[jonbxx]

I don't post often i this thread and try not to post opinions as most peoples opinions about Brexit are so firmly entrenched and medium of a discussion forum is so disjointed that it is a bit of a waste of time - face to face is always better.

However, I will make an exception here...

I was a Remain voter and nothing I have seen since has swayed by opinion on this. However, we are a democracy and the people voted Leave and that's that. Sometimes there appears to be a lack of nuance in discussions, especially regarding the EU. It's not 'all good' or 'all bad' but something in the middle.

When it comes to the Brexit process and especially any subsequent trade agreements, there are aspects such as free trade that, for pure economic reasons, we should fight hard to keep. Free trade with no custom barriers are essential for business with an international supply chain and/or customers. For example, just in time manufacturing cannot bear customs hold ups easily. These aspects are worth fighting for - falling back to WTO rules would be a disaster for what is left of our manufacturing capacity.

Based on what I said above, am I fighting Brexit or am I fighting a hard Brexit? I believe that a hard Brexit would be terrible for the UK economy. Brexit will happen but we should fight for the least disruptive path for the economy and the population.

On my mention of nuance, let's play a little game as this discussion has mainly 'Leave' supporters. For Leave people, what is the best thing about the EU and for Remainers, what is the worst thing?

I will kick off as a Remainer - there are two things that bug me. The inability to change VAT rules was a pain. I am thinking about being unable to remove VAT from tampons and digital books as an example. The second is maybe because I am used to a mainly 2 party state in our Parliament with the connection of Parliament with Government that the pace of legislation within the EU Parliament was slow. The EU Parliament is a constant coalition.