Philip Rycroft says promises on issues from economics to immigration have not lived up to expectations
  • Hanrahan@slrpnk.net
    8·
    2 days ago

    I’d have some empathy if this had been overwhelmingly voted against and it was forced on. them but that did not happen

    As an Australian I’d love for us to join the EU, what an amazing experiment in togetherness.

    • thanksforallthefish@literature.cafe
      2·
      2 days ago

      Desperate people were swayed by a propaganda campaign that spent decades telling them all their problems were because of the EU so the Tories weren’t held accountable for all the enshittifaction they did.

      If Pauline Hanson had a tenth of the media support and corporate built propaganda (eg Cambridge analytica etc) she’d be PM already.

      • Optional@lemmy.world
        2·
        2 days ago

        For real, Brexit was the first in what became a constant wave of using military psychological operations tactics on a civilian population to benefit oligarchs.

        Yes, people were complete idiots fir going along with it, but that in itself wasn’t particularly new.

    • BananaTrifleViolin@piefed.worldEnglish
      7·
      3 days ago

      Yeah the deal we had is gone, which will make rejoining more difficult to sell to the UK public. However I think we will rejoin eventually - the older voters who wanted to turn the clock back to some right wing fantasy Britain are dying off. The EU is popular among younger voters, and the rediculous referendum was so close; it should never been regarded as good enough to make such a huge constitutional change: 51.9% leave, 48.1% remain.

      I actually don’t think the deal we had was good for the EU or the UK long term. The rebates took the pressure off the EU to reform the CAP (although economic realities have diminished that issue over time), and I think opt outs on the Euro and the Schengen Zone actually held back the UK’s integration into Europe. The opt outs kept the discussion constantly around what we wouldn’t do, and set the “normal” position of the UK politically as sceptical and right of centre. Rejoining without all that would force UK governments to be committed to Europe and engage fully.

      We’re 10 years post the Brexit referendum; unfortunately I think realistically it’ll be another 10 years before rejoining is even a mainstream political issue. Up to now it’s largely been a subject that the politicians avoid. I thought it’d be the economic realities that would change things - and they have to an extent - but actually it’s probably Trump that has done more than anyone to show we’re better off in the EU. The USA is totally unreliable and the fantasy of aligning closer to the US is dead.