Re: General Brexit discussion posts split from 'How did you vote thread'

You are right about the 15 year limit Meg, but very many people who live abroad have family who live in UK and of course they have concerns about their famiies. Many people who live much further afield than Europe still have concerns about their families too. We don't forget them or stop worrying about them because we no longer live within popping in distance of them. Perhaps Flicker also has family in the UK.

Re: General Brexit discussion posts split from 'How did you vote thread'

I appreciate that Loretta but there are many other threads to discuss our leaving the EU, this thread is about voting and changing our minds on how we voted but it was quickly taken off topic in post number 7 by someone I assumed had voted in the referendum.Others then replied.

If people living abroad have concerns for their families they are free to start their own threads on that topic.

Re: General Brexit discussion posts split from 'How did you vote thread'

You understand wrong. You can live abroad for as long as you like but you have to register to vote at least every 15 years.

Re: General Brexit discussion posts split from 'How did you vote thread'

As above, as I understand it after 15 years of living outside the UK you can't register to vote..

https://www.gov.uk/voting-when-abroad

https://www.aboutmyvote.co.uk/freque...verseas-voters

Re: General Brexit discussion posts split from 'How did you vote thread'

I lived in France in two parts...the first part was for 9 years after which I returned to the UK for five years.
The second and current part has been for nearly 7 years.

Since I had a permanent address in the UK for less than 15 years ago I can still vote.

Re: General Brexit discussion posts split from 'How did you vote thread'

Indeed. If anyone thinks I am wanting any specific person to change their minds they are mistaken.

However the world "in here" and the REAL world are two very different things. If anyone in the UK is not in touch with the fact that opposition to the results of the vote is real, large, not very vocal but more organised than you might think.

The point of unification is that everyone wants the best for the UK. That means different things to different people. For example Meg might want a return to quality manufacture but I would comment that this reduces sales and goes against the trend in the generation which buys things...the young who want a change. So to stay in business you would have to increase the price of quality goods to mitigate the loss of turnover.
The best economy is mixed and the UK produces some wonderful quality goods...Burberry, Vivian Westwood, lots of other designer clothes, superior jewellery, Clarks' shoes in the middle price range, Liberty materials etc. and they sell well in growing economies. However some like China are slowing down and loss of high value goods doesn't need many items to add up. You need the turnover of the cheap stuff to protect from the potential loss of expensive stuff.

However...my concerns are not in the vote...that is the past...but in the future. I see many misunderstandings all around about the effect, complexity and near impossibility of many issues entangled in the EU. and some will have an effect for tens of years and into the futures of many young people as well as the whole population. And I find many hopes for that future to be unreal.

Some of the the assumptions in here and elsewhere are just unrealistic. Some are born of a misunderstanding of how the EU works and what it has allowed the UK to do. If anything annoys me it is that these things were not made clear before the ref. That is the fault of the politicians who spent their time telling emotional lies instead of laying out the truth. For instance the lies about being in control when all draft legislation from the EU had to be approved by all 28 countries before it is passed. Or the misunderstanding of what Junker does and can do.

If someone tells me something patently untrue I will respond. Just as anyone else would.

Probably the biggest moment will come when the PM lays out her negotiated settlement before the UK Parliament and the EU votes on it too. Leaving is not at all certain. Nor are the benefits to the UK.

While this thread is interesting I also find it pointless...for two reasons. In this forum, anyone not complying with the perceived wisdom becomes a target for group headpecking.
So hardly anyone is going to admit to changing their minds or dare to stand in the minority.
and since no one knows the terms of settlement, no one can say whether they would change their minds or not. The terms the UK can gt may be disastrous. That will be up to the EU as much as up to the UK. and it worries me that the UK has chosen to put its wealthy head into the mouth of the lion.

So the question is moot in that it has little or no practical relevance. I am not a nationalist...I believe in working together. I also see many reasons for leaving to be solvable at national level but that it is easier to blame someone else and forgot the good stuff that the EU offers. And finally I deeply mistrust groupthink mantras, political hypnosis and popular urban myths which ignore reality.

Re: General Brexit discussion posts split from 'How did you vote thread'

Regardless of the 15 year rule, I find it difficult to appreciate why someone who has lived outside of this country for 16 years (voting rights apart) should feel they deserve a say in how this country is run.

Re: General Brexit discussion posts split from 'How did you vote thread'

Well there you go then you are not a nationalist whereas many of us really want our country to be best it can and to stand on its own two feet. We can trade and cooperate with out being part of a huge growing empire like the eu.

Re: General Brexit discussion posts split from 'How did you vote thread'

Agreed.

Re: General Brexit discussion posts split from 'How did you vote thread'

Because many have roots, and a far better understanding of the country than the one they are living in for up to 15 years.
It takes many years to "understand" a country enough to make informed choices. That is one reason why if you want to become a national of another country, you have to pass a test so that you can vote with some awareness.

If I use myself as testimony, I listen to British news at least three times a day, read British papers online, and listen to the British radio (as well as French stuff). I am probably as well informed and understand British politics than some permanent residents.
I am still a British citizen and can return any time. I am not in jail or living on the moon, nor have I forgotten my experience of living there.
Those who vote in the UK may well move on soon after. Using your logic why should they vote then?