Don't forget that the wrong decision was made in the '70s...
England has done very well out of it. The UK provinces even better.
Not sure if that makes it a mistake . In the decade follow us in the Common Market, we had the advantage of that and of a strong leader in Maggie, turning this country from a bankrupt, unproductive land into a finacially secure place with opportunities.
But the trash media public have decided, and we must leave (I dont believe in a 2nd ref), and that will be a half cocked, half arsed, abortion of a compromise. Remember, all the influence within the country doesn't want to leave, they want access to Europe.
This is true TB, but the Common Market that people voted to stay in back in 1975 has changed drastically with the treaties from Maastrict to Lisbon, changing it from a loose trading association into a single legal entity with all the trappings of a sovereign country and this is what people don't like.
The effects of the policies that have come with it, particularly mass immigration from Eastern Europe have negatively impacted peoples lives. A good example of this is a bunch of trades guys I know in South Wales who used to go down to London to work on the construction sites. They earned very good money, but it's all gone now as the work is being done by immigrants (mostly Romanians apparently) for less than half of what the Welsh guys were getting paid. Are they trash? Does their opinion count for any less than a middle class corporate white collar type?
When you say that the 'influence' in the country dosn't want to leave, you really mean the
establishment ie government, the civil service and big business who have vested interests in keeping us shackled to the EU. They thought that public opinion would swing into line if they held a referendum and promised immediate armageddon if the people dared to defy them and vote to leave the EU.
They were wrong!
However, the establishment is fighting a hard rearguard action and there are dark forces at work in this country to keep us within the sphere of the EU and they will do this at any cost. Even if it means reducing this country to an effective colony of the EU where we have to accept all the laws, rules and regulations (including free movement), pay vast sums of money into the EU budget and remain under the jurisdiction of the ECJ. Yet we will have no MEP's, no EU Commissioner, no Judges sitting at the ECJ, and the PM will not attend meetings of the European Council.
It will be governance without representation and there will be nobody within the corridors of the EU fighting for Britain's national interest.
How anyone can even contemplate such an outcome is utterly beyond me and I have nothing but contempt for them!