment section but have fun.

[@redroseenglishtutors8260]

@Oliver O'Brien True, I come from Fleetwood and our town was built on fishing, until the EU trashed it this is what we were known for and the town that makes Fisherman's Friend. Hopefully one day this will pick up again.

[@blu5543]

Its less about the economic aspects of fishing and more symbolism. If the EU can come into our waters and take our resources then what exactly was the point of Brexit.

[@carljones5327]

@@redroseenglishtutors8260 And at one time a Good non league away day game to go to .

[@CarlAlex2]

@@redroseenglishtutors8260 It wont - The troubles of the UK fishing industry is the same as every other nations fishing industry. It takes an ever increasing amount of fish caught to sustain one fisherman and since there is a limit to how many fish you can pull out of the sea without destroying the fishery, the number of fishermen has to decrease - its caused by simple economics and not the evil EU stealing brom the Brits despite what fishermen just wanting to keep pulling fish out of the water as if there is no tomorrow claim. Also dont forget that UK fishermen are also loosing their acces to some of their ancestral fishing grounds here, just like us Danes are loosing access to our ancestral fishing grounds where we have been fishing for over a thousand years since even before we ruled England and if there had been no EU setting up a common fishing area we would still have a right to fish there according to the international treaties on how to share the fish in the ocean. I think denying the tribe of the Danes acces to the their ancestral fishing grounds is petty and nasty. A VERY unfriendly act. The decent way to do this would have been to revert to the treaties in effect before joining the EU. Didnt traditional English law use to respect traditional rights ? Should the Scots decide to secede and apply to rejoin the EU I would fully support that. And BTW good luck finding a plumber in London when you kick out the Poles.

[@replevideo6096]

@@CarlAlex2 That is not correct. The EU Common Fisheries Policy allows fishermen from other EU countries to catch way more fish in British waters than our own fishermen can take. France takes 84% of cod from the English Channel, while British boats are allowed only 9%. If we took it all back that would expand our cod fishing fleet alone by almost 10 times. There would still be quotas, so they would not be pulling out as much fish as they want.

[@garryrowland]

Hi Mike I’m a UK citizen but studied at Texas Tech in Lubbock. Just found & subscribed to your channel. Looking forward to viewing your past & future contest.

[@mariabolt3881]

Basically, the EEC that my.parents and grandparents voted to be part of in the early 70's, became a hugely different animal in size and politics. Where Trade is what we wanted, the Europeaneans wanted a Political Union becoming a United States of Europe. In time, there would be NO need for for any States Parliaments, they'd just run us from Brussels and Strasbourg. Don't even get me started on how that works!

[@orkstuff5635]

Britain joined the European Economic Community (aka the common market), this then became the European Union which made British Parliament, Laws and potentially armed services subordinate to Brussels. The British people didn't get to vote on this and it was sufficiently unpopular that when a referendum was held the majority of Britons voted 'Leave'. The fishing isn't that big a deal yet because the British fishing industry was gutted by entering the common market and allowing European fishing 'boats' (aka 'super-trawlers') to fish British waters (to the extent that there is some concern over the level of fish stocks remaining in them).

[@tuntejaable]

Lool seriously. UK had veto right. No law could have gone through without the UK agreeing. Also all the laws went through the parlament. So come back to reality

[@fabiansaerve]

I wish France would be stronger against brits joining. France was so right about the UK..

[@orkstuff5635]

@@tuntejaable We did, it's called Brexit.

[@eddoyle4849]

Freedom of movement has caused a massive rise in house prices, rental too, which many people just cannot afford. It has also had a negative affect on services like the NHS, transport and housing just cannot meet demand for them, overcrowding in our cities and a increase in people living rough, more people applying for jobs which allows businesses to offer lower wages due to more competition for them. Of course there are many benefits too but many people feel the negatives more. Also people were sick and tired of UK politicians using the EU as a reason for not being able to address their needs and concerns.

[@helloweener2007]

No, the House prices are not rising because if this. At least not much. The problem are the interest are to low which leads to investments in reals estates. Yes, in cities were the population is growing the prices are rising. But the share of is the reason of upmarket redevelopment, people and companies who put their money in real estate in expensive cities. When people come and work in the UK, they pay also into the NHS. It is actually beneficial.

[@helloweener2007]

@Shaun Rooney There is no "free healtcare" of course. It is carried by the society. But this makes it effortable for everyone. You really prefer the US system where you can lose a few thousand bucks just because the ambulance brings you to the wrong hospital? I don't understand the rest of your argument. I was talking about workers coming from the EU and paying taxes and into the NHS and you talk about the was of money. That is linked how? The waste of money would be less without the money from EU workers? But I am with you on the waste of money. There are to many things where public money is wasted, not only for the NHS, not only in the UK.

[@AlexNights]

@@helloweener2007 you have not picked up what he said in the 2 frase. He probably would profit if health goes to the private sector.

[@samson3167]

Wrong, the rise in house prices at least in the cities is mostly due to investment in realestate for the rich. The dirty forringers actually payed more into the NHS than they got, besides without the cheap nurses from eastern european countries teh NHS couldn't survive. The reason why the NHS (mostly England, Scotland isn't too bad) f*cked is the torys. They cut and privatize every bit they can.

[@eddoyle4849]

@@samson3167 I agree cuts had a part to play, controlling immigration numbers is vital so services like the NHS are effective rather than not. Like it or not, mass immigration played its part and making that point doesn't mean that person hates immigrants, hopefully not anyway.

[@LasseHG1]

What you need to remember, other than politics there is also history to consider. European countries have hundreds of years of history together both good and bad. So there is certain stereotypes against different nations.

[@brucemcdonald4372]

we still had a powerful navy up to WW2 and its why Hitler could not invade leading to the air war and the Battle of Britain in 1940 but the wars nearly bankrupt the Empire which helped break it up, it should also be said a lot of the elitist class have financial interests in the EU and land grants so its all a big fudge

[@Fadingfool]

Erm that didn't happen. Breaking up the UK empire was a requirement for the USA to join the war. Hence the generally peaceful transitions post-war to independent countries that were part of the commonwealth.

[@brucemcdonald4372]

@@Fadingfool ????America got bought into the war because Toto launched a surprise attack on Pearl Harbour to invade the Philippines and they came into Europe as it served there interests as well as helping the free French army liberate Paris, they were more concerned about Stalin than the British Empire leading to the atomic bomb b4 Russia could invade and land grab Japan.

[@StewartEvans52]

@@brucemcdonald4372 Surprise attack 2 years into a world war hahahahaha lol

[@anoldfogeysfun]

As you may, or may perhaps not know? The actual Brexit referendum regarding Staying-in the EU or voting to Leave was actually taken in 2016. Yes - it was a full 4 years ago. Cameron, the Prime Minister at that time was a confirmed Stayer-in (Known by then as a Remainer). Losing the actual referendum made him decide to quit the post. The next PM to come in after him was Ditherer May - yet another remainer, who also tried her best to give everything that she could to the EU and take as little as possible back for the UK while she was in charge. (That didn't go down very well either!) Then you also had various MP's in parliament, and those in the House of Lord's, etc, who were only thinking of the EU pension pots they would lose if we left. You also had rich individuals and groups of people who bitterly fought against leaving the EU (including in the courts) and so slowed everything down regarding it to a crawl basically. As they simply could not accept that their side had lost the actual vote. At this point, Democracy was failing due to too many not being happy with the result and wanting a 2nd referendum. (A bit like Sturgeon and her Independence for Scotland.) - If you lose it, then just keep having them over and over again until you finally win and then no more referendums can be had to alter that! What many people forgot at the time - was that the referendum actually only covered 2 options. To actually "Leave" the EU - or to "Stay in" the EU. Cameron in his misplaced wisdom did not deign to offer any middle ground being offered in the vote - as in to Leave the EU with a deal, or to Stay in and try and get an even better deal from them. So the slightly winning vote to leave was simply that - to get out altogether! The EU then decided to use their tactical Level Playing Fields & Fishing rights statements over the following years each time any discussions were being held. But those same Level Playing Fields were all about them getting the better part of any deal so as to prevent any deal actually being done unless it was all on their terms . . . They did not want the UK to break away from the EU and to finally become a successful country in all ways back on its own again. So they tried any way they could to prevent that from happening - and in another way - to stop any other country from leaving the EU after the UK, only because if it did once again become a successful independent and sovereign nation. Then more countries might see they would be better off out of it too. The thing about the EU many don't recognise, is that all of those in charge are basically un-elected bureaucrats who think they are actually running a government of their own. They do not actually run any specific country - just a bloc of trading countries under an EU parliament. The actual countries themselves all have their own elected presidents or prime ministers in these countries to do that. Since it's initial inception though, which back in the time was called The Common Market at the very beginning, Germany and France were the main countries involved - and so it was mainly about them. It's never really changed since then no matter what new names they had - lastly becoming The EU. As you yourself mentioned in the Fishing rights part of it - when Ted Heath sent us into the EEC (European Economic Community) and later on it became (TCM) The Common Market somewhere around the 1970 & then the 80's's I think. He basically gave away our home fishing waters to the EEC and also the TCM right then. So from about having all 100% of fishing rights here - the EEC/TCM were happy to allow us about only 20% of it instead.The rest being given to the likes of Germany & France (naturally) - Spain and various other countries as in fishing quotas. Why? Simply because they had already over-fished their own waters already. The UK's once huge fishing fleet (Large fleets of various small boats in probably every port around the UK) - was decimated by this change, with perhaps over 100,000+ jobs vanishing in all areas, as well as hundreds if not a few thousand boats and their crews having no livelihoods any longer. Those in charge of The EEC/TCM didn't give a rats-arse about that, as their own fishing fleets, were soon happily building super-trawlers to take more, as they now had fresh new fishing grounds to use. And all they told the UK fisherman and such-like, was to start to retrain and find new skills for new jobs. So as you can see, from being the EEC to the TCM to then becoming the EU, the only thing that mattered to them was what they could get out of it all the time. Which was literally why France, who always had the biggest quotas for fishing our waters, always blocked any Brexit deals if they were going to lose out in fishing in any way. The EU also brought about VAT (Value Added Taxation) to us. We then had to collect it here, and almost all apart from admin costs for collecting it in, was being sent to Brussels. And so the story unfolds as to just how much power the EU was wielding by now over every country in the EU. "Some" being a lot better off with their rules and regulations in regards than to others. Including paying sums of into the EU annually which would then be split among them. The UK, for some reason paid more than France, and was the second highest annual money payer behind Germany. While France benefited hugely back from it in both farming and fishing subsidies. Anyway, that may have been quite a bit of a long-winded reply to you, and perhaps to anyone else who may have been unsure about what it was all about for so long - but I at least hope it will help you to understand Europe, the former EEC, TCM and the EU a little bit more now than you once did - and why the vote to Leave and Brexit came about? There is of course a hell of a lot more in regards to the various continually new or updating EU rules, regulations, and red-tape not mentioned here, but at least it may be a start for you to get the gist of it all a little better . . . ! Enjoy . . . if you wish.

[@DrunkTexanSays]

Yeah I saw that! I recoreded a video about the history of Brexit but idk it was kind've boring so I didn't edit or post it lol

[@anoldfogeysfun]

@@DrunkTexanSays - Well, you do have to remember that most things that are to do with Politics are definitely damn well boring, mate! But at least if you took the trouble to look up about it - even if you didn't offer a post about something - it perhaps might have helped those (maybe for your own countrymen over there even) to have a kind of general idea as to what Brexit was basically all about, and why. Anyway, at least my post to you may clear a few things up for anyone if they are bothered - lol?

[@pinchofsalt8677]

Hi from Romania, one of the countries with lots of emigration to the UK after the fall of communism here (like hungary, poland etc). So many left in fact we re having trouble getting low skilled labour here to do agriculture, construction etc. We also exported our finest doctors and tech engineers because we couldnt pay them enough. Now, all those human resources from eastern europe are moving over to germany, with german influence rapidly spreading as a result, and with obvious benefits to their economy. The brits were silly to leave, their economy is gonna tank big time, not to mention their influence over european affairs. Also, immigration is up in the uk since brexit... only instead if the french, germans and italians coming over, its indians, pakistanis, turks etc, so the irony for the racists is complete.

[@pinchofsalt8677]

Think of it as California leaving the US... just about as dumb.

[@chudchadanstud]

What are you talking about? Romania is having Romanian problems. It's their own duty to solve them. We left because we wanted to solve our own problems without the Germans butting in. In 1 year we made deals with over 70 non EU nations, Japan, Taiwan, Mexico, India, Singapore etc. are on the roster and many more nations are waiting with open arms. We'll be finishing off our deal with Canada and Australia soon. This we are only going up from here. We have rhe highest number of vaccinated people on Earth and have made be world's best vaccine and are prioritizing our citizens first, as it should be. We are on track to be the first Nation truly out of this mess.

[@lewis123417]

The whole point was the make our immigration system based on skills and not based on whether you are European or not

[@Commsfarage]

lol bitter

[@htlein]

Mike - the original reason why a common market was started was to prevent more wars in Europe. The UK was never invaded so has no concept of what it could be like to have a foreign power dictating ones country. The UK built an empire by using force to enter and then more force to govern/control subjugated country - the UK's demand for product/goods being the reasoning (the East India Company was a government backed "free trade" company - the result has been a schooling that avoids mention in great details on how the "British Empire" was made and how the British people view themselves toward Europe. Successive UK governments have never truly considered the UK to be committed to the European ideal of democracy - unfortunately in the UK as in the USA, the voting system is "first past the post" (I think this is the "electoral college in the US? - i.e. NOT proportional representation where the total votes for any given party decides the representation in the two houses). True democracy requires that any representation be based on the majority of votes by any given party - and that any party must present a proportional number of voters according to the total size of population in their country (an example in the Netherlands which has about 17 million people - a party can have one seat in parliament if it has 100,000 people voting for it.) The UK population do not understand this form of government and so never embraced the European democratic ideal. It is a good possibility that the push toward exiting from the EU was managed by a small minority of already very rich people who saw that there were truly huge profits to be made by fomenting dissidence with the EU for profit - many of the present government majority party (the Conservatives) have vastly profited by the UK exit from the european Union and will continue to do so since there is no agreed regulation regarding banking or the service sector (80% of the UK GDP comes from that sector).

[@jacquelineheath8938]

The 'European Democratic ideal' includes an EU parliament that cannot propose laws, is not able to veto laws that the commission want implemented, cannot repeal an unfair law even when everyone recognises it as unfair, and hasn't got the ability to oppose the commission when the commission tells them to vote for Von Der Leyden as president when she wasn't even on the ballot paper. Google it! Bluntly the EU parliament is a virtue signalling attempt at a parliament, mainly there to rubber stamp decisions the Commission has made without any input, checks or balances from anyone else. The parliament has no real power or authority. The EU Commission is the body who are in control of the governance of the EU and they are not elected. There is a fundamental lack of democracy at the heart of the EU that is poisonous because absolute power corrupts absolutely. The claim that a certain number of people in a country's population leads to a certain amount of representation is also false. If that was the case then small countries such as Luxembourg would qualify for no representation at all because the population is so small. The EU has a formula for allocating representation that ironically meant that Brits received less representation per head of population than people from Luxembourg and less than almost any other country. This is according the the EU's own figures. My 'democratic rights' within the EU were worth less than the 'democratic rights' of people from other countries because of that calculation. It was done quite deliberately because the smaller countries are financially dependent on the EU so it is quite easy for the Commission to 'persuade' smaller countries to do exactly what they want. Add that to the fact that the EU is abolishing every country's ability to veto a bad decision, in favour of qualified majority voting, and it becomes easy to see that very soon the UK would have had no say at all in EU decisions. In fact, no country will, no matter how much harm a new law will cause that country's population. They will simply be over-ruled by the others 'ganging up' to outvote them. Why do you think Greece is virtually bankrupt or the Cypriots couldn't stop the EU from taking money from their personal bank accounts in 2013? The previous poster is correct that there is no agreed regulation of the banking or service sector. That is because there never was. UK banking and services had to become a success outside the protectionism of the EU, on WTO terms. Ironically that deliberate exclusion of the UK's primary industry, (which was meant to subjugate the UK) in contrast with French farming and German engineering, which are subsidised and protected, has meant the UK is now a world leader in banking *because* it does not abide by EU regulations. Instead it competes on equal terms with banking elsewhere in the world and it has done very well. This is one of the factual reasons why the country will succeed post Brexit. We have already been operating on WTO terms in some areas. I also dispute the claim that huge profits were made by very rich people over Brexit. A simple perusal of which bodies came out in favour of Leave in comparison with which bodies came out in favour of Remain will tell you whose side the rich and influential were on. I have links if you want to know. The EU also includes the primacy of Napoleonic legal structures which assume you're guilty until proven innocent, putting the onus on the accused person to prove their innocence rather than the onus of proof being on the ones who decide to prosecute the accused. Hence we had the barbarism of innocent people being forcibly removed from this country under the auspices of the European Arrest Warrant and incarcerated in appalling eastern EU prisons for months and months until someone eventually listens to the evidence that it wasn't them. The judges from other countries who order this don't rush! Then the innocent people, who often could have proved their innocence in the UK via a straight-forward police interview, are sent home without even an apology. Months of their lives lost, jobs gone, mortgages unpaid and all with no recompense because under EU law it isn't unlawful arrest. It is a typical response from people who did not want Brexit to claim that those who voted Leave somehow lack the intelligence or 'higher understanding' of the esoteric matters of the EU to be able to judge it fairly. The EU lacks democracy and they don't dispute that but they do try to spin it. Democracy within the EU is so diluted, even by the newly twisted meaning of democracy that the EU uses, that it might as well be homeopathic. Attempts to twist the meaning of democracy so that something undemocratic somehow magically fits a new definition of democracy are just people telling you how wonderful the emperor's new clothes are. Lovely little phrases like 'shared democracy' or 'pooled democracy' are used. Try telling the US they should share democracy with Mexico or pool it with Canada. It is very telling that the whole Remain campaign was fought on the basis of how awful it would be to leave the EU, the so-called Project Fear. Why, if the EU is so wonderful, couldn't they convince us that there are good reasons for staying rather than wildly predicted future bad reasons for when we leave? Instead we were metaphorically beaten with sticks rather than enticed with carrots. I think it is because there were no carrots for the UK; not in the areas of sovereignty, democracy and law. The carrots were reserved for the people who benefitted from the UK's money. Mostly that was the EU as ruled by the Commission. EU's own figures show that the UK was the country that benefitted least from EU membership. I voted leave for reasons of sovereignty and democracy and polls show that was the primary reason most people voted leave.

[@mikecaine3643]

Boris Johnson summed it up when he signed the 'treaty' with the EU- ' We fulfil the sovereign wish of the British people to live under their own laws made by their own elected Parliament ' . Ask yourself - as an American citizen would you be happy if your laws ,rules and regulations were made by a group of foreign countries ? The British people have decided they were not and decided they would live under their own laws and regulations !

[@ToothbrushMan]

"Ask yourself - as an American citizen would you be happy if your laws ,rules and regulations were made by a group of foreign countries ? " This is factually and demonstrably false. It simply is NOT true. UK rules and regulations were NOT "made by a group of foreign countries" as we could veto any rule or regulation. Only now they they are. We'll have to stick to EU rules and regulations just to trade with them, and we NEED to trade with them. Only now, we'll have no say in rules and regulations. We are effectively the "vassal state" that Brexiters warned us about.

[@scott4639]

@@ToothbrushMan The word for *your* day is hyperbole.

[@ToothbrushMan]

@@scott4639 Hardly. The economic clout of the EU is enormous and because we HAVE to trade with them (just to feed ourselves, for starters) they can pretty much dictate our economic policy to us. This isn't hyperbole, it's what the economists think.

[@scott4639]

@@ToothbrushMan I was referring to your accusation of Mike Caine telling lies. Of course the EU didn't make all our laws. They did however create laws and regulations that as a member we had to abide by. Finally, the ECJ and ECHR had extraordinary power over British Court. Many, myself included, saw that as unacceptable.

[@ToothbrushMan]

@@scott4639 "Of course the EU didn't make all our laws. They did however create laws and regulations that as a member we had to abide by." I did not say this. The problem is with the word "they". "They" include "us". These laws were planned, framed, designed and approved by all EU member states, including us. These laws were not "imposed" on us by foreign powers. WE created the laws and regulations and without our cooperation they would never have been passed into law. And no, the ECJ and ECHR does not have "extraordinary" powers over British courts. Their range of powers is very limited. Again, they can only enforce laws that "we" have agreed to. They are NOT being imposed on us. And how anybody can object to a court enforcing human rights is beyond me. Brexit has left us with a government that thinks human right are optional.

[@ahgversluis]

I'd love to explain the situation from a Dutch perspective, but it would not fit in a comment. Would be happy to skype. You can compare Brexit to Texas leaving the US because they want all their cows to be held by Texan companies. And the US saying: that's fine, but we'll put a 40 percent tariff on your cow meat. And your oil too. The fishing sector is tiny in Britain

[@leemactavish3104]

it works both ways

[@mrmagoo-i2l]

You can compare it to Texas having their laws made by people ten times more different compared to D.C.

[@9SMTM6]

@@mrmagoo-i2l Would you be so nice and explain what "ten times more different" means?

[@AkumaGekido]

It's actually more like telling USA to join with Mexico, and let Mexico make most of their laws and regulations for them.

[@fluffibuni8663]

One of the things you have to remember, is that a number of the things covered are effectively taking the UK back to how things worked before the EU was established in 1993 ... so having to use visas for travel to Europe, having to establish your UK professional credentials with European partners, border controls on food, immigration controls etc. It's not like we're being forced to do things we've never done in recent history ... it's less than 30 years ago that the EU created a single market for internal movement and trade etc. While the additional amount of administration adds some unwelcome complications, it's where we are now and we have to demonstrate the ability to adapt. I won't be surprised if you get all kinds of extreme points of view either pro or anti Brexit ... but none of that really matters too much right now, we have to focus on how to make the best of things going forward.

[@ToothbrushMan]

"While the additional amount of administration adds some unwelcome complications" ... putting it mildly. The economists think Brexit is going to be dreadful. Businesses are going to the wall already. Even The Sun thinks half a million jobs are going to be lost.

[@fluffibuni8663]

@@ToothbrushMan Yeah, let's all run around with our arms waving in the air, proclaiming the end of civilisation ... cos that really helps a lot. I think the focus needs to be on working out how to move forwards as successfully as possible, rather than just giving up. Work out how you can help to make things more realistically positive, rather than just being so negative, cos negativity just breeds failure.

[@ToothbrushMan]

@@fluffibuni8663 Not sure how "realistically positive" is going to make a squit of difference. It's like saying prayer can help if you jump out of an aeroplane without a parachute. Economics is as ruthless as gravity, it doesn't give a s**t about positivity. " It's not like we're being forced to do things we've never done in recent history" What, like we even had the internet 30 years ago? GDPR that stops companies from selling your personal data?

[@fluffibuni8663]

@@ToothbrushMan Lol, you're hilarious. So you say that trying to be more positive isnt going to make any difference. At least trying to be positive can lead to choices or actions that might do some good, whereas your approach is just gonna be moaning in the corner and helping nobody. And you're prayer analogy is pathetic as I did indicate that you have to keep things realistic. You can keep your negativity, just look at the effort you're putting in to just debate me ... and it's all doom and gloom, whereas I'm holding on to a positive approach, and would like to encourage you to re-focus your time and energy in more forward thinking ways :-) ... see, I can still send you a smile.

[@ToothbrushMan]

@@fluffibuni8663 No. Really. Having a "positive approach" doesn't mean squit. Economics is economics. You're trying to face down gravity with a smile. Gravity doesn't care.

[@mikepett4575]

WHY DID WE LEAVE THE EU with all these goodies on offer? Imagine North and Central America all become part of a political union with all the different cultures, traditions, laws and languages. Imagine those that govern you (in addition to your own government) are based in say, Panama. In this union there are 3 branches of government the council of ministers (un-elected), the Commission (un-elected) and the parliament (which is elected). Each of these branches has a ‘President’ not elected by the people. It costs 13 billion dollars (11 billion Euros) a year just to administer. The two un-elected branches make all the laws. You cannot get rid of or change the people in them or the Presidents and you cannot introduce laws or remove any, only they can do that. The elected parliament may debate the laws and make amendments but in reality just rubber stamps them. This method of government is identical in structure to the Soviet Union (with a kinder face) a single party union with just one direction, a single party state similar to China. Imagine in the US having only either the Democrats or the Republicans in power for eternity, no other party exist; it will be their way or no way. You can’t get rid of them or make or change laws and you don’t elect the president. On the face of it the video presented a few desirable attributes we are leaving, but there is nothing that the EU has done that couldn’t be have been done through inter- governmental agreement. But these desirable things are carrots a bit like a dirty old man enticing a young girl into his car to come and see some puppies, once you are locked into that car, you may get a bag of candy but you are surely going to get F*@d! That is why I and many others voted to leave.

[@mogznwaz]

Well said. I've explained it that way to people and it's only then the lightbulb goes on when they realise what it actually means. It's not 'just a trading bloc'. If it were we'd have stayed!!!

[@MartynDavies]

This is the strawman version anyway.

[@mogznwaz]

@@MartynDavies Rubbish. EU fanatics really are dumb as posts.

[@CarlAlex2]

Its not like the UK people elect the UK governement or top level civil servants any more than the EU peoples elect the EU council or commision. And as a constitutional monarchy (not that that is a bad thing) its not like the UK people get to vote on who is head of the UK either. And the EU does not have the authority to enact laws - the member states being sovereign nations do that. But the EU is often a convenient scapegoat - the good old "the EU made me do it" excuse from local politicians. There is plenty about the EU you can be critical about, but most people writing here should educate themselves a bit before displaying their lack of understandingf for what, how and why things are in the real world EU.

[@mogznwaz]

@@CarlAlex2 We just don't want our laws made in Brussels or to be a part of the neostate with its flag anthem and associated bull. We like our own thanks. If you think putting more and more power into fewer and fewer hands you need to read some more Orwell.

[@zacwilde7771]

I think the main benefit the UK is getting is the ability to make its own trade deals and country specific laws/regulations which are tailored to the interests of British citizens.

[@creeperkiller78]

but with far less bargaining power and an insufficient border checking system resulting in delays on stuff entering the country, on the laws the main things that the Tories are doing is rolling back workers rights and potentially lowering food standards

[@Mrhandfriends]

Awesome video bro !! Have to believe in democracy- the U.K. voted to leave and that’s what’s happened ! Stay safe brother !!!

[@Mrhandfriends]

@@MimeticMimic take a chill pill !

[@Cygnus888]

@@MimeticMimic It doesn't matter. They left, we can all breathe easier now (figuratively).

[@lesonline2268]

@@MimeticMimic So more people voting for something than against and a winner announced, isn't democracy? I tell you what isn't democracy - it's when someone like Junker and Von Der Layen who no member of the public in any country voted for, is the most powerful person in Europe. Just take a look at Napolean Macron and tell me you really think the EU is a united block without failing a lie detector test. I'm not sure how you've got the front to suggest the UK left with a minority government given "getting brexit done" was the slogan that gave the government nigh the biggest majority in parliament on record.

[@lesonline2268]

@@MimeticMimic In or out..... There was no maybe and your continual suggestion mob rule is democracy is ludicrous. Wanting democracy to be ignored is mob rule. Lol at the reason people voted leave was nothing to do with the EU.. it is 100% the reason

[@lesonline2268]

@@MimeticMimic it's no wonder you wish to refer to children at school. Seems rather apt for you. Leave or Remain. Yes or no. There is no midway. As for the nothing to do with EU and your suggesting it's not wanting brown people really clarifies how idiotic you are. I expect Spain sending in Warships to Gibraltar and French threatening to blockade our ports while the EU parliament says nothing, is perfectly ok in your eyes. Rhetorical question. We are out and no matter how many boxes of tissues you go through will change nothing. Feel free to move.

[@mrsiborg]

On the fishing issue, The UK deployed 4 Naval vessels to police the waters (among others already stationed) but there's been no major issues reported yet. Some Irish fishermen were told to go away but that's all I've heard about. Of course the media played this up and the EU reported that it was very aggressive but this is The UK, that's what we do lol.

[@christown2827]

Language of the 'Daily Express' all spite and no substance.

[@Jamie_D]

I would suspect that citizens from other EU member countries aren't happy about us leaving, but not so much against us as it is their country will likely be hit harder with higher demands from the EU. There are a handful of countries that paid more in to the EU than what we got back, and we were one of them, and it's likely that rather than do the sensible thing and cut back on spending, they will likely be demanding more from the member countries to fill our gap.

[@victorcapel2755]

No other citizens in Europe care, really. This is way, way tougher on the UK than the EU, we really left Brexit behind a year ago.

[@thereita1052]

Onestly we can just cut spending

[@simonlarge2052]

Yeah, after decades of spending other people’s money, the EU will just stop. Especially with the monetary policy the EU have enacted recently.

[@victorcapel2755]

@@simonlarge2052 "Other peoples money"? Are you implying that the EU is a person, or are you implying that the EU is made up of anything else than it's member states?

[@simonlarge2052]

@@victorcapel2755 The EU took UK tax payers money and spent it. I can't really spell it out any more simply than that. Nice attempt at a false dichotomy though.

[@alexwallis-banbury7713]

In my experience, a lot of the issues that fueled Brexit were about migration and assimilation. One of the consistent talking points was that there is a rather tribal mechanism in a lot of migration. A lot of people from Europe want to bring a level of their own culture comforts with them - not saying that's a negative more that its just a fact - but over 30 years it's resulted in many citizens of Britain (that is Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales, and England) not speaking English to a standard high enough to pass SATs, GCSEs, or A-levels (middle and high school capability exams). You then get the twats that think anyone that isn't "bleached skin, fish and chips, the jolly old empire" are illegal migrants - a more accurate term for them would be unassimilated migrants; but they become the most vocal members of the right-wing presenting a racist, xenophobic front that just shits on anyone darker than a wax candle which is abhorrent, frankly. I personally would have voted in favour of Brexit (I wasn't old enough at the time) because I'm pro assimilation - I believe in the right to opportunity but not in cultural colonialism. For example, I went to school with a guy called Omai who migrated to the UK from Syria after being displaced by ISIS - he's doing quite well now, he's employed, loves the gym, etc etc - but he also learnt English as a primary concern after he moved. If you go into parts of the inner city, and areas as far as Slough or Worcester, you have entire communities both religious (Sikhs, Muslims, Hindus, etc. etc.) and National/Ethnic (Polish, Hungarian, Bulgarian, West African, Congolese, East African, North Africa, Pakistani, Indian, Sri Lankan, Bangladeshi, Nepalese, etc. etc.) that flat out refuse to assimilate. A group of families might all move onto an estate or a road, and then lobby the council to construct a house of worship, and then segregated schools that teach exclusively in a foreign language or in a foreign culture (there's an exclusively Urdu speaking school near me, and a school that's centred around Sharia teachings) which diminishes the national identity by political correctness forcing acceptance of those decisions. Britain already has a problem where national assemblies in Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland are desperately trying to preserve their languages, and indeed the Ancient history of the British Isles/Albion/The United Kingdoms/Brittannia shows that kings, queens, wars, alliances, and events are actually shared and intertwined with our sibling states. Our curriculum doesn't teach anything about British national identity (notions like Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite in France, or the pledge of allegiance and cohesive sense of national pride in the USA). The EU intrinsically promotes such diminishment because it is structured more similarly to the American Federal Model than it's original inception as a trade organization of European states - there are unelected commissions and courts, there's no scrutiny of EU institutions to speak of, and the freedom of movement effectively creates a highway from Turkey and Eastern Europe that goes West and ends in the UK and Ireland. Germany has a prominent movement whereby domestic lack of appetite to provide for Turkish or Syrian Migrants means they get shunted off to the next county, and the process repeats until you reach Dover at which point there's no further to go and the UK is probably the most culturally and ethnically diverse state in Europe, or at least it was, which makes it appealing for foreign migrants looking for work, shelter, and community. It's a very complicated subject and at 14 I found myself with some very questionable views about migrants and foreign peoples whereas now I'm more interested in preserving the cultures that have touched and contributed to the state - Britains history is one of migration - but we must have a common language, common ideals, and a sense of national identity that promotes morals, equality, and tolerance; we could, then, communicate our differing opinions and instil true democracy, instead of beating one another with cards of Race, intolerance, financial and hereditary privilege, and various other conflicts in the country. I'm white, I'm British, I'm straight, and I'm proud of those things and the history that comes with them - I don't condone some of the morally bankrupt and frankly abhorrent events and institutions that exist in that history, but that's the same as India's class system, American Jim Crow laws, or the idea that being gay warrants being kicked off of a skyscraper as a holy punishment (as it is in some non-secular Islamic states). The enlightenment set out a model and we've sort of fallen off it, but leaving the EU gives us at least some measure of autonomy to try and get back onto it - morals without the need of a god, brotherhood without the need of universal skin colour, discussion and debate over silence and violence, and a strong desire to lift all of our fellow citizens up from homelessness, poverty, social struggle, and strife. It's a new chapter, we don't really know what to expect, but it is a worthwhile journey if it means we can be better to others without having no standards for what people should be. Love from the United Kingdoms of Scotland, Wales, England, and Northern Ireland. :)

[@ProjectEkerTest33]

Dude I can see you've put in effort... but for us poor people trying to read this please break it up into paragraphs :)

[@DrunkTexanSays]

That's a doozy of a comment, but thank you for it! Yeah that's the one thing I'm very proud of America for. We are extremely multi-cultural and gay rights have come leaps and bounds in just the last few decades. I have the same view (and, conveniently, the same birthday) as Martin Luther King Jr: "Judge one not by the color of their skin, but rather the content of their character"

[@bbubbinklm4320]

Agree with a lot of this but you have to remember, migrants coming from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, turkey, Syria etc etc aren’t actually from the EU, so getting rid of freedom of movement won’t actually affect anything. We were always able to control the numbers of non-EU migrants coming to the UK. From my own personal experience the vast vast majority of EU migrants actually assimilate very very well as culture in other European countries is similar to the UK

[@lewishorsman2219]

@L M Good riddance? You won’t be saying that when you quickly realise the EU doesn’t give a shit about you and will drain you dry for the sake of “solidarity”. Greece, Poland, Czech Republic and others a already sad the UK have left because we were the only ones willing to speak up on how corrupt the EU is. You’ll find out soon enough but then again I’ve seen your education system. All of your teachers and professors were all part of the communist party in the 70s and 80s and we all know commies never change. Now your kids will be taught a veiled form of communism feeding them how great the EU is and how no country was ever successful without it.

[@bobbugwithoneeyeskingiskin8974]

@L M What happens when racialise factions within your country decide that gay rights are against their beliefs? Be it from the left or the right! Laws can be changed by demographic change and you are heading there quickly! The EU refused to deal with this earlier due to the perceived fear of looking bad! But this inaction will be the result of these liberties being lost and it with be your own fault!

[@TheBod76]

Imagine a US state leaving the US and then complaining about being treated like a country that is not part of the US. That's Brexit! ;)

[@fnl90]

Danish guy here, The Tldr videos are usually informative and non biased ( in my opinion Of cause ). As for what we mean, its quite diverse but most agree the UK fucked up. The EU is never really loved in The EU, its sort of like the federal government in the US. Most of us accept it as a necessary institution, since Europe is no where near its former glory. With the rise of Asia and soon Afrika and South America The EU countries are struggling to stay relevant and we just dont have the number of citizens, natural ressources or investment potential to strike out on our own like The US can. It will be interesting to see how th UK fairs, hopefully they will soar higher then ever, and other countries can follow their example, but i personally doubt it. Only time will really tell :) Lots of love for our UK brothers and sisters!

[@helenwood8482]

We are already rising. Denmark needs to break free too. You are old friends and far too good to stay slaves of the fascist EU.

[@fnl90]

@@helenwood8482 you go! but we are small. We only really have diplomatic significance through the Eu. We are neither a true military power, nor economic power and we have no nukes and only spares resources. that said we fare quite well as the "gate keepers" of the north, and most of our diplomatic powers comes from there as well. The entirety of the UK, every single country, will always find a true and loyal friend in the Danes, but i am not sure if we could thrive without the security of the EU :(

[@frankieg60]

The EU has its benefits but some are nonsensical. For example a Spaniard could 'marry' (sham marriage alert) any non EU country (Pakistan, Indian, Canada etc) national and move to the UK under EEA regulations. But if a native Brit married said Pakistani, Indian, Canadian etc, they would have to obtain relevant visas. Where is the logic? And you wonder why the Brexit vote won...

[@michaelmillett8724]

With the fishing, the EU started something called the Common Fisheries policy but the UK only got a very small quota. The lion's share went to France. This killed or fishing industry.

[@ZenosOsgorma]

@@ruud9761 too simplified, the quotas were sold off by government because the gdp of the fishing industry was shrinking due to catchment size, not earning the fishermen enough money to make a living. Then the EU scrapage scheme came into effect buying the boats. All part of a cascade from EU policy, the selling of quotas came as a result of it. Why keep quotas if the fishermen can't make a living off it, the government sold of what was theirs and had to avid by catch restrictions, throwing back dead fish due to over catch as part of EU fish conservation lol. UK managed fish stocks much better than the EU could dream of because it was left in the hands of experienced fishermen not paper pushers in Brussels.

[@alexi6636]

Be able to speak English: well that’s most Americans out then 😂

[@ronvlietvan1170]

Erasmus is a subsidised scheme so you pay half your tuition. This can be roughly 20.000 instead of 38000 pounds a year(high end) or euro's, to attending foreign universities and colleges.

[@otterspocket2826]

...and taxpayers in net contributory nations pay the rest.

[@pipercharms7374]

I wanted to remain, however I am interested in the possibility of closer ties with countries that we could not do under the EU. My parents voted to leave, they believe EU is becoming too controlling and that we'll have to change our money to euros (which has not gone well for a lot of countries who made the switch) and that eventually most of our laws will be controlled by the EU if we stayed. I considered myself a european and believe we're stronger together however nothing can change it now, though only positive light I can see is that without the EU we'll be able to get a lot closer to other countries outside the EU, for example I really love the idea of CANZAK, with free movement and free trade in between these countries.

[@ToothbrushMan]

"without the EU we'll be able to get a lot closer to other countries outside the EU" Sorry. We were never prevented being "closer" to other countries whilst inside the EU. This is Brexit nonsense. "that eventually most of our laws will be controlled by the EU if we stayed. " The EU have NEVER ever controlled our laws. This is by design. Again, this is nonsense. And as for CANZUK - it's a pipe dream: "Pro-Brexit activists and politicians have argued for negotiating trade and migration agreements with the "CANZUK" countries-those of Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.[176][177] Numerous academics have criticised this alternative for EU membership as "post-imperial nostalgia".[178][179][180] Economists note that distance reduces trade, a key aspect of the gravity model of trade, which means that even if the UK could obtain similar trade terms with the CANZUK countries as it had as part of the Single Market, it would be far less valuable to the UK.[181][182][183]"

[@pipercharms7374]

@@ToothbrushMan Brexit nonsense? We were in a trade block, meaning EU was in charge of our trade deals, how is getting rid of that, and able to do our own trade deals, not make us closer and reach out more to other countries? Unless your telling me we had complete control over our trade deals while in the EU. I suggest you look into what CANZUK actually is before you comment on it, anyone who thinks is anything to do with Empire nostolga has not actually looked into what CANZUK is about or being a bit of an idiot.

[@ToothbrushMan]

@@pipercharms7374 What do mean "reaching out to other countries"? The EU had trade deals with most of the world. There really aren't that many countries to "reach out" too. Unless you count the trade deal signed today by Luz Truss with Turkey. The EU won't touch Turkey because if its human rights record, but we are? What happened to the invasion of the UK by millions of Turkish, as claimed in the Brexit referendum. And no. The CANZUK is a pipe dream. Sorry. I gsve you a link with references rubbishing the idea that we can replace trade list with the EU with CANZUK. You asked me to look into what CANZUK is, I did, and that's what I found.

[@ToothbrushMan]

@@pipercharms7374 And yes, we had control over EU trade deals whilst we were in the UK. All EU member states did.

[@pipercharms7374]

@@ToothbrushMan And I can give you plenty of links "unrubbishing the idea" so what? Also when did I say replace EU with CANZUK? I said CANZUK could possibly be a thing because we're out of the EU, thats all I said. Also if we had full control over our own trade deals, why would we need to remake the trade deals in the first place. Full control as in, actually navigating them ourselves, if we had full control, we also wouldn't need help in negotiations and it constantly being repeated that we're "new" and we don't have much experience in negotiations to do with trade deals. The way your trying to deny what I'm saying you're behaving like I am a full on Brexit supporter, which I litually just said I'm not I'm just trying to look at the bright side, despite it obviously having a more bleak side, jeez.

[@Helen-cw1qs]

Erasmus was the agreement that a university student could study abroad in another university on an equivalent course for their 2nd year. When I did my degree a lady from Finland joined us for her 2nd year. One of my UK student friends did their 2nd year in Germany. You then return to your home country for your 3rd year and complete your degree.

[@gentlebabarian]

Sounds awesome! sadly because of ignorance this is not possible anymore.

[@Helen-cw1qs]

@@gentlebabarian no, it’s not ignorance. Erasmus costs 30 billion euros a year to run and the U.K. paid half of that. It was the largest contributor: but U.K. students preferred destination for study abroad is Australia and the USA. It was like paying for gym membership you only used for the first week of January!

[@HeberFerrazLeite]

Since you asked the question of the "inner workings" ... I am a citizen of (and live in) Austria. Austria has been a member of the EU since 1995. As a citizen I have the four freedoms mentioned in the video: I can live and work in any EU country (movement of people), I can buy stuff from any store in any EU country or as a businesspreson I can sell goods to any customer in any EU country without having to think about import/export procedures (movement of goods), I can buy / offer services from / to anybody in any EU country (movement of services) and I can be a customer of any bank in any EU country without any extra regulation (movement of money). This is what creates the common market - for all practical purposes the EU behaves towards its citizens as if it were one large country - not quite a "united states of europe" as there is no common citizenship, but as a citizen of one EU country I have all rights in any other EU country, except for electing the government. For this common market to work there needs to be a set of common rules. These are called EU directives and member countries are mandated to convert these directives into national law. For example: there is an EU directive about customer protection for online shopping that basically states that I have 14 days after an online purchase to change my mind, return the products and get my money back, no questions asked. Any company based in the EU needs to follow that rule and I can sue them if they don't. Obviously that imposes on the business the mandate to have a process for taking goods back and it means additional cost and risk, which will be reflected in their prices. As a customer I can trust that when buying from any company within the EU, no matter which country they are located in, the same rules will apply ... because it is the same market. Let's say that in one of the EU countries that rule would not exist, that company would not need to factor that into their prices, and they could offer goods cheaper, which would give them a competitive advantage. That is not allowed by EU rules. In order to keep the common market a "level playing field" the minimum set of rules needs to be followed by everybody. The online purchase protection is one example, but many rules apply to the common market depending on the type of business. These will include labor laws, tax laws, etc. Having a set of such imposed rules can be seen as giving up sovereignty, which in a way it is, but it is the price to pay for the common market. The EU, however, does not consist of "unelected official" as some critics claim. The EU government - the so called EU commission - is indeed appointed, not elected, but it is appointed by the corresponding goverments of the member states, which are all democratically elected. Also the EU commission is not a EU law-making body, it is an admistrative body that executes and can propose EU law, but not decide on it. The decisions are made by two "chambers": 1.- The EU council, which consists of the democratically elected heads of government of all member countries, with every country having veto power in any important decision. 2.- The EU parlament, which consists of elected representatives from all member countries. These are elected in EU wide elections every five years. Ultimately it is not possible to make EU law "against" the will of one member country, as that country's head of government will veto the decision. BUT ... the others are likely to remember that and be less agreeable towards any desires that country may have in the future ... so it becomes a matter of forming the right alliances and know when to give and when to take. That is the core of EU politics. In the UK a majority of people have been conviced that being in the EU and having to follow the common-market rules is not to their advantage anymore, and that they would be better off leaving the union. The great majority of people in the other EU countries regret that, but since that is what was democratically voted on, they are of course free to go. The problem was that we (people in the remaining EU) got the impression the UK wanted to leave as in "not follow the rules and not contribute to the budget", but still wanted to have free access to the EU market and all the benefits from it. The attitude was "no, you can't have your cake and eat it". The comparison that was made was if you are member in a gym they will have rules to follow and a membership fee you need to pay. If you decide you do not want to follow the rules anymore and don't want to pay your fee anymore, you will be free to quit your membership, but they won't let you come and use the gym anymore. It's the same with the EU. Somehow the UK behaved as if they didn't want to be members anymore, but still enjoy all the benefits ... and they were clearly told "no" ... and that then was picked up by some media in the UK as "the EU is being unreasonable and mean to us". There will be different opinions on an issue as complex as this in every country, but I don't see any other EU country where nothing close to a majority would want to leave the EU. Almost everybody thinks the advantages by far outweigh the disavantages. Ony the UK saw it different, which probably is so mainly for historic reasons.

[@morganyu3838]

300 years? American independence didn't overtly affect the Royal Navy or British naval power. After the American revolution the British defeated the combined navies of the Spanish Empire and the French Empire (Battle of Trafalgar), plus held the Dutch navy in check, and the Royal Navy became the unchallenged naval power for over a 100 years. (Policing trade routes, shutting down slaves trades etc) lol Meanwhile the French Imperial fat-twat was defeated by combined British Imperial and Prussian forces (Battle of Waterloo). The British Empire actually expanded and became larger after the American Revolution. I get the feeling that some Americans think the Empire was done after they won independence. The British Empire wasn't done until the Second World War. It was the British Empire and its Commonwealth that held the Nazis for a year on its own,, fought them in several theatres around the world, from Africa to the Med. The Empire didn't collapse. It wasn't destroyed by Minutemen. The post-war WWII period saw it largely- voluntarily dismantling itself and begin decolonisation. {=)

[@richardh8082]

Beer? My cider (fermented apples) her in UK is 8.4% alcohol. Cheers!

[@mrmagoo-i2l]

Westons vintage 8.2% is the strongest I know of.

[@richardh8082]

@@mrmagoo-i2l Bloomin good stuff! Makes yer legs go funny :)

[@thomaslewis3071]

The EU membership of the UK has always been split. One only need watch the furious debates amongst politicians and scholars from the UKs first referendum to show how much the issue has split the country from the beginning. What really pushed those who wanted to leave was laws that caused harm to the UK. I.E. the laws on state subsidies, meaning the ruination of companies like Broadwood, or the laws about government interference that means we cant stop companies being sold abroad like ARM, then there's the laws that are, sadly, undeniably protectionist such as the farm laws that don't allow the import of raw sugar cane from the Caribbean because we have to use European sugarbeet, which has ruined our sugar industry. The CFP is an abject failure, the Mediterranean is practically devoid of fish, and one asks why a nations natural resource such as fish was deemed a free-for-all across the EU but something such as coal was not. The UK by its geographic nature has seen the decimation of its fishing communities under the CFP. The real kicker is the Commonwealth; before the EU, more or less everything we have with the EU we had with the Commonwealth, but it did not cost billions every year, and did not make legal demands on the other nations, there were reciprocal recognitions of standards. Several years into EEC membership the UK was told it was an unfair advantage to trade with the Commonwealth in such a way and and it was stopped almost overnight. This nearly destroyed the Australian wool industry, beef industry, New Zealand lamb and dairy industries, and many others in the Commonwealth. I think the new Brexit trade deal is a very good compromise. The only argument I would have is the EUs refusal to include the service industry, but it rarely includes them on trade deals, so one can argue its not an action of spite. If you want to see another reason the UK voted leave, watch a few videos on the EU parliament and Commission. Look at the treatment of the UK, it has clearly never been the UKs friend. The EU expects its members to be a bunch of yes men.

[@sirierieott5882]

No queues so far at Dover... moving 5K trucks a day (both directions), no delays, all done electronically with random checks only.

[@carolinamontiel4989]

I am a Spanish (EU) citizen living and working in the UK (for the past 10 years) and with a British boyfriend. You had some questions about the impact of Brexit on phising and university education that I would me more than happy to help responding but I wanted to focus in the family aspect. You mention the anchor babys in the US, however in the UK that's not the case. Children are not directly entitled to the UK citizenship unless one of the parents are British. The issue about family affects regular people. If a couple meet and marry out of the UK, and they even have British childern, the non British spouse wouldn't be able to live in the UK and the emigration regime would apply. There is an option (after loads of paperwork) where if the spouse has no job, the family would have to be responsible of that member financial security and thresholds would apply. If neither the children or the spouse are British, then I wouldn't even try.

[@davidb1038]

Erasmus is just a students exchange scheme from various e.u countries studying at different colleges and universities in each other's country i.e. A British student can study in a German or French university and vice versa.

[@johnc9187]

Over the years the Erasmus scheme has cost the uk over 25 billion and received a tiny fraction in return

[@carlosandleon]

@@johnc9187 I mean duh, the stronger states aren't going to see returns, that wouldn't make any sense. You're pooling money together and distributing out equally to members. With basic math you can work out that if you're a major contributor, you do not get much returns. But that's not the point in the first place. There is physically and logically no way the strong Northern Countries will get more out of the project than they give. You don't contribute in order to get a financial return. The profit comes in unquantifiable values.

[@johnc9187]

@@carlosandleon well, duh, the purpose of Erasmus was purely to operate an EU wide student exchange program. We put in about 25 billion and our students received about 1 billion worth of exchange. Yes I understand that some of the countries pay more, however this, like many other EU institution, is extortion, especially when you consider that the vast majority of UK students in exchange programs go to the States. Exchanges will still be open for UK students to study in EU countries and vice versa, but it will cost a tiny amount in comparison.

[@danknighton3286]

It’s good to see an interested American, I’ve been following the news in America over the last year and I see a lot of similarities with what’s happening politically, there would have been no Trump Presidency without Brexit, he admitted that himself. A lot of it boils down to global outlook and both countries have seen a populist form of nationalism emerge over the past five years, MAGA and Brexit. Britain joined what was called the Common Market in 1974 which was an economic bloc of European nations born out of a desire to avoid future wars. That to me is what it should have remained, instead it morphing into the European Union and ever more political integration. I don’t think Britain was ever totally on board with giving up their sovereignty to Europe, in basic terms it meant giving up control of our own destiny even though there were many benefits in being a member. Sovereignty is the reason that I voted to leave, I wanted to know that whatever happens in Britain happens because of decisions made by British people, not by European bureaucrats in Brussels. So, Britain was given a referendum in 2016 to decide whether to remain or leave and after four and a half years of rancour, two general elections and three Prime Ministers, we have finally reached the point where we can finally say we have regained our sovereignty. I believe we have a bright future outside the EU, we can make trade deals with who we like and gain competitive advantage, I also believe that the EU has had it’s day and other countries will leave the block in the coming years. I know it won’t all be plain sailing but I’m extremely pleased we have regained our status as a fully independent country once more.

[@hereward6771]

This Englishman agrees with you. Any American who wants a succinct, balanced summary should read the above. The allegedly drunk Texan notes that there has been war for less. The four horsemen of the apocalypse quickly get out of hand. We have seen plague apparently under control and we are seeing war apparently under control. Let's hope it stays that way.

[@samhartford8677]

"I believe we have a bright future outside the EU, we can make trade deals with who we like and gain competitive advantage." -- Now, I completely respect your desire for sovereignty, even if think it is ridiculous fantasy in the century of the Asian giants. But hey, I come from an small country, not an ex-empire still thinking it's a big boy on the world stage. The UK is a mid-sized power that has just reduced its power further. However, regarding the quotation above, you clearly have not read about rules of origin. Your producers will never again have the benefit of economies of scale that the EU single market was able to produce. Why do you think the Americans are having problems competing against China and Mexico etc. even if they have a huge almost single market in the US? And the UK just made itself into 'Canada' without the Pacific Ocean. The Brexit fantasies, in the short- and the mid-term are just -- because of systemic reasons - stupid. The world does not work like the Brexiteers think it does. However, I do recognize that the UK can in 15 years time compete with China after it has reduced the benefits of its workers and its environmental standards to the Chinese level.

[@EwanV]

The UN (like the league of nations) was founded to keep the peace. The EU has always been a free trade alliance, right from The Treaty of Rome in 1957, which founded the European Economic Community. The EU as a whole has a GDP of $17.28tn which actually gives it a bigger economy than China and if we were to include the EEA, and EFTA countries, its right up with the USA's GDP. www.worldometers.info/population/china-eu-usa-japan-comparison/ Leaving the EU is a financial and economic disaster which will likely take us back to being the "sick man of Europe", which we were before we joined the EEC. www.economist.com/buttonwoods-notebook/2017/07/19/britain-back-to-being-the-sick-man-of-europe Prior to the Brexit vote, our economy topped out at $3tn in 2014. Today we still have the 2nd largest single economy in europe, but $2.7tn does not compete with $17.2tn, and it is predicted to go downhill from here for the next 3-5 years.

[@amandaely9983]

@@samhartford8677 I’d rather be a poor master than a rich slave......you condescending person. Respect to you too, nob jockey

[@samhartford8677]

@@amandaely9983 You are free to be poor. The thing I am saying is that it's stupid to believe instead of to know. However, if you wish, you are free to be stupid too. Condescending. Most probably. Why? Because if you had none other but lazy cells in your brain, you would find out facts instead of believe rhetoric.

[@lewilewis3944]

The fishing thing was a matter of principal. Our fishing industry has declined so much over the last 5 decades it's not worth a lot anyway and only accounts for 0.1% of GDP, less than £1 billion, but the tabloids had stoked up so much bad feeling about it they made out that it was like a war against invaders, and average Joe fell for it. It's a reason that a lot voted for Brexit not realising they were being fed pure BS, and that a lot of the declining fishing villages now relied on international tourism to survive. The British Gov fought so hard over fishing that they forgot about the financial services sector, which accounts for 7% of GDP, half of that generated in London. Brexit will cost the City of London approx.' £20 billion in lost revenue and extra taxes in 2021. Less than 4% of UK laws came from the EU and were mostly about consumer/human rights protection, workers rights and standardisation of weights, measurements and safety standards. However most UK safety standards took precedent and were higher anyway. Our electricity plugs are famous for a reason! We always had our own sovereignty and autonomy, it was never lost. We had the power to veto any EU measures. Any EU laws had to be ratified by our elected parliament with a for/against vote to become UK law. We still have, and have always had, an unelected head of state (The Queen) and an unelected upper house (The House of Lords). I despaired at the leave vote as I'd seen the advantages and even lived/worked in Italy for a while without the need for a visa or any red tape. I think the great British public have been sold a lie. But that seems to be the age we're in, blaming foreigners is in fashion.

[@dannoble1273]

You’re a remoaner twat Lewi Lewis I hope those lemons 🍋 r bitter for you 🤘🏻

[@Davey-Boyd]

I agree. I am a long distance hiker (each hike at least 2000 miles). I used to hike in Europe for over 5 months a year. I was into the planning of a hike from St Petersburg to the far end of Spain. With Brexit that is now impossible, as my walking season has now been cut to a maximum of 30 days in one go. The UK is a shitpit that is going to get worse after Brexit. I would gladly burn my passport and move to ANY other EU country if I could (and am actively looking into it). I now feel like a prisoner in my own land. Those that voted for Brexit should be ashamed of themselves.

[@lewilewis3944]

@@dannoble1273 And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the level of a leavers intellect. See how easy it was to con them?

[@DB-stuff]

@@lewilewis3944 indeed you showed them up for are, it will be a rush to the bottom now, employment conditions, food standards, Brexit was a con using people fear

[@jpw6893]

@@DB-stuff the employment bill is due shortly, so either you will be correct or totally wrong.

[@georgeb9388]

Erasmus+ is basically a university exchange program between EU countries and a few other European countries outside the EU where students can study or work abroad at partner universities.

[@stephenhetterley1699]

Erasmus is a programe where you can study at EU University as part of UK study. This is going to be replaced where you can study at country anywhere in the world

[@aitchtfc]

This is going to be replaced, at some point in the future, by an unspecified program were you can study in an unspecified country/ies

[@Gambit771]

Basically there's no need for a lot of this nor for it to be so petty or complicated but the EU desperately needs to make leaving them as difficult as possible so other countries don't follow the the UK. There's always been a dislike for the EU in within EU countries but in recent years this has grown and continues to meaning in 5 years, unless the EU does something to change opinion, other countries could leave especially ones that are net contributers. Their handling of the covid vaccine and funds to cope has only helped to further anti-eu opinions.

[@ToothbrushMan]

Support for the EU is at an all time high, driven by Brexit. Note that there is a lot of UK pro-Brexit media *saying* that the EU is "about" to break up, but if you read carefully, it turns out that they are quoting an obscure German philosopher or a single Italian anti-EU politician, or such like. In all cases, there is popular support for staying in the EU - even if a majority of the population dislikes the EU - they still support being in the EU. It is important to pick up on the details of such newspaper articles, who is saying these things, who they are quoting, are they relevant. The Daily Express is notorious for this because it doesn't actually have any investigative journalists at all. To cut costs (in the face of social media) the DE regurgitates public announcements (no investigation required), random individuals as though they are authority on the matter in question (no investigation required) and publicity hungry B-league celebrities (again, no investigation required). Just because I can find at least one individual out of a population of 65 million that thinks they have been abducted by aliens, doesn't mean there is an invasion by aliens is ridiculous. But this is exactly what some of the pro-Brexit media have been doing for quite a while now.

[@Gambit771]

@@ToothbrushMan Your last paragraph is something you should apply to yourself. All of Germany's biggest newspapers are heavily criticising the EU and anti EU sentiment in all the big EU countries is at an all time high. Maybe so some research beyond the pro-eu BBC and twatter. Check out twatter in Germany and see how even there they are turning against the EU.

[@ToothbrushMan]

@@Gambit771 "Your last paragraph is something you should apply to yourself." How does this even make sense? Did you even read what I wrote? "All of Germany's biggest newspapers are heavily criticising the EU and anti EU sentiment in all the big EU countries is at an all time high." This is factually wrong. And I don't need to quote the BBC (and I did not) or Twitter (!?!?) - just try using Google: "In the wake of the UK's vote to withdraw, opinion polls showed that support for the EU surged across Europe. Surveying shows that the EU has the highest support in 35 years.[40] The UK has also seen a resurgence of EU based support with polls showing that in September 2018 more British residents thought Brexit would be wrong rather than the original August 2016 polling data that showed more support for Brexit rather than remaining.[41][42][43][6]" en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impact_of_Brexit_on_the_European_Union "The latest EU public opinion survey, conducted in September 2018, reveals a clear and growing appreciation for EU membership, reaching a record high of 68%" www.europarl.europa.eu/unitedkingdom/en/media/news/2018/oct18/brexit-effect-public-opinion-survey-shows-that-eu-is-more-appreciated-than-ever.html "Three and a half years on, these fears have proved to be unfounded. Rather, as the citizens of the remaining 27 states have observed the destabilising impact that the referendum decision has had on British politics, they have been inoculated against the desire to secede from the EU. Outside the UK, national-populist parties have moderated their anti-EU rhetoric and nowadays profess to want to change the EU from within instead of destroying it." theconversation.com/why-brexit-has-not-and-will-not-trigger-eu-disintegration-130719 I could go on. As I said, and you seem to have completely missing my point, the anti-Brexit media are cherry picking quotes, quoting obscure "experts" (who are nothing of the sort) - indeed not even bothering to print any facts that run against their editorial narrative. Try reading the DE with a more critical eye next time. And what has Twitter in Germany got to do with anything? Is this how you gauge public opinion? That's just beyond stupid. Now, if you have any links that prove what you are saying is true, then I suggest you supply them.

[@Shoikan]

That is a very limited view. The open borders and trade within the EU work, because all countries in the EU follow the same quality checks and regulations and certifications. So, if I live in country A within the EU and buy stuff from country B in the EU I can be assured that what I get is going to be comparable (quality, reliability, etc) to what I buy in my local shop. The UK wants to have full control over all those regulations. So, as an EU citizen I automatically do not have those guarantees anymore. Why would the EU allow the UK to become a conduit or seller of such unwanted products into the EU? Your regulations on the quality of food (chlorinated chicken anyone?!) are going to be far far worse than those in the EU. Why would we want to let such crap be freely sold in the EU? Even if part of the reason for the tough negotiations between the EU and UK were out of making it 'hard', it does not take any stretch of the imagination to consider that your politicians have been twisting, turning and spinning to make the brexit look good. How can you make an agreement with a country that says one thing today, something else tomorrow and nothing the day after? How can you feel confident that an agreement will be stuck to if the country you are making it is already telling you 'well, yeah, nice, but we're actually going to break it' like yours did? A lot, and I firmly believe the vast majority, of the problems and friction were of the UKs own doing.

[@Shoikan]

@@Gambit771 sorry, but I call BS on that. Ever since EU countries have had the opportunity to watch the UK trainwreck, even politicians such as Wilders have turned down their anti-EU rhetoric.

[@markjohnson188]

The Erasmus scheme was a a Europe wide student exchange scheme. More money went in than the scheme needed. It disappeared down a Brussels black hole - and we are talking many millions. Britain has replaced it with the Turing exchange scheme which hopefully has more value for money.

[@peterharvey6527]

Largely about increasing political union and the EU dream of a federal state. The U.K. population were shielded from what was going on in the EU political sphere by our own pro EU establishment including the media. This really started to change in the last few years when people became more aware of how the EU works on a political level and where it is going. In a democratic vote the British rejected the ‘European dream’ and voted to leave. I guess we like our independence too much to become a regional area of an EU superstate.

[@Onnarashi]

"The continent of Great Britain." - Some 'Murican.

[@DrunkTexanSays]

*me

[@darktimes9489]

We got out before the EU Covid economic collapse and bailouts happen....We literally couldn't lose any more money than staying, if we set our entire fucking country on fire.

[@WillemUtUje]

​@Fields Of Ulster All farcical nonsense. EU countries are all still completely sovereign. If you had ever done ever an hour of homework, you'd realise that. There are people/parliamentarians/parties in the EU who would prefer it to be a single federation, but they are the vast minority. Verhofstadt can scream and preach all he wants; it's not going to happen any time soon. Better cooperation in certain fields (environment, defence) will happen and that's a good thing. Calling the EU undemocratic from a British point of view is hilarious (I'll inform Scotland they can secede from the UK like the UK did from the EU).

[@WillemUtUje]

@David Bentolila You really think we hate you for leaving? For having a referendum and following up on it? Believe it or not but we understand english, and we have access to british media. When characters like Farage, Rees Mogg, and ERG MPs insult the EU (calling us undemocratic vassal states and such), it ticks us off. Over the past 4,5 years you've shown your true colours UK, and the EU now is happy to see you have left. We're a better union for it. Enjoy the smell of your rotting fish.

[@Cygnus888]

@David Bentolila People don't hate the UK for making a democratic decision, but because you are making a stink of it. Luckily you are out and we can move on with our lives without the constant whining.

[@andyonions7864]

The world's 4th largest economy is leaving the world's largest trading bloc. It ain't small fry. The EU is a political, economic and legal entity, it's NOT just a trading bloc. With the UK outside of the bloc, but still trading with a Free Trade Agreement, the UK, has effectively left the political and legal systems of the EU. Imagine the US, Canada and Mexico setting up a club where they all pool sovereignty and have a single economic, political and legal setup with the 4 basic freedoms. It's not really possible as an American. Half of Britons can't understand why you'd want to do such a thing and the other half can't understand why you would NOT want to do such a thing.

[@ToothbrushMan]

"The world's 4th largest economy is leaving the world's largest trading bloc." 6th largest economy, going down to 7th.. We were the 5th in 2016, no more.

[@andyonions7864]

@@ToothbrushMan outdated numbers dood. We just re-overtook India to climb to 4th. France is down to 7th.

[@ToothbrushMan]

​@@andyonions7864 1. There is a pandemic going on. 2. Depends on who is doing the measuring. The IMF says we're in 5th place. World bank and UN say we're in 6th place. Note that US, China, Japan and Germany are way, way ahead, so there is no way we can be in 4th place. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(nominal)

[@andyonions7864]

@@ToothbrushMan I'd accept that argument. 5th then.

[@madyin3509]

@@ToothbrushMan Yeah Britain currently has the 5th largest economy, but from the way it looks we will be overtaking Germany in the coming years. Brexit was definitely a good move so far, but only time will tell how good.

[@jacketrussell]

12:04 - if a dog is born in a stable, does that make it a horse?

[@StuartLomas]

Hi, Firstly you need to understand that in the 70s we were taken in the Common Market to make European trade easier, this then changed to the European Economic Community where further demands & changes started to appear like introduction of a Governing body. The final change was into the European this being the final phase of creating one block who would be governed from Brussels or Strasburg, now most countries use the Euro so they cannot control their own currency or rate of exchange except for UK. The project is in its final stage, from the original 8 member states there are now 27 now the UK have left. Fishing has always been an issue, back in the 70s we experienced the Cod Wars with Iceland. In the 80s our membership of the EEC basically destroyed our fishing fleets & broke many fishing communities. What has happened, regardless what our Prime Minister & cabinet say, they are all fans of being in the EU & were shocked that the people voted to leave. You would be interested in finding information online about a guy called Jean Monet (known as the Father of Europe) he wrote a letter a friend where he laid out plans for the development of the EU including one currency, one Government, one army, making the United States of Europe & this can't happen as unlike the U.S. Europe is made up of so many people with different languages & traditions,vee are not one people unlike the U.S. MY opinion is, as there seems to be unhappy countries, the EU Project will come apart over the next 50 years as people are proud of who they are & cannot see being forced to be conglomerated under one flag, being a good thing. Nice video btw

[@carlosandleon]

Nah. Cooperation makes more sense. Especially from the individual and business perspective. Makes things easier. A United States of European is definitively a wise decision if everyone had a brain. But many choose the heart instead which isn't wrong but often stupid. I come from a country where we have over 120 different cultures and languages under one nation. The argument about cultural differences is invalid by default in my book because there already are countries that make it work. Indonesia, Philippines, Russia just to name a few. Hell you can count Spain too, their peoples can be vastly different. Also you have to consider the European identity is increasing Especially among the youth. When I meet Europeans, they are far more similar to each other than they realize, even between Latin and Germanic nations. Maybe a A United Europe would start off with a more limited amount of member, I can see eastern countries not commiting. But while the EU can remain a bit volatile moving forward to the formation of the Super State, the central countries would be more commited with Benelux Germany and France going ahead for sure. I think ultimately both scenarios are going to be true. The EU will break apart and further unite at the same time with central States coming together and fringe states breaking apart.

[@Fadingfool]

A United States of Europe would be an immediate threat to Russia. This shift of power (and given the plans for an EU army) would not be peaceful for long (especially with the EUs opinion of the USA).

[@StuartLomas]

@@carlosandleon The EU as is , is a corruption big how this whole thing started. If you truly believe the Super State is a good idea, you need to look into Jean Monnet, the do called father of Europe who, in s letter to a friend outlined how the super state would be developed behind the backs of the people SO anything that is developed without the consent of the people is never a good idea & now the UK had left, it is my belief Greece, Portugal & Italy will soon follow & there are decenting voices in France. There are still those of us who wish to be independent & in control, this is not the EU.

[@Ratzie01]

@@StuartLomas The EU is not corrupt, that kind of demogoge talk is al the fancy with angry populists. It does work however on the basis of a principle the Anglo-Saxon world is completely unfimiliar with "compromise". The only way forward IS cooperation and union. Sure it's hard, the easy way is war all over again. And sacrafices in many area's have to be made. Like the massive subsidies from west to east to lift our brethren from destitution and poverty. With astounding succus I may add! Sure surtain people will always oppose this if the knew the full details. You can't spend money twice as we say in Dutch. But it's the only path that has value and protects us from further internal conflict. And yes, there are hard and lengthy debates to reach that consensus. Again the Anglo-saxon way of kill-and- grab-what-you-want is so nineteenhundreds. We choose to resist the devide and concour tactics of old Europe and go for the united Europe we need. I don't blame exceptionalist Brits and trans-atlantic cousins for not understanding, but don't come prancing around jelling "the EU's dead" "They wont last a year". That trash has overwritten itself in aeternam. There is a subtle difference between what is true and what you want to be true. Is it hard on the Union the UK left? Sure. No problem admitting that. We'll miss the revenue and the counterbalance in decisionmaking against France. But it has made the Union stronger. To use exceptionaliststan lingo: We're more an "alliance of the willing" then before. You Brits never fully signed up in the first place. I bet any MS would want a rebate like the Brits had. But we don't, we rather go back to our European friends and DISCUSS how we move forward. And to end the rant. Russia is no threat to the EU. On the contrary, the more Anglo-Saxon exceptionalism retreats from the continent, the more we will and will be able to cooperate with Russia, likewise with China. A true Eurasion economic cooperation in the making. Enjoy your CANZUK Tim Tam's in splendid isolation.

[@StuartLomas]

@@Ratzie01 A wonderful example of EU 'Word Salad' . The inference that Anglo Saxon s 'cannit be expected to understand' this principle is insulting but I guess you wanted it to be that way. The EU is not what it was back in the 70s & I believe BREXIT is the beginning of the end of this corrupt body who's aim is to for this conglomerate political block controlled centrally, some would say, the completion of the Third Reich. As long as certain people like Guy Verhofstad are allowed to hold views that aim to build an EU Empire, the more countries will want to leave as certainly, those in the east of the EU have fought to be free of 'Empites' or huge political states, will not want to be part of a new one. But, if as it seems you are a EU Fan, I wish you all the best as the levels of joy in how you are being controlled in all aspects of your life,

[@eointolster]

I did Erasmus back in 2000. It was great

[@bernardomacara6284]

Erasmus is a European educational Program where you go for a full semester to study abroad with a erasmus scolarship, meaning i live in Portugal and i went to Poland to study for 6 months, party and meet people from different countries and different cultures and travel a lot around the rest of europe in student mode (cheap ass mode). About the Brexit, some people in GB think they lose by being in EU, meaning they give a lot of money and dont get as much in return, for example and having to follow European laws (that GB accepted most and passed most). Honestly, the Brexit Propaganda was very unfaithfull being done with a lot of lies and promises that they would never would be able to keep. I am in the opinion they are gonna struggle and a lot, might grow back some day but very far into the future. That being sad when the vote was done a lot of people did not know for sure what they were voting for, a lot knew but a lot didnt. The fishing stuff for britain is very irrelevant its just a matter of supporting those that voted for brexit because they feel that europeans use their waters too much and its very little income of GB.

[@HrHaakon]

Erasmus: Imagine if the US federal government had an opt-in program states could join that let their students apply for and go to universities in other states. So if you're from Texas State, you could go to Michigan State for a semester, or vice versa. It's a way for European students to discover other places, create ties and take courses that might not otherwise be available. The UK has been against this since 1987, because if there's one thing the UK hate, it's mainland Europeans getting along.

[@luvirini]

As to your questions at end: I am from Finland and the UK leaving will affect very little overall. Some companies that trade with UK will obviously be hit. It seems that UK will be hit a lot more as the agreement only covers goods and EU will thus still be able to export to UK(but with a bit more paperwork) but UK has been exporting more services to EU and they are now seen as "any other country" and thus very limited. As for why EU allowed it: EU is a voluntary organization, countries are free to leave it, the basic agreements of EU include the basic procedures for doing it. And why UK wanted to leave: They were never so much into the the political project of trying to stop another war in Europe and mostly for the economics. And then EU enacted rules that would cause lots of the tax evasion and similar things to end, so the rich people who benefit from such in UK had the media they control whip up support for leaving the EU. So now they can be properly corrupt and tax avoided without oversight. then my final comments: At least in Finland, nothing has changed, except that one of my credit cards is now handled by a Lithuanian branch of a company instead of UK one and I cannot affordably order things from Amazon UK.... But in UK it seems like they are starting to have real problems already, with things like their fishermen not being able to export to EU due to not having health certificates and such. Also I expect that soon as the stockpiles will run out they will start running low on things like fresh fruits.

[@EatingMachine23]

This is a very one-sided opinion, although it is very hard not to give a one sided opinion as we all have our biases. There were many good reasons for people to want to leave the EU (and many good reasons to stay also). Unfortunately, the people who voted to leave often get painted as ignorant, uneducated racists who are completely controlled by the media. While I don't deny these people exist I think it is unfair to paint everyone with the same brush. The UK has always been a slightly hesitant member of the EU in some ways, for example, we never took on the EU currency (Euro). Personally, I think having completely open borders with the EU, as a small and very densely populated country, is not a great idea. I have no issue with immigration but I feel we should have some control over it. We also pay the second most of any country towards the EU budget (only beaten by Germany) and effectively subsidise many other nations www.statista.com/chart/18794/net-contributors-to-eu-budget/#:~:text=In%20the%202018%20budget%2C%20there,more%20than%20it%20got%20out. You can argue the merits of this but as a UK citizen it is not always where I would like my taxpayer money going. It also pays the highest 'subsidies' to Poland and Hungary who have very authoritarian governments who are fighting against the ideals of the EU whilst receiving the most money from it. I also do not like our highest court being overruled by the EU court. This has pros and cons but overall I would be happier with final decisions affecting the UK being made by our own courts. I also do not like aspects of the EU which are not overly democratic. Finally, from a very selfish point of view, I do not think the EU will survive in the long run as an institution and would rather not be so intertwined if it did collapse or break apart. I love the original concept of free trade and peace that made up the original plan for the EU but in my opinion, they are overstepping the mark and trying to become the United States of Europe, controlled greatly by Germany and France, not a group of allies working together. All that said I had some great conversations with friends that were pro-EU and they raised some great points regarding why we should stay. Only time will tell.

[@harshmarshman]

The UK arent that interested in peace in Europe? What nonsense is being fed to you in Finland?

[@coldcomfortfarm8557]

We're not sorry - and the above is bullshit

[@coldcomfortfarm8557]

Check out our history and the British Empire - we will do alright thank you

[@QnA22]

@@EatingMachine23 I think you are skipping a few steps before getting to your explanation. The UK was in an economic death trap in the 70s. No way out. It joined the EU and just as Poland and Hungary now, it was a net receiver of money until it was able to provide for itself again. You're saying you are entitled to receive money when in need, but others are not. EU court rules are above the UK ones?that is only logical in a trading block. It is above the UK Court in very specific areas only by the way, not everything. It needs to be when you trade internationally as you would otherwise go back to colonial times with actual trade wars. Sinking ships in order to win trade routes to make just an example. And let's not forget, The UK Co created those laws. 98,8% of EU law was supported or created by the UK. 0,2% of laws were not preferred by the UK.... that's a laugh to be even discussing about. The EU might not survive therefore I don't want to be part of it you say? That's an odd position to take in world history. No country until now lasted forever nor can we make any predictions about it. But it's that really a reason to stop defending a certain way of life? The western way of life is biggest threat is China. May I conclude you actually want to live under that totalitarian regime? It's your right, but I wonder how many other Brexiteers realize that that is the vote they cast? In the short term brexit is created for the benefit of warlord capitalists. But once the country is completely sucked dry and they leave, it's next overlord will be China. United States of Europe? that has been debunked a gazillion times. A simple veto if that would ever be proposed will be enough to stop that. EU not democratic? Don't forget it was so much ahead of its time in regards to democracy that the UK had only recently caught up. Though, it is still more democratic at the moment compared to the UK. The real name for your observation is "perceived democratic deficit". With this term you can find good comparisons to reality and perceived. Brexiteers played on this like the conman they are. Immigration,: The UK had the most generous immigration rules of the whole EU. That was the UK's personal choice. Immigration is never an issue. You can control who comes in or not. Illigal immigration is different. There is an issue with that in the EU. Legalizing them for example. But you have more control over that in the EU than outside. Something has to change, but those in power are afraid they will lose votes at the moment. Sad reality. it's not in the interest of Illigal immigrants either unfortunately. For every Illigal Nepalese arriving here, many are caught to work in the sex industry or textile slave. It's ruthless of us to allow this. In the meantime their homecountries are helped by getting rid of the problematic people. So nothing will ever change. It's inhumane.

[@neilgayleard3842]

This didn't happen overnight and it isn't about just one issue. It's much more complicated. But basically many British people have become fed up with the eu interfering in our lives. We want that control back, from this point on parliament has to make the decisions. Then the people will remove them if parliament doesn't come to heel.

[@daniellastuart3145]

that is total BS we had control of our own internal issues we did not need to leave the EU , we have lost so much more then then we have gained from leaving, the funding for JOB training come from the EU plus the Arts tourism and ton of other stuff and we were part of the EU parliament so we had a say in things . by the Most EU citizens speak better English the 50% of English people the same cant be said English people learning a 2nd language.

[@ToothbrushMan]

"But basically many British people have become fed up with the eu interfering in our lives." NEVER HAPPENED. The EU has NEVER interfered in our lives. Name just one example, please! "We want that control back, from this point on parliament has to make the decisions. " WE have always had control, Parliament has ALWAYS made the decisions. It's just ridiculous to say the EU was running the UK. Look, I don't know what your situation is, but you've been fed a pack of lies. Your ignorance of how the EU works betrays this. I'm all for electing or deselecting MPs from Parliament - but for heavens sake, please base your opinions on reality before making a decision to do so!

[@neilgayleard3842]

It's complicated, I rest my case.

[@ToothbrushMan]

@@neilgayleard3842 No. It's not complicated. It's the demonstrably false claims that are the trouble.

[@neilgayleard3842]

Really. I am not going over the arguments for or against. That's not the point. The man asked why. So I explained at the most basic level why.

[@imputaniumAAQF]

Hey Michael, Loved the video. I work for the British government, voted for Brexit and stood for a political party to leave the EU. Leaving the EU isn't about leaving Europe or being anti European. It's been an ongoing thing in Europe being ruled by an unelected growing super federal state that's operating like a country. Supporting the richer countries and ignoring the poorer ones. They have borrowed money from China and now given them a better trade deal and access than USA or India. The EU is not a friend to democracy or the working class. If I can strongly advise you to watch the documovie which basically helped push the vote to leave in the UK. It will give a good and detailed historical overview of that the EU has become. The movie is what has been called a Libertarians wet dream. Keen to know your thoughts. kzbin.info/www/bejne/i4WwqZl3oN2Zh5I Brexit the Movie is available free on KZbin and Google

[@adedmoh]

They are not saying that the British fleet is not capable to fulfill this increase and they are actually catching less fish now due to the fact that 80% of their fish normally was exported to the EU but exporting is currently not possible due to all the red tape. By the time the paperwork is done, the fish cannot be sold anymore.

[@klemenvidmar6307]

On the topic of leaving, unlike the USA, the EU is made of member countries, that can legaly leave at any time if they so chose. The Brits felt the fishing issue, which was present in overfishing, and immigration issue on top were to much so a referendum was held and it put this whole thing in motion. What I find interesting is the voting statistics, the fact that the younger you were, the more likely you were to vote remain, and the opposite, so if you were older, you were more likely to vote leave. Also the scottish national party wants another independence referendum, which boris denied. Also also, northern ireland is becoming divided again, so this british union might not be a union of british much longer.

[@JjustBoy]

I voted for Brexit. My reasoning was that the EU is to slow, it takes years to get anything done as you need to satisfy all member states before something becomes law. Being independent gives the UK the speed to adapt and move forward faster with the changing world. My second reasoning was that it gave the UK the potential to build new trading partnerships and take advantage of emerging markets or even form new free trades like the CANZUK deal. I get the whole appeal of Europe as if one country struggles the rest can help, it also brings standards together so everyone benefits but I trust the British government (who ever is in power) to keep Britain top of the world for standards and welfare.

[@highdownmartin]

I admire your trust in this government. I hope you feel they’ve not let you down.

[@AlexNights]

As a European I also hope that it goes well. But unfortunately I don't believe it will.

[@stevedearden1799]

The problem is....For too many years the UK was the promised land to everyone geographically beyond Europe. So you've got a man in Iraq, who has an absolutely genuine reasons to leave his country under oppression. Ok. So, he leaves Iraq and travels to the next safe country, but does he stop? No, he the travels through 8 or 9 totally safe countries …But why?... He has been told this story of 'Streets paved with Gold' in England. He then is determined to get to England. He travels through 8 to 10 safe European countries that could and would of offered him sanctuary to get to his 'promised land' . Why did he do this? Because, the UK before Brexit WAS the promised land and we were an open border who a not very smart person could pillage for money and property. We were such a weak, woke nation that we would just let anything happen... Then came the referendum......Then......The great British people spoke through the ballot box, and democracy. Enough ! Is what we said. We saved our country in the nick of time.

Total horseshit, you dumb fuck.

[@skraus8786]

From the depths of my german heart: Good luck with saving your country in the nick of time. I think you'll be needing it. But the time you mentioned will eventually tell. One question remains: Where does beeing an EU member forces you to give anything to that iraqi men?

[@lewiselrick97]

The UK has a vastly different culture to the rest of Europe, while a lot of mainland EU countries are pushing for a closer more federal Europe, the UK has never really wanted that, especially when it comes to defence as the UK has such a strong military vs most of the EU

[@porcupineinapettingzoo]

Yeah because Italians, Germans and Poles are all culturally identical and most EU countries are not also members of NATO!

[@Mark_Bickerton]

So many commentators talked about Brexit only in economic terms, and there were sound arguments on both sides. Suffice to say, any wholesale changes will inevitably involve some volatility in some areas, and great opportunities in others, but the point they ALL missed, or on the part of our MSM was deliberately ignored, was that we were always a square peg in a round hole. Couple that with the fact that you cannot change or even influence those who make and set the rules, ie:- the Un-elected Commission, (No taxation without representation for our US friends) it should be no surprise that in the end a majority chose to take back control of our own destiny. Succeed or fail, we only have ourselves to blame or praise!

[@alanrobinson-orr8748]

The part about alignment isnt quite true: While it's true that the UK wants to diverge, but the EU definitely doesn't, and has insisted on a Tariff regime to compensate for any divergence. The EU's aim is to protect the single market the 27 countries make up.