The government has revealed how much companies will have to pay to import foods from the EU due to Brexit.
Small imports of products such as fish, salami, sausage, cheese and yoghurt will be subject to fees of up to £145 from 30 April, according to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA).
The Cold Chain Federation said the new charges would hit food prices.
The government said the fees would pay for “world-class border facilities”.
The fee, known as the “common user charge”, will apply to animal products, plants and plant products entering the UK from the EU through the Port of Dover and the Eurotunnel at Folkestone.
Declaring literally half the population “fools” or “dumb” is a bit extreme, don’t you think? If it was 10% sure, if it’s 50% something else is going on. Dismissing it as “it’s just fools” will do nothing to improve it for the next election or referendum (as you can see with Trump in the US now).
We live in a time where it’s all too easy for a small group with malicious motives and money (be it corrupt politicians, foreign governments or rich
olicharchsbusinessmen) to sway the public opinion. That is the problem that needs fixing, by limiting the echo chamber effects of social media, the power of media conglomerates, and better education in general.It’d be interesting to know what percentage of those that voted for Brexit actually knew what the Customs Union was. I suspect incredibly low. Yet Brexit got through on jingoism, populism and downright lies, oh and greed.
This is why I’m not for referenda generally. Decisions like this are way too complicated and have way too many difficult to foresee implications for anyone to make a well-informed decision on, unless you take the time to really study it. It’s the whole reason we have the governmental system we have: you elect people you think will represent your opinion best, who then have the dedicated time to do the research required.
I understand your argument and there’s some truth to it. But on the other hand exactly these kinds of decisions (joining/leaving the EU/NATO/…) have an incredibly strong possible effect, so them being done only based on the decisions of some politicians that were elected on some promises possibly quite unrelated to that decision has its own set of problems.