You still here then?

It is not about economics. And the British people will have little say in it. People need to get ready for it because us rejoining is almost a guarantee now.

The only thing that stops it now is effectively the rise of English nationalism. Only if that becomes a political factor, does it stop it from happening. The Tories want to be out of power when it comes to pass by way of trying to save their own political party but they are just as much in favour as Labour.

I see the plan as being Starmer wins a good-sized majority, and on the back of it argues that he has a mandate to take us back in, by hook or crook. Suspect it will come about by way of a referendum of some kind of no-real options, that essentially offers us a deal of remaining 'out' but fully back in the single market and customs union or fully back in. And fully back in actually makes more logical sense than the first option.

It needs to be massively boycotted in England and a new political force emerging on the back of it. Not sure if it will be 'Reform' because it swathes itself far too much in the Union Jack but we will see.

But people need to brace themselves. Sunak is just a safe pair of hands by way of being a placeholder for Starmer. Both are fully paid-up Washington stooges who want us back inside the EU by way of acting as a brake on anything positive it might want to try and so by way of putting Europe's interests first.

"The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command." - 1984 - George Orwell.

Really?

You don't think the EU citizens returning to their home countries after Brexit hasn't made any difference? I think it helps to explain the employment figures and the extra pressure on wage inflation, which then contributes to general inflation, and then spirals on upwards.

We are already having to recruit hard for the NHS. Locally there are many more "international" nurses and doctors than ever before. In my wife's department none of the doctors were born, or trained in the UK and more than half the nurses are from overseas too. None are now arriving from the EU, but they are still arriving, but not in sufficient numbers to replace those who have left.

Hospitality venues are having to offer limited services due to staff shortages. They often relied on EU labour.

If Brexit was primarily about immigration, as some here claim, then the evidence of my own eyes suggests it's a failure.

For the avoidance of doubt any comments in response to a previous post are directed to its ideas and not at any, or all, posters personally.

So we'd be better off as a country if the unemployment figure was twice as high. Like France.

Whataboutism won't solve our problems will it?

In fact, who knows? It would certainly reduce wage inflation and ensure labour was available to fill vacancies.

For the avoidance of doubt any comments in response to a previous post are directed to its ideas and not at any, or all, posters personally.

I see those are estimates the government figures about residence are actual. It may well be that the number of new migrants from the EU is coming down but the numbers of 3.5m to 5m shows there was no mass flight.

COVID was also a factor with many countries closing or threatening to close their borders it was no surprise that some migrants chose to go home and sit it out.

Bottom line this government has still failed to get control of migration legal and illegal and business is still whining about wanting cheap labour rather than investing in their own businesses.

Edited by Badger11 (29 Oct 2022 9.47am)

One more point