I think you will find lots of “red wall” constituencies voted Brexit under the vision that British heavy industry would miraculously come back into being. Lots felt left behind from the southern end of the country. Brexit was seen as a protest vote. There were interviews done with many who had aspirations of old industries coming back. Absolutely nothing to do with sticking two fingers up at Brussels or about calling the nasty EU a “dictatorship” blah blah blah. Most didn’t understand the consequences of Brexit because they were constantly being told about £350m a week to the NHS etc. I wonder now how many would still vote Brexit now they know what Brexit really means when they might not be entitled to rest breaks or overtime payments or holiday pay. You make out like Britain is fighting a Cold War against an evil dictator.
I’m still really waiting to hear the benefits of Brexit rather than just someone trying to push an opinion that the EU is a ruthless dictator that the UK has escaped.
The UK built up a strong economy where we excelled in services and finance, not manufacturing. We were able to enjoy good salaries and companies could take advantage of cheaper foreign labour to do the jobs we didn't want to do (and I'd argue still don't). The EU allowed us to get the products we needed without barriers, and for them to use our services and expertise in return.
Are we seriously thinking that in a few years we'll be building our own cars and machinery here? And that those farm picking jobs will have queues of British people lining up? Of course not; we're going to issue visas to import labour for that.
We buy more than we sell, including components and equipment for the 'factories' that assemble things here, but we want to delay the movement. Yet we aren't in a position to ever be self sufficient. And Europe? Well, they're no longer needing our services and the big players in finance have already moved. Heck, if you're suitably qualified and able and willing to learn other languages, why wouldn't you move to where your future is brighter?
We're almost certainly going to see a brain drain.
The changes we've made (which isn't just about Brexit) makes it equally hard for many US sellers to send us things (
another clip), and I am sure orders from China (via the likes of AliExpress) will be hit too - as many ship in bulk to places like the Netherlands for onward delivery. Rest assured, like the person in my YouTube video, many people aren't going to register with the UK for VAT - they'll just remove us from the list of places they deliver to.
All I can see even now on Twitter are people repeating the same thing; 'We won. Deal with it.'. Is that all they ever wanted? Was that all this was ever for? As time went on and the easiest deal in history nearly ended with no deal, and eventually a pathetic deal that's a total mess and still subject to change, they just couldn't admit they'd been played and have doubled down instead.