Brexit - am I stupid or what?

Well as far as I'm concerned I'd like to see the so called "affluence" of the SE distributed across the whole country.
We are descending under a pile of concrete down here and its about time other parts of the country took some of it.

 

Pop into Boots, there’s a cream for that

 

The insight offered is appreciated. Two questions:

During the Ref, Gordon Brown argued that many regeneration and employment schemes in his constituency had been paid for with EU money. Is this true? And would such money still e available if the UK were not in the EU? Thanks.

 

Quite probably. The area of Scotland where his constituency was is a major recipient of EU aid.

Conjecture, but probably not. Budgetary pressures on any subsequent UK government are unlikely to allow it.

 

Thou jesteth, but the GJs are mostly just that....ordinary folk who've got together to protest (peacefully) against Government proposals. They've set up a system of blockading roundabouts near commercial centres. They let the traffic through, especially those who display a GJ on their dashboard as a sign of solidarity, hand out leaflets and chat to motorists. I have heard of cases of intimidation, but only when drivers were openly hostile to the GJs. It's hard to judge how many just show a GJ as a matter of expediency and how many genuinely support the protest, but knowing the French, there is still a reasonable level of solidarity here. Oh and the GJs have taken over some motorway toll gates and disabled the barriers so motorists can go through free.
None of that is suitably sensational for the MSM, though. They prefer violence and bloodshed caused by genuine yobbos and activists v. the CRS
Thanks, FC I'm fine. My GJ isn't just on the dashboard for show...
Anyway, bit of thread drift there....back to Brexit

 

They'll be concreting over Lincolnshire next year, @pete. No Eastern European cheap labour for fruit and veg picking!

 

I was going to add "please disregard your view of the individual and focus on the issue," but decided as an experiment to omit that, and am not at all surprised that the first answer contains a personal dig at Brown. So often our response to a political issue is coloured by our thoughts about the person saying it - almost every twitter post I see by or about Tony Blair is followed by people accusing him of being a warmonger, etc - completely ignoring the point made. Just as I don't think it is fair to judge the Brexit promises of Gove, Johnson etc on their conduct in other areas, or the Leave campaign as a whole by the racist antics of a depraved few, I think it is wrong to disregard his argument about EU funding just because you disagreed with his policies in office.

 

There is a serious debate to be had about cheap migrant labour. No doubt this will swing from Eastern Europeans to Africans if we leave the EU or EEA, but the fact remains that many Poles, Lithuanians, Romanians and others have been abused by unscrupulous employers, in situations made easier to enact due to the current terms of EU membership. I have heard people with my own ears discussing how they could employ Eastern Europeans more cheaply than Brits, and once had an experience - which may have been a one-off - which seemed to confirm some of the stereotypes. This is, I went to a local farm to ask about seasonal work picking strawberries, and was told I would have no luck as "we only employ Poles now." I did not stick around to ask if this was because they found them better workers, but I fear it is likelier due to the lower costs. I rarely share this anecdote because I know I'm likely to be deluged by accusations of scaremongering, xenophobia, Daily Mail smears and lies, but I have never forgotten it.

Historically, the accusation that support for Remaining related to the exploitation of migrant labour has been brushed off as false, or with well-meaning assertions about the need to firm up labour market regulations (I have had many discussions with my local Lib Dem party about this). But gradually, the Remain side seemed to start ignoring it entirely. In that tv debate with Cameron a few weeks before the vote, Nigel Farage argued that the current rules prioritise Europeans over Africans or Asians (though I think the blame for this can be leveled at governments as much as the EU) and that rich people wanted to remain because "it means cheaper cleaners, cheaper nannies, cheaper gardeners." He was rewarded with an avalanche of laughter - no-one took it seriously or even tried to answer the charge. Now, two and a half years on, I have come across Remainers who have dispensed with the pretence and are openly admitting that they "don't have a problem with" EU migrants "doing the jobs we won't do." This is a reprehensible situation and should be top of priorities when it comes to our future relationship, in our out, with the EU.

 

Brexit: UK can unilaterally revoke article 50, says ECJ

That's great news, there's now no need to panic about a short notice, unplanned no deal exit causing chaos. The UK could simply cancel Article 50 on 28th March, then issue another one on 29th March so we can prepare for it

 

You make some excellent points. I hope my post didn't imply I disagree with giving jobs to those from overseas as a thing in its self.