I'm not sure why you think I'm arguing against that. My GP comment was intended merely to address why the German visa situation for UK citizens is a near-inevitable consequence of the UK's decisions (as opposed to being entirely up to Germany as you suggested); my comment had little to say about why the UK made those decisions.
It really was down to decisions made on the UK side, not the German side. It seems irrelevant whether those UK side decisions were due to politicians, government as a whole, or the people.
That said, I looked up the last election's conservative manifesto, curious after you cited it, and ending freedom of movement for EU citizens isn't one of the key manifesto pledges. An "Australian-style points-based system to control immigration" is, but that is more about changing the worldwide immigration entry requirements.
I do not believe ending freedom of movement for themselves was what the minority who voted for Brexit had in mind - witness all the leave-voting holiday home owners who were distressed when they found out they can no longer visit their own Spain residence as much as they did before, for example.
Many surveys about people's views of Brexit have been done by now, and if there is one thing that stands out, it is that what people who voted leave voted for is lots of different things, many of whom now say "this is not the Brexit I voted for". Those I know personally did not even particularly want to end freedom of movement for EU citizens, although it's obvious they didn't think too hard about their reasons for voting. As for the 2019 election, there are only two things I would say with confidence based on what others have said: Many just wanted Brexit "done" and didn't really care how it was done, and many people found Boris more exciting as a "leader" than Jeremy. I think the conservatives would have won just as much of a majority if the "oven-ready" Brexit deal had been quite different.
I'm not sure why you think I'm arguing against that. My GP comment was intended merely to address why the German visa situation for UK citizens is a near-inevitable consequence of the UK's decisions (as opposed to being entirely up to Germany as you suggested); my comment had little to say about why the UK made those decisions.
It really was down to decisions made on the UK side, not the German side. It seems irrelevant whether those UK side decisions were due to politicians, government as a whole, or the people.
That said, I looked up the last election's conservative manifesto, curious after you cited it, and ending freedom of movement for EU citizens isn't one of the key manifesto pledges. An "Australian-style points-based system to control immigration" is, but that is more about changing the worldwide immigration entry requirements.
I do not believe ending freedom of movement for themselves was what the minority who voted for Brexit had in mind - witness all the leave-voting holiday home owners who were distressed when they found out they can no longer visit their own Spain residence as much as they did before, for example.
Many surveys about people's views of Brexit have been done by now, and if there is one thing that stands out, it is that what people who voted leave voted for is lots of different things, many of whom now say "this is not the Brexit I voted for". Those I know personally did not even particularly want to end freedom of movement for EU citizens, although it's obvious they didn't think too hard about their reasons for voting. As for the 2019 election, there are only two things I would say with confidence based on what others have said: Many just wanted Brexit "done" and didn't really care how it was done, and many people found Boris more exciting as a "leader" than Jeremy. I think the conservatives would have won just as much of a majority if the "oven-ready" Brexit deal had been quite different.