It's not over yet - EU

[Deleted member 226268]

.
Gormless Gove for Prime Minister.


Strong.
Fearless.
Dynamic.
Determined.
BraveHeart.
One Direction.
Ruthless leadership skills.
Don't take B.S. from anyone.

He will tell all those dicks in the E.U. where to get off.


https://imgur.com/r/funny/VlZNeuR


Want our England back ?
Better start worrying ..... Now.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/201...hael-gove-would-make-the-best-prime-minister/


.

 

[Deleted member 59730]

And believe it or not there are people within UKIP who would like to see more social justice. Sometimes referred to as the Red UKIPers. Now the referendum has gone, I think that's where UKIP's focus will move to.

I have to wonder then why a Red Kipper in Cornwall campaigned to leave and lose £60 million a year of much needed EU help. Cornwall is the second poorest region in North West Europe.

 

[japancool]

I have to wonder then why a Red Kipper in Cornwall campaigned to leave and lose £60 million a year of much needed EU help. Cornwall is the second poorest region in North West Europe.

I don't believe anything has been finalised yet as far as replacing EU funding with central government funding.

 

[Deleted member 59730]

I don't believe anything has been finalised yet as far as replacing EU funding with central government funding.

But UKIP are not the central government and could never have promised that the funding would be replaced. Cornwall has seen too many central government pledges of money come to nothing.

 

[japancool]

But UKIP are not the central government and could never have promised that the funding would be replaced. Cornwall has seen too many central government pledges of money come to nothing.

Did they promise that it would be though?

 

[Deleted member 59730]

Did they promise that it would be though?

The one I heard did.

 

[japancool]

The one I heard did.

I don't know what he said so I can't comment on it really, but it's not certain that Cornwall will lose that funding yet. Government might replace it.

 

[Deleted member 59730]

I don't know what he said so I can't comment on it really, but it's not certain that Cornwall will lose that funding yet. Government might replace it.

Bet you!

In 12 months time I will pay £100 to charity if the Tory government matches Cornwall funding if you promise to do the same.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-36651560

 

[japancool]

Bet you!

In 12 months time I will pay £100 to charity if the Tory government matches Cornwall funding if you promise to do the same.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-36651560

12 months won't work - as we'll still be an EU member then, Cornwall's EU funding for the next couple of years is assured, according to the BBC. It would need to be at least a year after Brexit.

 

[simon field]

It would need to be at least a year after Brexit.

By which time this might be 'England Business Forum'

Not much of a ring to it eh?

 

[SamLH]

12 months won't work - as we'll still be an EU member then, Cornwall's EU funding for the next couple of years is assured, according to the BBC. It would need to be at least a year after Brexit.

And if the BBC said it, it has to be true.

 

[japancool]

And if the BBC said it, it has to be true.

I find that generally to be the case, yes. More so than most other news organisations.

 

[mhall]

As I said before, Cameron lost the referendum because the regions have never been supported properly as opposed to London. EU money was a good tool for the Government to use whilst keeping most of the UK tax money raised in London. It now needs a massive shift in funding models to ensure we all get parity. There will never be that shift as Westminster will never give up it's billions to help support the smaller pockets of people. It matters not who is in power, they all become London centric.

 

[Deleted member 59730]

As I said before, Cameron lost the referendum because the regions have never been supported properly as opposed to London. There will never be that shift as Westminster will never give up it's billions to help support the smaller pockets of people. It matters not who is in power, they all become London centric.

One of the reasons why the UK never really got the idea of the EU was just that; the London centric bias of our government. The rest of Europe is largely made up of distinct self governing regions like the German states and the French regions like Bretagne. It is why the word 'federation' of states is seen as good in the EU but anathema to UK politicians. There is a far greater loyalty to ones region in Europe which is only seen patchily in the UK.

 

[Scott-Copywriter]

I don't know what he said so I can't comment on it really, but it's not certain that Cornwall will lose that funding yet. Government might replace it.

The UK's Regional Growth Fund was scrapped in the 2015 Spending Review, so I highly doubt it. Once the EU regional funds stop, there will no longer be any formal system in the UK which sends additional resources to poorer regions.

That's a great situation for the Tories. They can continue to snip away at public spending and use EU savings to reduce the deficit whilst ruling out the replacement of any funding because the public voted to lose it in the first place.

The UK will never see a penny of that money. It's a nice annual sum to plug the spending gap (which, as we all know, they are hell-bent on doing), and they are devolved of any accountability when that funding disappears because they didn't choose to do it - the public did.

 

[Scott-Copywriter]

As I said before, Cameron lost the referendum because the regions have never been supported properly as opposed to London. EU money was a good tool for the Government to use whilst keeping most of the UK tax money raised in London. It now needs a massive shift in funding models to ensure we all get parity. There will never be that shift as Westminster will never give up it's billions to help support the smaller pockets of people. It matters not who is in power, they all become London centric.

People living in London contribute 70% more to the UK's national income than people in the rest of the country. On average it's a difference of about £16,000 per person.

London also generates 22% of the UK's annual economic growth despite only having 12.5% of the population.

Yet despite this, there's more public spending per head in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland than there is in London, and only a little more than the North East and North West regions.

I'm not connected to London at all (born in the North East of England), but as a separate economy, they already pay out far more than they get in compared to the rest of the UK.

This is what continues to astound me about all of this. Many regions which received the least per head from the UK and EU combined voted remain, whilst some other regions which received the most in total voted to leave. Yet exiting the EU, and creating the economic slump along with it, is supposed to somehow make this situation any better?

For many of the pro-leave regions which receive solid EU funding, deal with very little immigration and feel largely overlooked by the UK Government, absolutely nothing good is likely to come out of this for them personally.

 

[Pish_Pash]

I'm not connected to London at all (born in the North East of England), but as a separate economy, they already pay out far more than they get in compared to the rest of the UK..

Fellow North Easterner here....as someone that's from the region, surely you understand the mindset up there? It was deprived when I left the region in 1986...it's still as deprived today. The last thing you want to vote for with that backdrop is the status quo...as they say, when you have jack sh1t.........you've jack sh1t to lose from rocking the boat & mixing it up.

People are voting with their hearts, not necessarily their heads. As someone from the region I get that, ironically I live in London now, but still voted to leave. I like mashing things up & I knew I'd be worse off financially over the immediate future by doing so (as I type the pound is making new historic lows...not ideal when my business is importing, but I knew it would end up like this...still resolute though).

Over time, from a personal 'gain / loss' perspective I reckon the Brexit impact will end up cost neutral to me...it's pointless my business making great profits if the main thing I need to purchase (a house) gets ever & ever further out of reach (& the cost of entry makes me lie down & adopt the foetal position). I'd much rather see my Limited company profits fall ...along with property prices too (which I think is inevitable now)

 

[Scott-Copywriter]

Fellow North Easterner here....as someone that's from the region, surely you understand the mindset up there? It was deprived when I left the region in 1986...it's still as deprived today. The last thing you want to vote for with that backdrop is the status quo...as they say, when you have jack sh1t.........you've jack sh1t to lose from rocking the boat & mixing it up.

People are voting with their hearts, not necessarily their heads. As someone from the region I get that, ironically I live in London now, but still voted to leave. I like mashing things up & I knew I'd be worse off financially over the immediate future by doing so (as I type the pound is making new historic lows...not ideal when my business is importing, but I knew it would end up like this...still resolute though).

Over time, from a personal 'gain / loss' perspective I reckon the Brexit impact will end up cost neutral to me...it's pointless my business making great profits if the main thing I need to purchase (a house) gets ever & ever further out of reach (& the cost of entry makes me lie down & adopt the foetal position). I'd much rather see my Limited company profits fall ...along with property prices too (which I think is inevitable now)

I do understand that. For a lot of people who voted leave, this was basically a vote to stick two fingers up at the current Government and current situation.

I have to say, I do wonder how much different the result might have been if Cameron and the Government campaigned to leave the EU. As you'll no doubt know yourself, there is huge anti-Tory sentiment in the North East and in other Labour heartlands.

I know a number of people who voted leave partly because they thought Cameron was campaigning to remain just to make the rich even richer. I even know a few remain voters who felt very uneasy about siding with Cameron on this issue.

This is indeed a heart-over-head vote for many people, and that's what makes referendums like this so dangerous. Such a phenomenally huge and complex situation like this should never involve such a great degree of emotion where the anger and frustration ends up being pointed at something which really had little to do with the current hardship of many people.

I know some people do feel the negative effects of EU membership personally, such as those in high-immigration areas, but just look at the North East. It has very few immigrants (the lowest number in England), receives the most EU funding and has also been cared for more by the EU than our own British Government in many respects. Yet despite all this, leave won by a landslide.

This referendum served as an outlet for anger over the status quo. I honestly believe that if we weren't in the EU in the first place, and this was a referendum to join but with everything in the same situation it's in now, many leave supporters, especially in the North, would have voted to join instead. When it's positioned like this:

- Massive change from the status quo
- A Union which prioritises wealth equality
- A Union which prioritises funding for poorer regions
- A way to boost trade and the economy
- A way to take powers from David Cameron and fight against the Government which has overlooked them for so long

That suddenly would have seemed a lot more appealing to a lot of people.

 

[ShirleyM]

Leavers expected Cameron to campaign for leave, and were disappointed when he didn't. He promised to campaign for Leave if he didn't get the EU reforms he asked for. He watered them down and still didn't get anything worthwhile. He should have campaigned for Leave, as promised, but then broken promises are nothing new either. He would have gained a lot of respect if he had kept that promise.

The lack of reform was one of the main reasons for voting leave, as it showed just how little influence we have in the EU, and how little our government can do to help the UK without going begging to the EU..

The majority of Leavers wanted a return of democracy and sovereignty. Quite a joke, since many Remainers are still fighting to overturn democracy.

 

[Deleted member 59730]

The majority of Leavers wanted a return of democracy and sovereignty. Quite a joke, since many Remainers are still fighting to overturn democracy.

Well, you didn't get democracy or sovereignity and are never likely too. What you got was a leave campaign financed and guided by oligarchs like Aaron Banks, Rupy, Desmond and Rothermere. You have no say over the leadership of the Tory party or UKIP.

What we have in this country is called a 'parliamentary democracy' A few remainers are speaking up for UK law to be followed. That means Parliament decides. Not you.

 

[Scott-Copywriter]

A "private" conversation between Ken Clarke and Malcolm Rifkind surfaced today as they were waiting to be interviewed for Sky News.

I say "private" because it's their own fault if they risked having a conversation like this in front of cameras where they didn't want their views to be made public. Although something tells me that they weren't too bothered either way:

Very interesting.

 

[Newchodge]

I do understand that. For a lot of people who voted leave, this was basically a vote to stick two fingers up at the current Government and current situation.

I have to say, I do wonder how much different the result might have been if Cameron and the Government campaigned to leave the EU. As you'll no doubt know yourself, there is huge anti-Tory sentiment in the North East and in other Labour heartlands.

I know a number of people who voted leave partly because they thought Cameron was campaigning to remain just to make the rich even richer. I even know a few remain voters who felt very uneasy about siding with Cameron on this issue.

This is indeed a heart-over-head vote for many people, and that's what makes referendums like this so dangerous. Such a phenomenally huge and complex situation like this should never involve such a great degree of emotion where the anger and frustration ends up being pointed at something which really had little to do with the current hardship of many people.

I know some people do feel the negative effects of EU membership personally, such as those in high-immigration areas, but just look at the North East. It has very few immigrants (the lowest number in England), receives the most EU funding and has also been cared for more by the EU than our own British Government in many respects. Yet despite all this, leave won by a landslide.

This referendum served as an outlet for anger over the status quo. I honestly believe that if we weren't in the EU in the first place, and this was a referendum to join but with everything in the same situation it's in now, many leave supporters, especially in the North, would have voted to join instead. When it's positioned like this:

- Massive change from the status quo
- A Union which prioritises wealth equality
- A Union which prioritises funding for poorer regions
- A way to boost trade and the economy
- A way to take powers from David Cameron and fight against the Government which has overlooked them for so long

That suddenly would have seemed a lot more appealing to a lot of people.

I have lived in the North East since 1984. Prior to that I lived in Greater London for 28 years.

I cannot begin to comprehend why most of the people I speak to in the North East are SCREAMING about immigration, when you rarely see anyone who hasn't been in the north east for the last 5,000years. Unless they mean me. I have challenged people who say that we've got to deal with immigration. I ask them when they last saw an immigrant. They will mention a tiny group of people in one part of Newcastle.

I really do not understand it.

 

[ShirleyM]

Just call me a cock eyed optimist. I still believe in democracy, sovereignty and self-government. The EU and it's minions can try to take it away, and may even succeed temporarily, but dictators always lose in the end. As the EU is quite happy to continue on it's merry way against the will of the people then civil war will surely be the result.

 

[Scott-Copywriter]

I have lived in the North East since 1984. Prior to that I lived in Greater London for 28 years.

I cannot begin to comprehend why most of the people I speak to in the North East are SCREAMING about immigration, when you rarely see anyone who hasn't been in the north east for the last 5,000years. Unless they mean me. I have challenged people who say that we've got to deal with immigration. I ask them when they last saw an immigrant. They will mention a tiny group of people in one part of Newcastle.

I really do not understand it.

I agree completely.

I don't think I've ever actually spoke to an EU immigrant in the North East. Ever. I have just never crossed paths with one.

Some people, especially in the North East, were just looking for someone to blame for their problems, and this referendum was the only real outlet to do that. They were able to stick two fingers up at immigrants, and the Conservative Government, in one neat little package.

Sunderland, for example, is one of the most anti-immigration areas in the UK, yet it also has one of the lowest levels of foreign-born populations in the UK by far. Their stance is therefore clearly not based on actual personal experiences.

 

[Ian J]

I have lived in the North East since 1984. Prior to that I lived in Greater London for 28 years.

I cannot begin to comprehend why most of the people I speak to in the North East are SCREAMING about immigration, when you rarely see anyone who hasn't been in the north east for the last 5,000years. Unless they mean me. I have challenged people who say that we've got to deal with immigration. I ask them when they last saw an immigrant. They will mention a tiny group of people in one part of Newcastle.

I really do not understand it.

I think that they are probably referring to Mr Rahman who's shop was next to the motorbike shops

(In joke for Geordies only)

 

[Ian J]

Sunderland, for example, is one of the most anti-immigration areas in the UK, yet it also has one of the lowest levels of foreign-born populations in the UK by far.

My son lives in Sunderland and he is considered by most of his friends to be an immigrant as he was born in Sussex

 

[Newchodge]

I think that they are probably referring to Mr Rahman who's shop was next to the motorbike shops

(In joke for Geordies only)

But Mr Rahman was, personally, loved by the Geordies. Or at least by the bikers on Westgate Road.

 

[Scott-Copywriter]

My son lives in Sunderland and he is considered by most of his friends to be an immigrant as he was born in Sussex

I do think that the lack of EU immigration in these areas exacerbates the anti-immigration stance of some just because it's the fear of the unknown.

Whilst in some parts of the UK you wouldn't blink twice if you interacted with someone from a different country, up here it would be a lot more noticeable as it just doesn't happen that often at all. Like you say, even British people from different parts of the UK are more noticeable as "outsiders".

 

[KM-Tiger]

even British people from different parts of the UK are more noticeable as "outsiders".

It hasn't changed then. I worked and lived in Newcastle in the early 1970s, and being London born and bred was definitely an outsider, though made most welcome.

Did acquire some Geordie friends, who would speak to each other in a language I could not understand, then translate for me.

 

[Newchodge]

It hasn't changed then. I worked and lived in Newcastle in the early 1970s, and being London born and bred was definitely an outsider, though made most welcome.

Did acquire some Geordie friends, who would speak to each other in a language I could not understand, then translate for me.

LOL

I have to translate for my (London based) brother if he comes up here.

 

[Scott-Copywriter]

It hasn't changed then. I worked and lived in Newcastle in the early 1970s, and being London born and bred was definitely an outsider, though made most welcome.

Did acquire some Geordie friends, who would speak to each other in a language I could not understand, then translate for me.

That is the weird thing. The North East has a very strange dynamic. It is easily one of the most warm, welcoming and friendly regions in the country for the most part. I have no doubt that any EU national entering a pub in the North East would be met warmly by locals who would take a keen interest in their story.

The problem never seems to be with the people anyone meets. I've read a few stories from EU nationals living in the UK who were re-assured by pro-Brexit friends that "it's not you - you're different".

The problem always seems to be with the "others". The mysterious group of immigrants you hear bad things about, but who no one has actually met. They just exist, somewhere.

It really seems as though the bulk of anti-immigrant sentiment has been built by the media, hear-say and Brits not being so willing to socialise with people who may be different.

Perhaps this is where my pro-immigration stance arises. I know many people well from across Europe - from France and Italy to Slovakia and Poland - and they are all some of the nicest, friendliest and most helpful people I've ever met. I think the UK would be a much better place if they did live here.

 

[Pish_Pash]

I know the North East very well, I was raised there....they make it extremely difficult for anyone not from the UK to reside there (& also quite difficult from anyone not from the North East! 'Not keen on outsiders' would be a fair assessment.)...I don't condone it, but I know their makeup.

If they make it extremely difficult for immigrants t reside there...typically the end result is not many do....this is why you don't see many immigrants in the north east. Those immigrants that do manage to tough it out for a few years are clearly thick skinned & are then generally accepted by the immediate locals!

Put it this way, if I were an immigrant...the North East would be at the bottom of my favoured regions!

 

[Newchodge]

I know the North East very well, I was raised there....they make it extremely difficult for anyone not from the UK to reside there (& also quite difficult from anyone not from the North East! 'Not keen on outsiders' would be a fair assessment.)...I don't condone it, but I know their makeup.

If they make it extremely difficult for immigrants t reside there...typically the end result is not many do....this is why you don't see many immigrants in the north east. Those immigrants that do manage to tough it out for a few years are clearly thick skinned & are then generally accepted by the immediate locals!

Put it this way, if I were an immigrant...the North East would be at the bottom of my favoured regions!

I have been made very welcome, despite being from London. OK I get the odd joke, but it is always meant as banter - and I can tell the difference. Even when I tell Geordies that my father was a mackem the aggression is always well-meaning.

The reason there aren't many immigrants here is that there aren't many jobs. There is also little wealth, so little to attract small businesses - there are no customers for those businesses. (OK I know that is an over-simplification, but it is fundamentally true.)

 

[Scott-Copywriter]

Wealth does play a part. I don't think it's a coincidence that the North East, with one of the lowest foreign-born populations in the UK, is also one of the poorest.

However, a lot of people don't seem to realise that the cost of living, and also the cost of property, is equally low as well. You can get a quite nice 3 bedroom home with a garden for £120k up here. A similar sized property in some South East regions would cost double or even quadruple that.

I've always maintained that the "pressure" of immigration is not actually caused by the number of immigrants. It's just caused by immigrants, as well as British people, concentrating themselves in particular regions of the UK with better job and wealth prospects.

When you have the North East with only 1.6% of the foreign-born population, and the South East with 13.3% of the foreign-born population, you clearly have a problem somewhere.

 

[Raw Rob]

The mysterious group of immigrants you hear bad things about, but who no one has actually met. They just exist, somewhere.

It really seems as though the bulk of anti-immigrant sentiment has been built by the media, hear-say and Brits not being so willing to socialise with people who may be different.

I also think the media play a large part in this. I think this cartoon says it very well:

 

[Scott-Copywriter]

The UK leaves and support for the EU within Europe:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/w...es-in-denmark-after-brexit-vote-a7120271.html

...goes up.

I figured this would happen. We will probably be the first - and only - example which puts everyone else off leaving.

 

[MBE1]

I think the remainers on the forum are yet again demonstrating the condescending attitude which led to the out vote. Everyone had a vote, worth the same as anyone elses, whatever their level of education, understanding and reasons for voting whichever way they did.

So far we are told Brexiters are too thick to see the consequences of leaving, are racists, cannot understand complex problems, have low levels of education, earn too little etc, this list goes on and on.

It has now come too light Cameron was actively supporting the remain campaign for weeks before declaring the end of the negotiations, that the Chancellor implored foreign officials to warn of the economic consequences to try and help project fear, plus what else is yet to come into the light.

Has it not occured to the remainers they are the sheep and the Brexiters are the ones with the vision and nouse to see through the establishment lies? Some things are worth more than just money too many people, the Brexiters voted knowing that their pockets could suffer as a result and guess what? They still voted the way they did.

You guys are barking up the wrong tree, you just cannot understand the result of the vote because you don't understand the general public, just as Cameron failed to understand them. In his eyes the chance of an out vote was zero.

If other people talked to yourselves the way you condescendingly slag off Brexiters, or more accurately the general public for making what you see as the wrong decision you would be screaming as much as..... well as much as you lot are about the result.

As for the north east, one of my favorite areas and lovely people IMO, clever as well.

 

[MBE1]

The UK leaves and support for the EU within Europe:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/w...es-in-denmark-after-brexit-vote-a7120271.html

...goes up.

I figured this would happen. We will probably be the first - and only - example which puts everyone else off leaving.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...Brussels-diktat-accepting-quota-migrants.html

Yet Hungary are starting to rebel against the EU, the beginning of a growing movement after Brexit. The EU chooses to see nothing wrong with itself, which will lead to it's downfall. The UK was not the first to vote to leave the failed experiment either.

 

[Scott-Copywriter]

So far we are told Brexiters are too thick to see the consequences of leaving, are racists, cannot understand complex problems, have low levels of education, earn too little etc, this list goes on and on.

No one can understand this complex problem. Not even remainers.

Therein lies the issue. All of us are grossly under-qualified to fully understand the ramifications of this vote. You could quite literally produce thousands upon thousands of pages of detailed analysis covering every impact Brexit could have in many hundreds of ways.

With the way the referendum campaigns were undertaken, with lots of buzz words and short-sentence claims, it was impossible to be fully informed about this decision unless you spent months studying the intricacies of economics, immigration, politics and legislation.

I spent dozens of hours researching various topics on the run-up to the referendum date, and I know I barely scratched the surface. There are 4 year, full-time university degrees in European Law alone. How on earth were any of us expected to make a fully informed decision in only 3 months?

Everyone has a right to vote and a right to make a decision, but let's not pretend that this whole referendum was fully informed and factual in any way.

These survey results from Ipsos MORI really say it all:

EU immigrants: we massively overestimate how many EU-born people now live in the UK. On average we think EU citizens make up 15% of the total UK population (which would be around 10.5m people), when in reality it’s 5% (around 3.5m people). Those who intend to vote to leave overestimate EU immigration more: they think 20% of the UK population are EU immigrants, compared with the average guess of 10% among those who intend to vote “remain”.

Barmaid cleavages and other regulations from the EU: The EU doesn’t always get credit for some of our laws they’re responsible for – like statutory holiday (37% correctly guessed) and two year guarantees on products (21% correctly guessed). On the other hand, we’re generally pretty good at spotting more ridiculous “Euro-myths”, but still 1 in 7 of us (15%) believe at least one Euro-myth – including bans on barmaids showing too much cleavage and forcibly renaming the snack “Bombay Mix” to “Mumbai Mix” (neither of which are real EU laws).

How much the UK pays in: The majority of us (67%) correctly say the UK annually pays more into the EU’s budget than it gets back - but we overestimate how much we pay compared with other countries. 84% of us put Britain in the top 3 contributors to the EU’s c.€140bn annual budget (the same proportion that picks Germany as a top contributor) and nearly a quarter of us (23%) think the UK is the single top contributor to the EU. In reality, Germany paid in twice as much as us in 2014 (21% of total EU income), followed by France (16%) then Italy (12%), with the UK in fourth place (11%)5.

Child Benefit: we massively overestimate the proportion of Child Benefit awards given to families in other European countries. The actual proportion of UK Child Benefit awards going on children living abroad in Europe is 0.3%, but 14% of us think that 30% of UK Child Benefit goes to children abroad and 23% of us think 13% does. This means that nearly 4 in 10 of us think the number of children in EU countries receiving Child Benefit from the UK is 40 to 100 times the actual level.

EU democracy: only 6 in 10 know that members of the European Parliament (MEPs) are elected by the citizens of each member state. One in five (18%) think that MEPs are not elected and a quarter (25%) say they don’t know whether they are or not.

The EU’s administration bill: we massively overestimate how much of the EU’s budget is spent on administration. The average guess is that 27% of the overall budget is spent on staff, admin and maintenance costs, when in reality it’s 6%. If this estimate were accurate the EU would be spending €38.5bn on admin each year, instead of €8.5bn.

Inward investment from EU countries: we underestimate how much investment into the UK comes from EU countries. The average guess is that they contribute 30% of total investment into the UK, when it actually makes up almost half (48%). This perception gap is mirrored by an overestimation of investment from China, which people think makes up 19% of inward investment but actually only accounts for 1%

It's frightening - especially the EU democracy point. A big part of the leave movement was based on fighting against "unelected bureaucrats", yet 40% of people didn't even realise that MEPs were elected by the public.

And let's not forget those who believed the £350million per week figure, or those who believed that Turkey is on the verge of joining the EU.

What are you supposed to say when this hugely complex situation was decided by many people who simply believe things which are not true?

This does not account for everyone of course, but the truth of the matter is that many voters went to the polling booths that day without knowing all of the facts. That no doubt applies to remain voters in some respects as well.

 

[simon field]

And let's not forget those who believed the £350million per week figure, or those who believed that Turkey is on the verge of joining the EU.

And of course, those who believed that Islamic State wanted a Brexit because all of our security forces would suddenly stop communicating, or those who believed Turkey wouldn't be joining until the year 3000 .

I say again, just about everybody who I spoke to was voting out (vast majority being small business owners) wasn't doing so based upon any silly headlines, campaigns, politicians, or so-called experts.

They were voting out based upon decades of experience existing under the EU, simples.