Where is the UK headed?

[Malbec]

However, the whole thing has been badly handled by the UK government and the EU. Some of the people inside the Treasury will have known about this for months or longer, so it shouldn't have been allowed to come as a surprise. And the EU seems to be completely oblivious to the political hot potato that it is at the minute in the UK. Why announce it now when we have a bye-election in a few week where one of the front-running parties is anti-EU?

I think we've run out of political capital in the EU. All Cameron can threaten is to leave the EU with each tantrum he has, I think many in the EU would be happy with that as all we do is block changes and try to renegotiate EU fundamentals. Also I don't think Britain's internal politics are particularly high when it comes to announcing things like this.

As driveace's posts show there are many in the UK, particularly in the older population who just will not believe the benefits EU membership gives us WRT trade and so on no matter how many times they are told. I think its time to have a vote, leave the EU and see the British economy sink before begging to rejoin again. Perhaps then we will have a graphic demonstration of what exactly the UK gets from the EU, many will be surprised when multinational banks and manufacturers leave the UK leaving millions unemployed with a massive hole in the budget. It will hurt and might bankrupt the country but how else will people here learn?