Are the EU negotiators a bunch of bullies - Page 29

It is not The EU screwing the UK. It is the UK screwing themselves through an underfunded NHS not having the staff and processes in place to claim the costs back. The EU gives the UK  the right to do it - they just don't take advantage of that right. Whether the UK has the right to claim back healthcare costs from non EU countries, is a completely different question however....

EVERYONE is getting screwed by the EU

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/apr/07/treating-uk-tourists-in-europe-costs-five-times-more-than-equivalent-cost-to-nhs

The reason the UK pays more for the healthcare of its citizens in EU countries than it recovers from EU countries for treating EU citizens in the UK is because more UK citizens use other some EU health services than vice versa, but mainly because UK does not claim back what it is entitled to. UK proud of its "free" (ie paid by the state) NHS but that doesn't oblige other EU states to do the same. This is UK policy, it is not forced on the UK by EU. 

UK is welcome to leave the EU - and apparently slightly over 50% wants to - but it would useful to get various facts correct. This healthcare cost issue is not the only incorrect "fact" of the EU "bullying" the UK. BTW, when is UK actually going to leave? Then all the theories about life after EU can be tested.

youve lost the plot, id love to see you go ahead with that one lol, gg was a rock star stage name, and successful, , paul gadd was convicted, btw , are you aged 7, mister " he called me garry glitter", ha ha

glad my mother didnt call me cliff richard, ooops...., 

Definitely a new vote now Labour Lib Dems and greens have  come out for one

No I think the EU are quite justified in their stance - if you want to continue with the benefits of membership you have to remain a member. The Brexit attitude seems to be like someone deciding to stop paying their golf club membership - but then expecting the same privileges as the members who remain! 

Also think some people need a reality check in this "make Britain Great again" nonsense. Back in 1974 when we joined we had lots of heavy industry like steel, coal, shipbuilding and car making. Maggie destroyed all that in her crusade against the working class and now we rely on banking and finance. If that goes to France or Germany because we leave the EU then our major industry will be supermarkets! 

Then there is also the very real prospect of the return of unrest in Northern Ireland ☹️

Who was it that said the UK was becoming a nation of hairdressers? They may well be right.

return , !! it never went away, there is still hatred boiling under the surface, it will never make the news , but still goes on, 

lose n ireland or lose scotland. let the irish decide , as they wanted the eu, but minority holding them bk

When the referendum was held people were misinformed about the realities of what that would entail. In the years since the referendum many truths have come to light and today the public are more enlightened about what leaving will mean. That is why I would like to see a new referendum and all people to vote again with the full facts at their disposal. If the same result is achieved then by all means the UK should leave.  

Brussels was never going to make it easy to let the UK go for obvious reasons but at least now the people have a much clearer idea of what they are voting for. The first vote was a reactionary one in any case & I believe that overall, despite the cost of being in the EU, the benefits outweigh that cost & when the UK joined the EEC as it was then known, in the full knowledge that there would be a significant cost. If you do the maths that cost is more than gained back because of membership.

I’m not unaware of the what the downsides of being a member of the EU are but on balance all the indicators show that the UK has benefitted hugely from membership. If, as one writer has suggested, the EU is going to break up anyway then why not wait until that happens and leave without all these tiresome negotiations that have produced a bully prime minister who wants it all his own way and who to date has displayed a worrying lack of factual knowledge about a subject he should know more about.  Worse, he has gathered around him a cabal of ambitious (for themselves) MPs who care nothing for the best interests of their country or their people. Repeal the 50th and  be patient. 

Ann, I could not disagree with you more.

First of all, I will say that my husband and I voted to remain in the EU. From a selfish point of view, it was obvious the Pound would fall against the Euro with a Leave vote which would affect our incomes. Immediately prior to the Referendum, 1 Pound was worth 1.35 Euros, today the exchange rate is 1:1.08.  Also, leaving the EU would make it far more difficult for British people to come and live here in Spain as we have done, so it would be a bit hypocritical for us to vote Leave. For these reasons, I am astonished that anyone who has moved from the UK to Spain to live would vote to leave the EU as I know several people on this forum have.

However, I strongly disagree that the British people did not know what they were voting for, that seems a bit insulting to me. I think those who voted to leave knew it would be complicated and difficult to extricate the UK from the EU after 40 years, but they assumed that their elected representatives in Westminster would sort it out. What a joke!

We have heard that the result of the referendum was not definitive because it was close. Yet many MPs have gained/held their seats on a slim majority of votes. Has anyone heard of an MP with a small majority suggest a second election in case people really wanted to vote for a political opponent instead? No, me neither.

Then we have these MPs who just don't want to leave. They seem to forget that they are servants of the people and have the arrogant attitude that they know better. They just don't get it. There was a referendum. The majority of people voted to leave the EU. Therefore the UK MUST leave the EU. It doesn't matter what the likes of Dominic Grieve, Vince Cable and Anna Soubry et al personally  think and it's time they realised it. It's called democracy - government by the people.

Leaving the EU should never have been a political fight. Labour basically would not vote for any withdrawal agreement, even if it was best for Britain, because all they care about is getting into government. I did have a lot of respect for Theresa May but we now hear that "no deal" was never discussed with the EU, obviously weakening her bargaining position. Another thing that MPs in Westminster didn't seem to understand when they voted to stop any "no deal"! How is it not obvious to these people that it gives the EU virtually all the bargaining power and the UK very little.

If there was a second referendum what would be the question(s)? Just leave/remain again? What would be the point if nobody took any notice of the first referendum? If the result was the same, what is gained? If the result was to remain, what next - best of 3, best of 5? Some bright spark has said that the people should vote as to whether they want the current withdrawal agreement. I consider myself to be fairly intelligent, would I be able to digest the ramifications of a 585 page document?? No, not a chance.

Perhaps I'm being a bit cynical but I think the reason that Boris was backed so strongly to be PM was, in a way, to throw him to the wolves. This is a horrendous time to be PM. He's already shown that he has got the guts to throw everything at it and I believe he can succeed. If he doesn't, it will be a short reign.

I'll go now, this has been a bit of an indulgent Brexit rant!