A question for the Britons on HN: have you perceived any discernible benefits to Brexit? My outsider’s (American) perception is that it has been pretty uniformly negative.
So, not exactly small, no.
2000 does seem small enough that it would be hard to ensure no bias creeps in.
- Zero discernible benefits so far.
Negatives:
- Loss of freedom to live, work, study & retire across Europe. Visas now required, often with high income requirements.
- 90/180 day limit on travel. Longer queues at airports, etc when entering the EU to get passports stamped.
- Loss of access to EU/EEA single market, so exporters face significant red tape. This benefits larger companies who can deal with the paper work versus smaller companies in the UK - but still disadvantages all UK companies compared to their European peers.
- Increased mobile roaming fees for UK travellers to Europe.
- Outside Digital Single Market: we can no longer watch TV services like Now TV, Sky while traveling in Europe even with a VPN.
- Loss of EU "passporting" rights for UK financial institutions.
- Irish Sea Border leads to some strange outcomes: creates a customs border within the UK and those born in Northern Ireland have more rights than those born in England, Wales and Scotland since they can retain EU free movement by applying for an Irish passport.
Before Brexit a UK citizen could just jump in a car, train or plane and travel across the EU/EEA almost as if they were in their own country.
So there is a definite path of responsibility. People have to wake up to that, and let the politicians know.
It is likely we'll have a flop to a Labour government at the next GE. Once they also show their incompetence, we may have a chance for improving things. Say starting in around 7-10 years time.
That period should be too soon for any successful rejoin movement, as that is in the gift of the EU, and the MS.
Brexit was (by definition) always a political thing, not an economic thing.
- Destabilising Northern Ireland [1] - Problems harvesting crops [2] - Breaking international law [3] - Irish supply chains have been reconfigured to bypass the UK [4]
Economics Explained recently did a couple of videos on the UK economy and the current problems. Not limited to Brexit but also not made better [5][6]. The FT did a similar video a year ago [7]
[1] https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandpolicy/the-impact-of-brex...
[2] https://committees.parliament.uk/work/1497/labour-shortages-...
[3] https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/press-room/20220614IP...
[4] https://www.politico.eu/article/ferry-firms-avoid-britain-wi...
[5] https://youtu.be/P0G3lYTOI0Q
Most reasonable non thick people were either against it to start with, or have since realised they've been misled.