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Asked by anon-198929 to Srinath, Natasha, Nana, Luisa, Gautam, Alex on 12 Mar 2019.
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Srinath Kasturirangan answered on 12 Mar 2019:
It is a sad situation. Lots of companies (specifically in my case pharmaceutical companies) are stock piling drugs, moving their headquarters out of the UK to mainland Europe, the EMA – governing body that approves medicines for use in patients in Europe is moving its headquarters out of London and there are going to be so many high paying scientist jobs lost as a result.
Because of Brexit, cost of everyday items in the grocery store will go up, inflation will be high and common man will bear the brunt. Of course, these are short term ramifications and maybe there will be some gain in the long run, but is all the pain worth the gain?
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Natasha Dowey answered on 12 Mar 2019: last edited 12 Mar 2019 3:49 pm
It’s important to say that this is my personal view, not that of my company.
It makes me sad. I come from Cornwall, which is a very poor county that receives a lot of EU funding. But Cornish people voted to leave. They, like a lot of people in old industrial areas of this country, felt abandoned by Westminster, quite rightly in a way, but I don’t think that voting for Brexit will solve the worries and concerns they have. In fact, Cornish people will be worse off, because they will lose EU funding. I found the campaign really upsetting because of all the lies about immigrants and immigration. Immigrants are a vital part of our economy. And I believe that we should take in refugees from war-torn areas, because we can afford to show that mercy. Right now, I don’t think we will be better off outside the EU. I hope that I am wrong! -
Alexander Allen answered on 13 Mar 2019:
I am also weighing in with personal views here that are purely my own.
For many years the European union represented a key feature of the UKs trade and policy. The UK almost never disagreed with the EU. Voting almost all the time for the laws it proposed, such as the laws on human rights. Unfortunately, as part of a joke, the EU was always seen as a bit of a joke in the public mind, in that it was slow and complicated. This was true in the 80s and 90s and although it was a stablising force, comedians would often see it as a joke.
There were plenty of euro skeptics in politics and it was an issue that a lot of people had divided views. The EU locked us into deals and allowed movement of people to and from the EU to some extent (not necessarily for immigration though). So David Cameron put remaining in the EU to a public vote and an ugly campaign followed. People were never told of the benefits of the EU, and everyone remembered the jokes and the general feeling of the past. A lot of people believed that events such as the refugee crisis would mean an influx of so many unwanted “foreigners” who would damage the country, trying to claim government aid.
It was poorly run and the decision was a sad one. In my opinion it is an impossible ask… The UK shares a land border with Europe through Ireland. The UK wanted free movement of people between Northern and the Republic of Ireland but trade had to be regulated. So people should be free to move but goods can’t… This is impossible to police!
Brexit is causing many of our best hopes for the future of science to not be allowed to work here. We are possibly not going to be allowed to send our scientists out without significant cost. Scientific funding is disappearing from the UK as a lot comes from Europe…
Personally as an analogy, I believe that years ago the UK and the European union essentially joined forces to make a new entity, like making a cake where the UK contributed the eggs, say. The British public voted that now we have made the cake, we want to take our eggs back out of it… And that is as difficult a prospect as the exiting of the EU…
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