Why Did Britain Never Feel "part Of The Eu" ?

[ToraToraTora]

http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/790910/Brexit-happened-Brits-not-feel-European-professor
I think Mr Curtice has hit the nail on the head, we never really felt we were involved with the EU it always felt like them and us. What could we/they have done to make it work?

[Togo]

The difference being that the "manifesto" turned out to be a pack of lies. Now when a Party in Britain gains power with the same tactic we can all get rid every few years, it is called a General Election. It has taken us 40 odd years to give this lying cabal the heave ho, and we only got that chance due to the sheer doggedness of Farage and the disdain that Cameron treated us with in thinking it was a done deal.

[KARL]

I really hope I live another 20 years at least - by that time the effects of Brexit, particularly on the UK, will be known. At that point (if still alive) I will with great interest (but not necessarily surprise) take stock of how things look. Right now I feel increasingly bored by the variously improbable (in terms of certainty) predictions and even more so the bellicose statements/moans.

[mikey4444]

OG is right at 20:18....that is exactly my view. The Government of the time presided over the industrialisation of parts of Britain, like Wales and there was no guarantee that it was going to go out of its way to help it to recovery.

Wherever you go in Wales, whenever you see a new road, or by-pass, or a new industrial estate, there is a sign saying that the funding was provided by the EU.

Wales has made a net gain from being part of the EU, but, as I said before, I don't expect many people to accept that.

[jourdain2]

But, mikey - for EU funding read British money handed back as 'they' see fit.

[Baldric]

///not look for handouts (of our own money) from an outside power, as if we were a third world country///

And you're happy with that, are you?

[mikey4444]

Jourdain....we in Wales have been very glad of the help given by the EU over the years !

[Hymie]

The two main areas of contention (free movement of people and free movement of goods) will be agreed/disagreed during the forthcoming divorce negotiations. Other EU edicts incorporated within UK law will be changed over time – as and when our lords & masters see fit.

For all the EU’s faults, the primary objective of virtually all EU Directives is to protect the citizens of the EU. Having lost this protection, we will be at the mercy of treatment our government sees fit.

Take zero hours work contracts, many where the employer is under no obligation to give the employee any work – and can insist that the employee is contracted to them only, unable to seek other work.

It is almost unthinkable that any other EU country would allow such treatment of its citizens. I believe that had we remained within the EU, such practices would come to the attention of the European Commission, who would take steps to outlaw such arrangements.
There is no chance whatsoever that a UK government would view such treatment of its citizens as unreasonable.

As time goes by, we will be looking to the continent with envy at the freedoms/rights enjoyed by their citizens.

[Jackdaw33]

The remedy will be in our own hands, now.

[New Judge]

I don't know how to break this gently to you, Mikey, but the EU has no money. It only has what the taxpayers of five of its 28 members provide. The UK is one of those five and makes the second largest contribution. So when you talk of "EU money" that comes to the UK what you are talking about is half the money we have provided to it (which we must spend as directed). Presumably you are happy to see just 50p of every pound (or actually £10bn of £20bn pa) we pay in because you believe that £10bn is a reasonable price to pay to have a few signs saying "funded by the EU" erected.

[New Judge]

“For all the EU’s faults, the primary objective of virtually all EU Directives is to protect the citizens of the EU. Having lost this protection, we will be at the mercy of treatment our government sees fit.”

So, Hymie, you trust unelected EU officials to act in your best interests more than you trust an elected UK government to do so. In essence you crave the protection of the EU to guard you against the excesses of the UK government.

[Hymie]

NJ – yes I do.

My MP has no interest whatsoever in my welfare – only that he continues to keep his snout in the trough.

Un-elected EU officials are far more likely to have my interests/wellbeing at heart.

[naomi24]

Hymie, //Un-elected EU officials are far more likely to have my interests/wellbeing at heart. //

What an extraordinary thing to say. You have no idea whatsoever who these people are, so how can you possibly know what they have at heart?

[Boto]

Mikey, you always post as if you are speaking for all of Wales. May I remind you that you do not?

[mikey4444]

Boto....you may post that if you wish....I was giving my personal views on this matter, just like everybody else !

[Old_Geezer]

Run that past me again. An unelected elite who has no idea who I am or what my views are, is going to be interested in something other than their own power and gain, at least more so than someone chosen by the people to represent their views ? No, not quite getting that.

[AB Editor]

I can't remember who said it on R4 at the time, but it was said that:

"The British never warmed to the EU because they didn't invent it"

Which is more or less correct. We weren't there at the start, so the structures the british culturally require (fair play, respect, meritocracy for example) don't apply - and instead Franco-German ideals of equality and accountability are defining principals.

[Old_Geezer]

If so, then it merely underlines why mixed culture conglomerates can't comfortably work as a single country. Some will always feel their way of doing things, the right way, is ignored, and a bad set of rules imposed upon them by strangers.

[youngmafbog]

When I was working in Bruxelles the local inhabitants (and the French who I also worked with) asked on more than one occasion why we were in the EU. Often they cited their reason for asking as "You are British, not European".

So it is not just the Brits who think they are not European.

[ChillDoubt]

Never even vaguely considered myself European.
We are an island, don't speak the same language, don't have the same currency, drive on opposite sides of the road, don't eat the same food, don't have the same customs nor habits.
So why anyone from the UK ever DID consider themselves such is totally beyond me.....