- #176
Jonathan Scott
Gold Member
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That's just the tip of the iceberg. Basically, many on the Leave side picked combinations of "facts" based on mutually exclusive options to support their position. This is admittedly partly because the Leave side had many different positions themselves, but that doesn't really make it much better. After the referendum, various members of the Leave campaign blamed each other for misleading statements, but I don't recall ever having seen any attempt to produce a consistent description of what Leave would actually mean.mheslep said:It seems to me the statement of EU fees were exaggerated to some 350 millions from actual 250 millions a week (IIRC), and the rest about uncontrolled immigration, self-government, less regulation was not in dispute. It's hardly a "fantasy" that Britain will soon keep many millions.
Firstly, as far as fees go, the 250 millions that's just the amount paid in, not the balance. It ignores the significant amounts that come back in general subsidies and more specific project aid from the EU, and any other costs of leaving, such as replacing EU-level services with UK ones.
Secondly, various people on the Leave side reassured businesses who were worried about the loss of free trade that the UK could follow the "Norway" model and remain in the European Economic Area, but Norway pays fees to be a member of that area at a rate nearly equivalent to the UK's current EU membership fees, so that would eliminate most of the savings on fees. Also, a lot of the EU regulations that people complain about are related to conditions which also apply for membership of the free market, not specifically the EU.
Thirdly, certain Leave supporters made a big fuss about "foreigners taking our British jobs", which they wanted to control. This is misleading to start with, as many of those jobs are ones for which insufficient British candidates could be found (including e.g. working in the NHS). However, they also reassured people that they would ensure that British people could still work and live in Europe (which is inconsistent, as free movement works both ways) and in any case, free movement is also part of the conditions for membership of the European Economic Area.
The UK already has a special exception from EU rules when it comes to border controls and immigration from outside the EU, although in the current refugee situation I feel that the UK should be working together with the EU to solve the EU-wide problem, not trying to pretend it doesn't exist.
I can't say I'm happy with inflexible and prescriptive "One size fits all" EU rules and regulations interfering with many aspects of our lives. I would be interested to know more about any practical realistic alternatives, and might even want to vote for one. However, no such option was available in the recent referendum.