You can't have studied the results of the referendum in much detail Robb, and I would suggest that you do so by looking at the BBC website results page ... http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/politics/e...rendum/results
You may be proved correct with Scotland, but in Northern Ireland the voting seemed to reflect the old Catholic/Nationalist versus Protestant/Unionist divide, with heavily Protestant areas voting "Leave" and heavily Catholic areas voting "Remain" ... I don't have exact figures but it looks to me like Catholics/Nationalists voted around 80/20 for "Remain" and Protestants/Unionists voted around 60/40 for "Leave".
Wales voted to Leave by about the same figure as The U.K. as a whole. The Isle of Man is not part of The UK and neither is it in The EU, exactly the same is the case for The Channel Islands [[Jersey and Guernsey), which you omitted to mention.
Well, when we joined in 1973 it was sold to the British public as joining a "Trading Area" and the idea that it would turn into some kind of uniform federal super-state was kept quiet, though at the time that idea did have some appeal to me.
Your enthusiasm for a single currency throughout The EU is something that I've not heard in The UK since 2009 [[though I've not had a serious conversation with any Liberal-Democrats about the issue recently). It may all sound very noble and good-intentioned but the simple truth is that in order for it to work the currency has to be used in places with broadly similar economies and cultures, within The Eurozone this is simply not the case which has led to immense strains on The Euro. Basically Greece, Spain and Portugal are in dire-straits, Italy, France, Ireland and Cyprus are struggling and even Finland is having problems.
Also, currently The UK pays much more into The EU than it gets back, so I don't understand why you think that we have not been paying to "incorporate the poorer countries into the money system". Needless to say if/when we leave the other countries that pay more into The EU than they receive back [[notably Germany and The Netherlands) will have to pick up the bill unless they too leave.
This reminds me of the sort of thing we were told was a good reason to join The Euro in The UK back in the late 1990s. We were told of a hypothetical British tourist driving through Europe on his way to holiday in Italy or Greece who changed his money each time he crossed a border, changing his Pounds for French Franks as he entered France, then into Belgian Franks as he entered Belgium, then into Dutch Guilders, German Marks etc. etc. Needless to say by the time he arrived at his destination he had little left, as he would lose 5% each time on currency exchange charges. Needless to say this is an argument that I've not heard in a while.
Which is part of the issue, strange though it may seem a large number of people in The UK actually like The Americans and have an inherent distrust of some of our neighbours on The Continent. As a result they are very wary of anything designed to "take on The Americans". I did used to be very "Pro-Europe" in the 1970s and 1980s, but the way they have imposed The Euro on countries which were clearly unsuited to it has managed to kill off any enthusiasm I used to have.
Roger
Bookmarks