General British politics discussion thread

Keep in mind that the Brexit charlatans (like Daniel Hannan etc) assured everyone that not only would the UK keep pace with rest of the G7 post-Brexit, but would actually surge well ahead of them and become the envy of the world (as the EU was supposedly holding Britain back from reaching its true potential). I notice this confidence trickster is rarely sighted anywhere in the media these days.

Also, there was never any mention of Brexit being a 'long term' project. All of the talk was of immediate pay offs and instant new trade deals. The sclerotic EU was holding Britain back and once free of the shackles, the British economy would surge ahead. The Brexit godfathers weren't putting any precise timelines on it, but the strong suggestion was that by 2021 or so, the UK would be in fantastic shape and with a surging economy.

He said that after the vote though. Very quiet about that possibility before hand.

He did say that it's being "lower class" that makes you a candidate for slavery. So sounds like standard Tory policy to me.

A most Brexity use of statistics to paint the rosiest picture! :)

Unemployment in the UK is so low because (a) qualified Europeans left their jobs post Brexit/post Covid and didn't/won't go back ; and (b) the government is so absolutely determined not to legitimise non-European immigration that they won't allow qualified non-Europeans work in the (many, many, many) sectors that are crying out for staff.

As for year-on-year growth: yep, Britain did great in 2022 ... because GDP in 2021 took such a hammering. It's really, really easy to show huge percentage increases in anything when you're starting from a desperately low base. If you compare absolute figures, though, you'll find that Britain (note: Britain, not Britain-and-Northern-Ireland) is staggering along well behind the European curve.

I would say they probably either have family in the UK or dont speak other European languages apart from English. I think you'll find the UK has quite a number of underdeveloped regions too- the word ghettos should have gone out of fashion in the 1960s. You are right about the unemployment rate has consistently been better in the UK than continently Europe, though after Brexit the labour shortages has contributed to the higher inflation there.

You are intentionally being misleading and got called out on it. EU employment rate includes countries that have historically had high unemployment rates. If you want to brag about the UK having a stronger economy than Greece then have at it. Not sure that would have counted as an achievement for the UK in 2012 but standards have lowered I guess.

The refugee argument is always interesting, they want refugees looked after as long as it is someone else's problem! Yes we are in favour of good treatment of the less fortunate as long as someone else takes care of it. The cartoons were a mock of UK citizens travelling to the EU in dinghies, we don't have EU citizens travelling to the UK in dinghies. Many refugees (the vast majority I would guess) stay in France but refugees will naturally spread out to try and find a home. Providing a legal route to the UK for them will stop the dinghies but obviously the important bit is if someone else takes care of it.

Brexit is a failure. The only reason you don't want judgement on it yet is because it is a failure. If people wanted control over immigration from non white countries (since you mention white British specifically) then they shouldn't have voted for less control with Brexit. They had control and have lost a lot of leverage in encouraging France from stopping those people from reaching the UK. Other countries will also leverage immigration laws in return for trade now that the UK is in a weak position.

Isn't that just lazy people who don't know how to conserve cheap pasta.

According to the Tories at least.

and

She really is appalling - were they capable of being embarrassed, she would be an embarrassment to her party. But, she's in a constituency that's been Tory for the past sixty years, so she'll stay an MP for as long as she wants to.

Indeed, but it seems that an MP would need to be involved in a fairly bad financial or criminal scandal to be deselected. Simply being an incompetent embarrassment isn't enough (I was going to list all who qualify on that score, but it would be easier to list those who don't). And once you keep being selected in the safe seats, you're guaranteed a job for life - if you want it.

Your assumption would be correct. Someone with knowledge of them was wondering today what Truss was doing giving a speech to a bunch of "far right lunatics".

Was she ever really a Remainer? Seems hard to believe.

The only requirement is that you should toady to the constituency selection committee, and tell them the lies they want to hear. But since that's a requirement for getting selected in the first place, MPs who sit for safe seats generally have these skills in spades.