Brexit and the waning days of the United Kingdom

[PJL]

Wales is also the poorest region in the UK as well (that's including Northern Ireland) which probably has something to do with them going for UKIP. Scotland meanwhile is the 3rd richest, behind London and the South East.

[alfred russel]

Also Plaid Cymru is really stupid.

[Gups]

God I feel so worldly knowing what that ABC1 C2DE stuff means.

Please share with the rest of us

Going from memory, it is a ranking of socioeconomic class devised by British sociologists (and maybe the government?) in the 60s or thereabouts -- from "A" executives and professionals down to "C1" skilled labor down to "E" basically unemployable.

So Gups is noting that higher-class individuals tend to turn out to actually vote more frequently and that they are much more likely to vote "Remain" than their lower-class counterparts who've been polled on the issue.

Spot on. It's an anachronistic classification but still widely used in polling and market research. To be honest, I always thought it was used on both sides of the pond, but clearly not.

[Josquius]

Wow, it is actually happening.
A British friend in Switzerland is interviewing for a new job. They were really keen on her and all looked fine....They even told her to start looking for accommodation.... but now they've suddenly said they'll let her know the week of the 20th.
hmm.....
Could be a coincidence of course. But seems awfully suspect to me.

I'd heard unofficial talk from HR people that it was likely that Britain leaving would make hiring Brits a difficult prospect. But this is the first I've actually seen it coming into play.

[Admiral Yi]

Don't see how Brexit would affect a Brit in Switzerland, which is not part of the EU.

[The Larch]

Don't see how Brexit would affect a Brit in Switzerland, which is not part of the EU.

Switzerland is in Schengen and part of the EU's freedom of movement of people principle.

[Jacob]

Don't see how Brexit would affect a Brit in Switzerland, which is not part of the EU.

Switzerland is in Schengen and part of the EU's freedom of movement of people principle.

... so if Brexit happens such the Brits no longer trivially can work in EU countries, that would also stop them from working in Switzerland as that access is via the EU.

Just to make it even more clear.

[Capetan Mihali]

But Switzerland, like Norway, is a party to Schengen without being in the EU, so I don't see how the EU's freedom of movement principles would apply.

[Jacob]

But Switzerland, like Norway, is a party to Schengen without being in the EU, so I don't see how the EU's freedom of movement principles would apply.

Yes, but Schengen is an agreement with the EU (and one which the Brexit crowd has some issues with, if I understand it correctly). It may be possible that the UK could negotiate a Schengen like agreement with Switzterland (if it wanted to), but it seems unlikely that a EU based agreement would continue without a hitch between two non-EU countries.

For one, the EU would probably be able to put some conditions in place on Switzerland if they so chose.

It's not a foregone conclusion that it'd fuck Tyr up, but it's certainly also not a "clearly there won't be any issues" type situation. Much would depend on how Brexit was handled, but I'm not sure how high on the list of priorities it would be to keep this sort of arrangement going.

EDIT: ... more to your point, the Schengen treaty is one implementation in support of the EU freedom of movement principle, and it has expanded to include other non-EU countries; it is nonetheless an EU constructs.

[Richard Hakluyt]

We are not in Schengen at the moment anyway 

[Capetan Mihali]

OK, it seems that Schengen was initially independent from the EU (or EEC), as I had thought, when it was ratified in 1985, but in 1999 the Amerstdam Treaty incorporated the Schengen treaties and rules into the EU governance structure (with UK and Ireland opt-out provisions), so you're right that the EU freedom of movement rights are implicated today.

[mongers]

The shambles over the voting registration, is at this stage unsurprising. 

[Sheilbh]

We're not in Schengen - in part because of the peace process and the separate common travel arrangement with the Republic. Maintaining those after Brexit would be a huge but key job for the government. Given that no-one seems to care about Northern Ireland in the EU debate I suspect it's sadly pretty low down on the priority list.

But Switzerland is in free movement. They had a referendum against it but the EU refuses to open negotiations so the Swiss may have another vote, like the Irish and the Danes, until they choose the correct answer.

It's not a foregone conclusion that it'd fuck Tyr up, but it's certainly also not a "clearly there won't be any issues" type situation. Much would depend on how Brexit was handled, but I'm not sure how high on the list of priorities it would be to keep this sort of arrangement going.

Probably somewhere between the DOM of Cornish pasties and the export of widgets. I think you could probably cover 90% of British migrants to the EU in expat types (ie. of the sort that go to countries without free movement like the US, Singapore or Hong Kong) and pensioners who are spending their money in another country. After that you get the free movement types - we're dreadful at languages - and my suspicion is we'd do a reciprocal deal with the EU like we have with Canada or Australia.

[Sheilbh]

The shambles over the voting registration, is at this stage unsurprising. 

Like the late voters in 2010.

Though I do have very, very limited sympathy for people leaving it that late to register

[mongers]

The shambles over the voting registration, is at this stage unsurprising. 

Like the late voters in 2010.

Though I do have very, very limited sympathy for people leaving it that late to register

But given it was an intentional Tory plan to make it harder for young, more transitory people to be able to vote in general elections, it's surprising that only now has it dawned on Cameron that that might actually backfire on his plans to get a Remain victory, given that he needs lots of young people to vote to stay in.