Who's for devaluation of the Pound?
EU Referendum | UK residents vote today.
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Exporters... That's about it... A big devaluation will hit normal people pretty hard
Quite... isn't this a big risk if the UK pulls out?
There are plenty of third-world countries where people aren't entitled to anything at all. Right-wing utopias, you might say.
Sadly there used to be a very strong skills base here for rail infrastructure. That another thing that seems to have diminished whilst we've been in the EU.
True... Though it diminishing has nothing to do with the eu...
More it is commercially risky and has terrible profit margins compared to other works for tier one contractors so as the demographics of the workforce was skewed towards older people it's fairly natural that companies and individuals have focused on other sectors..
But yeah blame the eu...
It's also due to a lack of long-term planning and continuity of orders. I understand some contractors could diversify, but that's much harder for rolling stock manufacturers, they simply closed due to lack of orders, whilst in other countries orders were deliberately timed to keep their industry going. Bugger-all to do with the EU though, as you say, just British politician's dogmatic belief in short-term market forces.
Where on earth are you getting these figures from? According to IMF 2015, UK GDP per capita is around double the likes of Saudi, Greece and Portugal. Granted the pound has gone down the last six months but nowhere near that much. I'm in favour of staying in for what it's worth but the idea the UK is some kind of terminally ill patient kept alive by EU life support is ridiculous. It's still a country of genuine standing, just diminished in relative terms compared to where it used to be (but not compared to its European peers). in fact, in terms of soft power, it's probably number one in Europe, has the only serious military force (besides France), the largest, most influential city, a financial centre bigger than the rest of Europe combined, the de facto international law etc. Yes, certain things are a mess (education, housing, regional imbalances) but other EU countries have their problems too and you seem to focus excessively (exclusively?) on the negatives.
Poll added
As requested by @Paz , a poll has now been added.
Thanks!
sorry to be so pedantic, but could you change to official question:
Should the United Kingdom remain a member of the European Union?
Yes
No
Hopefully. For future reference, when requesting a poll, please consider providing the question and answers. Thanks.
understood!Hopefully. For future reference, when requesting a poll, please consider providing the question and answers. Thanks.
I abbreviated European Union, hope that's OK.
thanks!
Boris reportedly going for out. Fairly big deal.
The out campaign can spin it all they want but he immediate short term/mid term consequences of leaving the EU will be very painful. There's no escaping that.
The figures I quoted were from the IMF GDP per capita PPP tables which correct for cost of living, exchange rates etc so you get a better gauge of standard of living based on GDP. The nominal figures the IMF also publish tend to be skewed by exchange rate shifts and cost of living slightly more hence the UK's stronger figures in 2015 and Saudi disappearing down an oil well.
I recognise that no country is perfect and that others also have their problems but my comments were a response to a statement that the UK is a global superpower that would be improved by the liberty an EU exit gave it. The UK is a bit of a shithole though, we have managed to screw up all our major industry, decimate the long term prospects of large swathes of the UK that aren't London or the Home Counties, allowed our infrastructure to decay to the point of collapse and created a housing market that makes it impossible for the next generation to get a start yet we're supposed to sit back and clap ourselves on our backs that we're producing more unemployable or underemployed graduates than ever before and are the envy of the rest of the world as we've got Boris and the Bakeoff. I've lived and worked all over this planet as the UK somehow finds it almost impossible to keep qualified civil engineers gainfully employed despite our crumbling infrastructure and whilst there's many good things that keep me coming back home it's clear we are still sliding down the global rankings in many of the more quantifiable quality of life measurements.
Of course all the Brexit crowd also recognise the problems in Britain, they're just more open minded than me and can see that the reasons Britain struggles is not down to our own failings but is instead a result of immigrants flooding the nation and the EU forcing us to do things we don't want to, and when you're debating against that level of Enochery you're never likely to win.
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Agree with all that Bury posts but I'd vote to leave eu cos id like to see the uk crumble and cameron gone. the uk is a dump and I am so glad I live abroad. Carry on moaning about a bunch if immigrants while the rest of Europe tries to move on.
Then surely you'd vote to stay?
A leave vote will lead to the dissolution of the Union, not the European Union, but the UK one. It's inevitable in my mind, once Scotland buggers off we're stuck with the Tories.
Not a UK resident, so I don't have a horse in this race, but D-Cam seems pretty vanilla as far as conservatives in the UK are concerned. There are much bigger cnuts in that party, people far less compromising and far far to the right of center.
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Where do you live?
I thought this would be a landslide leave vote. Everytime I come home it seems every single person is annoyed at something EU related.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-eu-referendum-35624409
Staying in EU 'exposes UK to terror risk', says Iain Duncan Smith
Absolute trash.
Staying in EU 'exposes UK to terror risk', says Iain Duncan Smith
Absolute trash.
There's a difference between people moaning about the EU, and the majority wanting to leave. Plenty of people who complain will still stay anyway, and the ones you'd generally hear from are the ones who complain...very few people will go on about how happy they are with the EU, for example. Like with Scottish independence. There's a lot of dissatisfaction with the union, but the majority (for now) still want to stay.
Anyone on either side who tries to peddle the "terror risk" or "threat to national security" nonsense during this debate should just be laughed at repeatedly and exposed to ridicule.
When I looked yesterday bookies odds were: Leave 5/2, Remain 1/3. The money is strongly on Remain.
Holland
So annoyed but not sufficiently. Why was Cameron trying to get a deal if the odds are so clear? He surely had near no leverage.
They'd been drifting towards leave, more polls were giving leave a small lead and public opinion on the EU can change quickly over a referendum (in both directions). If they'd given him nothing, the chances of leave winning would greatly increase.
The answer as to why he was having to get a deal is because he promised the referendum a couple of years ago to beat back UKIP, thinking he might be able to escape doing one if the Lib Dems demanded on it in coalition.
The tories have always been badly split on europe. The promise of a referendum, but only after more negotiations, was purely a delaying tactic to allow him to remain leader, and leader of a relatively united party, for as long as possible. As Ubik said it also took the wind out of UKIP's sails, and no doubt attracted some floating voters to the tories, as they were promising action when labour and the liberals were not.
I'm sure the offer of a referendum took a good number of people away....certainly took a good few of my neighbours. There'a a fair few wanting out of the EU, more than I would have imagined too.
Boris is for Brexit. Confirmed on BBC.
Big move for Boris. If he's picked his cards right and we do leave, then he's probably the favourite to be the next Tory leader. Will be a major choice for the Out side too, so we'll need to see if it causes more Tories to defect.
Our friends in the EU showing their love once again.
Also tried to blame the Syrian civil war on the EU
Think this will be similar to the Scotish referendum. The people who want to stay will be the silent majority and in the end it might not be a close race.
I speak to a lot of people my age(early to mid twenties) and the vast majority are voting to stay.
I speak to a lot of people my age(early to mid twenties) and the vast majority are voting to stay.
"Bloody hell, ISIS, I know you're not particularly keen on this new EU policy, but there's no need to do that!"
Stan's a Brit, just a very disillusioned one that's very pissed off with the state of the country, suspect there's a touch of sarcasm in the comment about wanting the UK to leave and fall flat on it's arse but also an honest recognition that it may take that for people to insist on the political and personal changes necessary.
Whilst I'll not go all out for wanting the UK to crumble so that we can start to rebuild from scratch I do despair at the state of things when odious cretins like Farrage, Johnson and Duncan Smith are capable of commanding column inches and media coverage with their racist claptrap.
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