OVER 65s WOULD ACCEPT SIGNIFICANT ECONOMIC DAMAGE FOR BREXIT

There is a quite amazing poll published by YouGov (HERE) which seems to indicate 71% of older over 65 leave voters say significant damage to the British economy is a price worth paying for Brexit. And perhaps even more shocking is that half of these people wouldn't mind a member of their own family losing their job because of it.  These are amazing figures but I am not sure they really reflect the opinion of the over 65s who voted to leave the EU.

I am not convinced all of the people who were asked would actually understand what "significant economic damage" actually means. If the question was couched in terms of a reduced old age pension or severe cuts to the NHS with fewer GPs, longer waits for appointments and greater travel distances I think the results might have been different.

It does however beg the question what benefits do they think Brexit will bring?  To make it a "price worth paying" there must be something on the other side of the transaction. Boris Johnson told us we would "prosper like never before" and no doubt some leavers would have been swayed by that but apparently 71% of the over 65s who vote leave would accept there being a negative impact on our standard of living. But for what? 

When it becomes clear there are no benefits to Brexit perhaps there will be a change of mind. We can only hope so.

GQ magazine has an article on it HERE