Only one in 10 feel leaving the EU has helped their finances, while just 9% say it has benefited the NHS, despite £350m a week pledge
Only one in 10 feel leaving the EU has helped their finances, while just 9% say it has benefited the NHS, despite £350m a week pledge according to new poll
A clear majority of the British public now believes Brexit has been bad for the UK economy, has driven up prices in shops, and has hampered government attempts to control immigration, according to a poll by Opinium to mark the third anniversary of the UK leaving the EU single market and customs union.
The survey of more than 2,000 UK voters also finds strikingly low numbers of people who believe that Brexit has benefited them or the country.
Just one in 10 believe leaving the EU has helped their personal financial situation, against 35% who say it has been bad for their finances, while just 9% say it has been good for the NHS, against 47% who say it has had a negative effect.
I think we were always told it was going to be bad before it got better.
I wasn't old enough to vote for Brexit at the time (just under the voting age), and I likely would have voted for Remain had I had the chance, though it feels a little unreasonable to judge the outcome of the Brexit decision just yet.
Okay but when should the outcome be judged then? What would it take in the future to decide Brexit had been ultimately successful?
I'm an outsider looking in, but it seems like it's directly failed in some ways Brexiteers promised success (NHS funding), created a complicated customs situation with Northern Ireland, and done nothing of obvious benefit. For it to be successful in the future something needs to change for the better, and I'm not sure what would.
We are in a more resilient position outside the EU than we were inside of it; we are dictating our own laws, we are becoming more stable by no longer relying on immigration to fill in the gaps of our job market, no longer reliant on foreign aid.
In the short term, of course this is painful. It's withdrawal symptoms. In the long-term, it means that the UK will stick around for longer, regardless of whatever turmoil our neighbours get into.
What's the evidence? Can you point to any similar situation where a country was part of a free trade bloc like the EU only to leave it and doing better outside?
I'm honestly curious. Because if there is no evidence then what you're describing is more hope and dreams than anything else.