Exactly. But people didn't vote to be worse off. People didn't vote for negatives did they? Okay they will accept some pain - especially if its abstract like a drop in GDP - but not a loss of services in the NHS because there aren't the staff or the revenue to pay for it.
Why won't there be the staff or the revenue to pay for it?
When you pull it apart, Brexit offers so little (Sovereignty),
And lots, and lots of trade. And lower input prices, and the ability to compete against the EU, and the ability to compete against the rest of the world, and the ability to regulate in a manner that suits our economy, etc, etc, etc.
and threatens so much (UK jobs and prosperity)
Exports of goods and services to the EU make up 14% of our GDP. Even a drastic cut in that trade would result in a drop in GDP of around 1-2%. That's incredibly unlikely - neither is it at all likely that none of that trade would be replaced by trade elsewhere, or by reduced import costs.
it is extremely hard to make a rational case for it being in the UKs interests.
I just did, it took me around 8 seconds. I'm more capable than most, but it's really not that diffictult if you actually want to .
The UK is losing jobs now - a number of banks taking small amounts of people to Amsterdam etc.
London was the world's financial centre before the UK joined the EU. EU membership makes some things a little easier and makes some costs a little smaller. If we can't brass plate those services into the EU (and the lawyers available to our financial institutions will be significantly better than those of the EU) then some jobs will be lost. Not nearly all of them, not even a majority of them, just enough so that those banks can claim to have a presence in the EU.
London will continue to be the centre for financial institutions because the people making the decisions in those branches still want to live and work in London. It has the right time zone, it has the right language, schools, property, supporting services, etc.
The rates of investment into the UK has fallen, and the pound has fallen because every trader with a brain believes Brexit threatens the UKs prosperity.
Is that really why? Because most experts have claimed it's because Sterling had been artificially high for a while and this was a readjustment prompted by initial uncertainty.
Remind me, why is the recent drop in Sterling a bad thing?
If Brexit is a success, it will be in 30 years time, and even then it is highly unlikely. We live in a global world, where free trade and cooperation are fundamental; and no Brexit is not opening up the UK. That is the most deluded notion of all, which ignores our current reality.
Why isn't it opening up the UK? Leaving a protectionist bloc is opening ourselves up to trade. We don't have to be part of a closed club to be open - in fact it's quite the opposite.
