You're making the mistake that those in the EU hate us. Everyone I've spoken to has their head in their hands at the sheer state of the government. I mean they despaired enough about the result in the first place, but the way the government has responded to it has them shaking their heads, not rubbing their hands.
I don't think they hate us. I don't think they're evil.
But from the outside it doesn't appear they have been willing to do any real negotiating.
I must clarify here that I absolutely respect they have no reason to. They aren't the ones leaving. They didn't want us to leave. They hold the cards. I get it.
But simultaneously, the UK have voted to leave and the EU is a mess. It is being propped up by Germany and, to a lesser extent, France. There's a huge problem with rising right-wing nationalists in most of the major western states now, it seems. They have several countries on the verge of recession.
Surely, given the situation everybody is in, it would be better for them to have a deal with us that makes some concessions, but still gives them what they want in terms of money and trade?
I'm not saying the UK should come out of this as glorious winners. I just feel like there's been no active working towards a deal from either side. And given the mess both sides are in, that seems strange.
But what do I know? Genuinely, my political knowledge is limited. I'm just putting it as I see it.
I don't trust the top dogs in the EU as much as I don't trust our government, though. Nothing over the course of the last three years has made me change my mind and think it's an organisation I'd have liked us to join in the state its currently in. And that's how I decided (maybe wrongly) to vote leave three years ago. I went into that ballot box not knowing which box to tick. I took my time and decided if it was a referendum to join it, then I don't think I'd vote in.
I don't think any member of the public should be made to feel bad for their vote, either way. We weren't informed enough of the strengths of the EU by Remain, who simply focused on ridiculing Leave's arguments. Well, look how that turned out. Look how it turned out in the US with Trump. Focusing on negatives doesn't work, and so for all the crying of 'lies' from Leave's side, it's Remain's arrogance that got us into this position in the first place.
And I go back to the point that if politicans had simply looked to work together over the past three years, rather than this ludicrous in-fighting, we'd be in a much stronger position.
