Drifterwood
Superior Member
Not popped into this thread in months. I would have no problem with another referendum. I voted to remain because of fear around the consequences for what I do for a living, but the sky hasn't fallen in the meantime despite Carney's warnings.. I'm fairly certain I would vote to leave if another referendum takes place. There were scare tactics and misinformation on both sides. The vocal remainers seem to think it only worked one way.
I agree that Osborne was far too chicken-licken. However many of the downsides will take years to unravel. The first and most obvious one was the devaluation of Sterling by up to 20%. I felt this one immediately because of what I do and because I live out of the UK for a lot of the year now. But for most, the consequences are coming through six months later. Retail sales are down and inflation is on the way up.
The next big threat is to inward investment. As part of the EU, the UK was a massive winner in this critical area for jobs and investment. I doubt very much that Theresa will get a deal that will enable the UK to keep this leading position.
Finally we are holding our breath over what impact Brexit will have on London's financial primacy and other businesses that trade predominantly with Europe.
These are real issues that I just don't think were addressed properly in the debate. I felt that any discussions were hijacked by puerile hyperbole and the infamous, "we have had enough of experts". It is probably also true that many people just don't know or understand how these things work and how they ultimately impact their lives. Essentially there are macro issues that got lost because of micro ones.
I am afraid that the European xenophobic vote beat the Europhile vote and we didn't even get to consider the role of supra national organisations. Essentially Trump's policy for the supremacy of the nation state versus Churchill's vision of a United Europe.