Re: This what made Britain "great"..
No, we had membership of a Common Market.
EU-loving politicians have increasingly handed over the making of laws & policy to the EU.
That's EU control, not EU membership.
The UK finally had a referendum, after many broken promises, and it turns out that despite years of importing EU votes, diverting UK tax money to buy support for the EU, and despite the supposedly unbiased EU-smooching BBC - the majority of voting British want to exit the EU to retake control of British interests.
Now, anyone who wants to live in the EU can do so.
So if you still prefer the EU to Britain stop moaning and go live there.
But do not stay here and support EU interests over Britain's interests.
"Just by virtue of having the option to leave the EU I would have thought it would be obvious that the EU is nothing like a colonial power, or a communist state."
The EU has a history of having voting re-done to get the desired outcome. The UK isn't out yet, and all the pro-EU tax-guzzlers are looking for any reason to over-turn a referendum result as despite the EU having all the advantages they moan 'It wasn't fair because the British fought back'.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
