I do remember when it was Great Britain, and our output was welcome world-wide. I fear that is less the case now, we have exported many skills, trades, and manufacturing jobs and have become used to buying from abroad. We buy cheap quality, and complain if we have to pay more for good quality when we want it to last. We do have more in work, but it is too often low productivity and poorly paid. Demanding high pay for sometimes tough but outdated work does not succeed for long. Many who lost jobs in industry struggle to get work because their old skills, if they had any, are no longer any use where they are.We still believe we should have all the old protections and benefits, but that requires more people to earn the money to pay for them. Education is important. It is no use holding up a qualification that was downgraded to get sufficient passes, we have to compete with the rest of the world.We can send back foreign workers who have taken our jobs, but they are very likely to take the jobs with them.We still have some specialities which are renowned world-wide, but they do not help everyone. If we are not able to succeed now we are likely to struggle in the future, whether in or out of the EU.
Christopher Bell ● 2661d