British public opinion has shifted sharply against Brexit, according to a Sky Poll

[AtW]

Bring on Hard Brexit!

[Mordac]

Nah, you BeLeave tosh like this:

So if, within the next 20 years, some or all of Albania, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia or Turkey, have joined the EU, promise us all you won't do anything stupid. Anyone can make a mistake...

[sasguru]

So if, within the next 20 years, some or all of Albania, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia or Turkey, have joined the EU, promise us all you won't do anything stupid. Anyone can make a mistake...

It doesn't matter who joins the EU. That's not the issue. The issue is that the UK fooked up in not using EU mandated rules to keep out those it didn't want.
Something as simple as requiring private health insurance for 5 years would have done it.

[original PM]

It doesn't matter who joins the EU. That's not the issue. The issue is that the UK fooked up in not using EU mandated rules to keep out those it didn't want.
Something as simple as requiring private health insurance for 5 years would have done it.

Could you explain what that means?

I read it that the Uk did not use an EU mandated rule to keep out someone from somewhere.

Why is it up the UK to implement the EU mandated rule - is it not a rule that the EU should enforce as it is their rule?

Please clarify.

TIA

[sasguru]

Could you explain what that means?

I read it that the Uk did not use an EU mandated rule to keep out someone from somewhere.

Why is it up the UK to implement the EU mandated rule - is it not a rule that the EU should enforce as it is their rule?

Please clarify.

TIA

Like all Brexiters, you don't understand English/can't be bothered to do research/are thick as mince.

Let me make it simple for you.
Switzerland is not part of the EU but has signed up to the 4 freedoms as (unlike the UK) it's not stupid enough to cause itself huge economic harm.
But if you move to Switzerland (which I've done in the past), they make it difficult for you - you must have private health care, it's impossible to rent an apartment without a job offer etc etc. And so they get the cream of the crop. You won't see too many Romanian beggars there even though it's a richer country overall than the UK.
Point is in reality, movement isn't really free.
That's what you call common sense pragmatism - having your cake and eating it, if you like
Whereas in the UK, until recently any Romanian beggar could rock up whenever they wanted - and many have.
No restrictions whatsoever. EU rules mandate that EU movers should not necessarily be able to access free benefits, so in the UK's case private health insurance being mandatory would have kept the wrong sort out.

[original PM]

Like all Brexiters, you don't understand English/can't be bothered to do research/are thick as mince.

Let me make it simple for you.
Switzerland is not part of the EU but has signed up to the 4 freedoms as (unlike the UK) it's not stupid enough to cause itself huge economic harm.
But if you move to Switzerland (which I've done in the past), they make it difficult for you - you must have private health care, it's impossible to rent an apartment without a job offer etc etc. And so they get the cream of the crop. You won't see too many Romanian beggars there even though it's a richer country overall than the UK.
Point is in reality, movement isn't really free.
That's what you call common sense pragmatism - having your cake and eating it, if you like
Whereas in the UK, until recently any Romanian beggar could rock up whenever they wanted - and many have.
No restrictions whatsoever. EU rules mandate that EU movers should not necessarily be able to access free benefits, so in the UK's case private health insurance being mandatory would have kept the wrong sort out.

Ok let me get this straight - we can just agree to these 4 freedoms in principle - but in reality make it so clearly no one can actually make use of these 4 freedoms because of the caveats put in place.

And this is acceptable why?

[BlasterBates]

I remember here in Germany in the early days when Eastern European countries joined the EU that gangs would come in and forcibly wash everyone's windscreen but the authorities simply dealt with the problem, whereas in the UK they're simply too thick to figure out what to do, which is why I think the UK should leave the EU and sit with a Dunces cap on the fringes of the EU and figure out why their economy is going down the plug hole.

[sasguru]

Ok let me get this straight - we can just agree to these 4 freedoms in principle - but in reality make it so clearly no one can actually make use of these 4 freedoms because of the caveats put in place.

And this is acceptable why?

It's just one of the freedoms people have a problem with in the UK IMO: freedom of movement.
The others are indisputably good for the economy: freedom of capital etc.
In practice every single country except the UK has some barriers on freedom of movement, if only bureucratic ones. Whether this is right or not is a moot point.
Pragmatism works, this country used to be its leading practitioner, unfortunately we now have simple binary and/or ideological thinking rather than practical.

Personally i think it would have been better to have unilaterally interpreted the EU freedom of movement of rules to be more like the Swiss.

[NotAllThere]

The point is the UK could have done something about many things, but chose not to, and instead blamed the EU.

Ok let me get this straight - we can just agree to these 4 freedoms in principle - but in reality make it so clearly no one can actually make use of these 4 freedoms because of the caveats put in place.

And this is acceptable why?

Why should it not be acceptable? It's about applying the rules for the benefit of your own people. What puzzles me is why the UK is so unutterably crap at it?

[Sagara]

Utter bollux. There's no chance of Turkey joining in the forseeable future especially under Erdogan who looks like he'll be president for life.
Quite simply Greece will veto it forever.

Long time reader here and first time posting about Brexit as I could not help and comment on this. In short I agree with what sasguru is saying; it is indeed utter bollux. I lived in Turkey for over 20 years and know the current political structure and problems very well.

When I see people say things like Turkey will join European Union and there will be more immigration blah blah, I am just shaking my head. There is absolutely no way of Turkey joining European Union. Turkey has been trying to get in for a long time but simply gave up on this idea under Erdogan regime which is becoming a dictatorship by the day.

For the set of rules that Turkey should be compliant before even they can discuss this seriously, they are far away from this and actually gone way back under Erdogan's goverment. When people are saying Turkey will join and more people will be coming to UK, it is a COMPLETE LIE, similar to £350 million per week lie.

On a side note, I wouldn't be surprised if the Turkey's economy goes tulip in the next 6 months. TRL depreciated quite a lot and there is a huge amount of other problems boiling there and will burst for sure. EU countries will never have Turkey in.