Off Topic The Politics Thread

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Should the UK remain a part of the EU or leave?

  • Stay in

    Votes: 56 47.9%
  • Get out

    Votes: 61 52.1%

  • Total voters
    117
  • Poll closed .
I had a difficult time in the pub today trying to argue the Remain case against four brexiters and one agnostic. 'What's the positive case for Remain?', I was asked, and I struggled a bit, finding myself waffling about the importance of international co-operation and 70 years of peace in Europe. The fact is there is nothing thrilling about the status quo. Change is scary, but could be exciting - more of the same is just that. I also found myself having to try to defend the democratic deficit of being in the EU, which is nigh on impossible. The EU is anti-democratic - I can't defend that.

I remain a remainster, but a chastened one.
It is hard to talk about the 'positives' of the EU. Partly because the EU. has no direct media outlet by which to communicate with the electors, in the way in which national governments are able to do. Maybe it's like finding the positives about a referee - difficult, but you would really miss him if he wasn't there. So many of our environmental laws and laws protecting workers rights come from the EU. but most people are unaware of these. Britain exports 55% of its goods to the EU. in turn, the EU. exports 8% of its goods to us, so it is clear who needs who in this scenario. Leave the EU. and you will have many years of insecurity ahead, trying to renegotiate deals and laws. You will be doing it with a government which has a majority of 450 in favour of staying - you will be voting for Bojo (or Gove) as the next PM, and for a possible break up of, not just the UK, but of Westminster itself. You will be doing this because of a hysteria about immigration (because the Brexiters have no other theme) forgetting that it was Britain which opened the door to East European immigration long before most other EU. nations. It is time for Britain to remember that it is not a 'victim' of the EU. and that 90% of laws coming from the EU. were voted for by Britain (the highest percentage for any country).
 
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For example, the company I work for supplies a lot of products to Holland and Germany, are they suddenly going to stop wanting them if we leave the EU?


I think that message is finally getting through mate.
Remain may have over-played their hand with all the scaremongering.
 
Depends if those products are available elsewhere.

If we're out the single market those products would cost more. If they are cheaper options elsewhere they'll buy them elsewhere. We won't get the benefits of that market if we don't pay the membership fees (free movement of people and EU payments).

Companies will also choose to invest in their factories in the best placed location to save them costs. More likely to be EU countries if you are picking Europe as a whole.

This is pretty much the main reason why people want to stay in.
 
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Farage is doing his best to stir up that confusion. Today he has claimed that Cologne type attacks will happen in the UK if we don't leave. Those horrible attacks were committed, probably, by refugees, none of whom would gain entry to the UK under EU freedom of movement until they had been in Germany for at least 8 years to become citizens. Which of course they wouldn't if they had been convicted of crimes. To their credit Gove and a lady from the Brexit campaign distanced themselves from this **** immediately.

But you may be right Finglas, if people are really prepared to believe this rubbish it might be better for all if we drifted off.
I got three English tourists in my taxi late last night. All three had a considerable amount of drink taken. One of them goes to me, why are there so many Dublin taxi drivers from ethnic minorities? Two of the three lads were non-Caucasian. I replied, I don't know, I haven't worked out exactly why that is the case. The lad then says, you (Ireland) would be better off leaving the EU like England and you wouldn't have that problem. I replied, that wouldn't be the case as these lads come from Nigeria, India, Pakistan, China etc. None of them are EU countries.

My conclusion - if this in/out debate is confusing the good citizens of the UK to the extent that they see ALL immigration as being the responsibility of the EU, I think it would be better for both yourselves and the rest of Europe that you leave. Either that or both sides of the debate need to have a serious look at the message they are getting across to people.
you take in what the EU directs you to. You can't expect billions in EU money without there being some pay-back
Farage is doing his best to stir up that confusion. Today he has claimed that Cologne type attacks will happen in the UK if we don't leave. Those horrible attacks were committed, probably, by refugees, none of whom would gain entry to the UK under EU freedom of movement until they had been in Germany for at least 8 years to become citizens. Which of course they wouldn't if they had been convicted of crimes. To their credit Gove and a lady from the Brexit campaign distanced themselves from this **** immediately.

But you may be right Finglas, if people are really prepared to believe this rubbish it might be better for all if we drifted off.
I think you will find they're already here. Take a look at the rape statistics in Sweden.
 
you take in what the EU directs you to. You can't expect billions in EU money without there being some pay-back

I think you will find they're already here. Take a look at the rape statistics in Sweden.
Here isn't Sweden, which has taken an enormous number of refugees, especially compared to us. Our membership of the EU makes no difference to the numbers of refugees we take. I don't understand the point you are trying to make.

So, if I am to believe the Brexit campaign, the following will happen if we leave, presumably pretty soon after we leave:
- net immigration will fall to 'tens of thousands' per year
- we will negotiate trade deals with everyone really quickly, trade won't be affected at all, in fact it will be better
- wages will go up, because migrants depress wages (presumably this means an instant rise in the rate of the minimum wage)
- unemployment will fall as 300,000 new jobs appear out of nowhere. And presumably because Brits will do all the jobs they didn't want to when unskilled EU migrants were around
- there will be no impact on interest rates, the value of the £, or the stock market
- our financial services sector will continue to be the hub for the EU, even without the protection it gets precisely because we are members
- The NHS will get an extra £350m a week. Presumably the EU subsidies for British agriculture, industry and research will also be maintained. So we might have to spend a bit more
- British citizens' rights to live, work and study in Europe will be maintained, bureaucracy free, access to health care guaranteed. Though presumably this won't work the other way round.
- Turkey will be an EU member by Christmas
- the rate of sexual assaults in the UK will fall

And even if none of these things happen it's fine because we will be in control of our DESTINY!
 
Oops, not my intention sir. I found it quite revelatory, though of course it's exaggerated and I'm not sure all the connections are valid. He is a great film maker, forces you to think. It doesn't get any more cheerful though, until the last sentence of the last part (which is the most interesting, but also most flawed).

Watched parts 2 and 3 now - challenging stuff for someone who is still struggling to come up with an answer to who we might be playing in our first game. An excellent, thought-provoking series which left me saddened and maddened. How can so many supposedly intelligent people get so much wrong so often?
 
you take in what the EU directs you to. You can't expect billions in EU money without there being some pay-back

I think you will find they're already here. Take a look at the rape statistics in Sweden.
You are a complete and utter ignoramus when it come to Ireland and it's affairs with the EU. When you have a clue what you are talking about, let me know. Until then, it would be better if you kept your petty little thoughts to yourself.
 
Why would anybody want to steam roller us?

I just don't think it's 'us' v 'them' Col, unless we want it to be. The anti EU feeling in France and even more Germany is stronger than here. This federal project is in the minds of a few people in Brussels who have a tenuous grip on reality. The governments of the other 27 members have just the same diverse views to deal with as the UK government. I just don't believe they want to give up their identity in favour of a new federal Europe (not that it would bother me, set up right).The Eastern European countries have only had 25 years of real self governance and several have nationalist governments. They are not going to give that up. I am struggling to think of examples of politicians engineering themselves out of power. I will concede that the Euro is a powerful force to centralise, because it doesn't make any sense the way it is set up now. But why so pessimistic about our ability to influence things?

But if you really feel it is 'us' v 'them' them we absolutely have to leave. I suspect that a lot of people do think that and am increasingly feeling that if we remain with this basically anti attitude it will end up worse than going, which will definitely be painful.

I agree with that last line. Not only would it be better for yourselves to leave at this stage, it would also be better for the rest of Europe. This whole debate reminds me of a couple arguing over whether to have an abortion. Just get it done and move on for everybody's sake. Membership of the club means taking the good bits as well as the bad bits. If you want only the good bits, it is au revoir. Arrivaderci. Don't come back crying in 20 years time if the big black hole of economic uncertainty proves to be deeper than you thought.
 
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Something I know will happen is that we will lose a lot of money for Scientific research.
It is the biggest beauracratic problem to get, as you can imagine....but you have to be in the EU to get it.

Scientific research is very low on this or any government agenda....so the shortfall won't e made up.
 
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I agree with that last line. Not only would it be better for yourselves to leave at this stage, it would also be better for the rest of Europe. This whole debate reminds me of a couple arguing over whether to have an abortion. Just get it done and move on for everybody's sake. Membership of the club means taking the good bits as well as the bad bits. If you want only the good bits, it is au revoir. Arrivaderci. Don't come back crying in 20 years time if the big black hole of economic uncertainty proves to be deeper than you thought.


We'll be fine mate.
 
Relax everyone, apparently voting Brexit won't make much difference according to the Today programme. Even if the referendum gives a ringing **** off to the EU, the 450 MPs who support remain (and who of course easily outnumber the 150 Brexit MPs) can interpret this as 'OK, the people want out of the EU. But not out of the Single Market, which would be economically stupid. So we will use our voting majority to stay in". Which means we would be out of the EU, but retain all the regulation and free movement of people, and financial contributions to the EU, just like Norway.

And before you start whinging about 'democracy' and 'sovereignty' this would be an entirely UK decision made by the people voted in by you, the electorate. It's exactly the type of decision you want us to be able to make, free of the Brussels Bureaucrats.

And even Gove is saying it will take until 2020 for us to actually leave the EU. Three and a half years for all those EU migrants who were thinking 'maybe one day I'll go to Britain', to get on their bikes and come over here quickly, before they are prevented!

This kind of epic cluster **** is what you get when, for internal party political reasons, you call a referendum on a subject which was about number 8 or 9 on the electorate's list of priorities. We will end up in a position when the populist politicians will have three of the enemies they need: the EU, immigrants and Parliament. It's going to get really nasty, and it's entirely self inflicted.
 
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Depends if those products are available elsewhere.
You make your bed we will make our own It may well be a tide in the affairs of men & we are the first to open our eyes to the EU situation.I cannot believe the cover ups of failure in EU the cover up of the anti EU demonstrations in France & Belgium & the positive movement towards down treading the common man by EU elite
 
You make your bed we will make our own It may well be a tide in the affairs of men & we are the first to open our eyes to the EU situation.I cannot believe the cover ups of failure in EU the cover up of the anti EU demonstrations in France & Belgium & the positive movement towards down treading the common man by EU elite
You're a Tory aren't you? Leave off with the common man bullshit, you are on stronger ideological ground building an argument about property and ownership.
 
I agree with that last line. Not only would it be better for yourselves to leave at this stage, it would also be better for the rest of Europe. This whole debate reminds me of a couple arguing over whether to have an abortion. Just get it done and move on for everybody's sake. Membership of the club means taking the good bits as well as the bad bits. If you want only the good bits, it is au revoir. Arrivaderci. Don't come back crying in 20 years time if the big black hole of economic uncertainty proves to be deeper than you thought.
hark at old Seamus here, your country is on par with Greece, Portugal and Estonia and you've got the gall to wish the 5th biggest economy to piss off out of the corrupt EU. Right we will:emoticon-0172-mooni
 
hark at old Seamus here, your country is on par with Greece, Portugal and Estonia and you've got the gall to wish the 5th biggest economy to piss off out of the corrupt EU. Right we will:emoticon-0172-mooni
Hark at the son of old Seamus. Not content with being anti-immigrant and racist throughout the whole debate, he sees fit to continue to slag off the country of his parent's birth. You are a complete hypocrite as well as ignorant to the affairs of Ireland. Your little graphic sums you up - arsehole.
 
Hark at the son of old Seamus. Not content with being anti-immigrant and racist throughout the whole debate, he sees fit to continue to slag off the country of his parent's birth. You are a complete hypocrite as well as ignorant to the affairs of Ireland. Your little graphic sums you up - arsehole.
now now play nicely children