nostr:npub1awmt846qt67nqdyt7q0w6vn3vmqe5semtgdvmxyvmvwmspa4sumqkzkqm2 nostr:npub1g0tuf634rz4suczwj7kgnecr6cyt0eu9xmp3sp0fku68mqehq4msp3tvm4 

And it's not just infrastructure - "The UK is becoming the toxic poster child of Europe. The government has repeatedly promised that our environmental standards won’t slip post-Brexit. And yet here we are, less than four years later, and already we’re seeing our standards fall far behind those of the EU. With UK bees and other pollinators in decline, and our waters never more polluted, now is the time to be taking steps to protect nature. Instead, the government is choosing to expose British wildlife to an ever-more toxic soup of chemicals.” - https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/sep/13/uk-fails-ban-pesticides-outlawed-use-in-eu

The UK has always been halfway between 'the European Social Model' (free enterprise but within a broadly socialist framework) and the US free-market-free-for-all - brexit was just one stage in its unfortunate choice of the latter.  

It's inevitable now it's in the unmitigated race-to-the-bottom that is globalisation that it will end up with 'third world' standards.  But it might be good for the EU, because the UK was central to the introduction of neoliberal ideas inside it - without the UK, the 'socialist framework' part of the EU equation should be strengthened.