We're not morons': Brexit divisions harden across Britain
‘People will still work’: the Brexit-proud Midlanders
When Marvin Salisbury was growing up in Mansfield, the market packed the town square and stretched far up the surrounding streets. “There were proper butchers’ stalls, fish, everything,” the former miner said, sitting in the winter sunshine outside the town hall. “You could get anything you want. And now look at it.”
Many of the pitches of the market, which dates back to 1227, are empty; stallholders say four traders closed down in the past month.
Mansfield has been changing politically too. In the previous general election, this staunchly Brexit town, which saw some of the most bitter clashes of the miners’ strike, bucked the national trend by ousting their longstanding Labour MP and installing a Conservative, Ben Bradley, for the first time in its history.
The east Midlands is the heartland of the Brexit vote and 70% of Mansfield voters chose to leave. While some pro-EU politicians suggest views are shifting as the magnitude of extracting the UK from Europe becomes clearer, attitudes in towns such as this are hardening.
Salisbury, drinking coffee with his brother, Trevor, who offers bourbon biscuits, said he had not voted for decades. “I don’t vote, they all piss in the same pot, right up to the prime minister,” he said. “But I voted to come out of the EU. [The former Conservative prime minister] Edward Heath sold us that Europe would be this place we would trade with all together, not a central place we would send money to.”
Neither of the brothers have changed their view about leaving, but Marvin said he was sceptical as to whether politicians would follow through. “What they really want to do is kill democracy. They didn’t like the answer they got before and so they’ll just keep asking until people agree. As if we are all mindless morons,” he said.
Donna Musgrove, 45, whose stall sells baby clothes and accessories, says she can sum up her vote to leave in one word: change. “The town really has changed so much, we were giving all that money away. I wanted a change from that,” she said.
Dean Rozzoni, 45, who has been selling luggage in the market for two decades, said he felt upbeat about leaving the EU, as well as the town’s future. “I voted to come out. You can be negative and say everything’s going badly, but we’ll be fine at the end of it. People will still work; if you’ve got your health, you can can look after yourself,” he said.
Surveying the market from the corner of Leeming Street, Vinny Overton has no doubts. “We had to come out. I’m a British national, not a racist, but we have to look after our own. There are people coming here willing to work for a lot less. Sometimes, you go into an agency to get work and you can’t because you’re not Polish. There are a lot of eastern Europeans here now and we’re seeing them around the town, shouting, fighting. If they’re here to work for £2 an hour, or just stand about, they shouldn’t be here,” he said.
Away from the town centre, several people want to underline that it was not just local frustrations that informed their vote. In a garage on Nursery Street, Simon Johnson, a car salesman, says he did not vote but he loves the independent, uncompromising spirit of the town. “It’s tight round here, it’s a community, people say what they think,” he said. “Even if I won the lottery, I wouldn’t leave Mansfield.” Jessica Elgot
‘It’s a disaster’: the remain-supporting Labour voters
Cafe du Jour in Park Street,
Bristol, is a fittingly continental gathering place for a group of passionate remainers who, despite losing the referendum, show no sign of despondency.
Stephen Perry, having removed his handmade EU flag beret, says signing up new volunteers to the Bristol for Europe group since the vote has been “like picking low-hanging fruit”.
“We have signed up 7,000 members … and these are not just button pressers on Facebook, we have been out there weekend after weekend,” he said.
Bristol was one of the most heavily remain areas, with 62% of the city voting to stay in the EU. Since then, pro-EU sentiment has increased as residents become increasingly worried about how negotiations are playing out, the group says.
John Windsor said: “A lot of people had no idea about how complex the whole issue is. They had this idea that there are foreigners over there telling us what to do. And the more they find out, the more they question if it was worth it.”
One Bristolian who knows the power of the remain vote is Darren Jones, who took the marginal seat of Bristol North West at the previous general election and is one of the city’s four Labour MPs. He credits pro-EU voters, coupled with anger over austerity cuts and a re-engerised party base, for his surprise victory.
“People love it when I break the whip [vote against the party line] at home, certainly those people that voted for me because of Brexit,” he said.
Jones says voters who were firmly leave are telling him they want politicians to get on with it, but there is a different message from pro-remain voters, NHS staff and local businesses. “They are telling me it’s a disaster. In the real world, people are asking what this is all about, and then in Westminster I’m just told everything is going to be all right,” he said.
On the north-west outskirts, the area of Lawrence Weston feels a long way from inner Bristol’s sumptuous townhouses. One of the city’s lowest income wards, 57.5% of people here voted to leave and several make clear they have no regrets.
Getting his lunch at Smiler’s Cafe, Dave Reynolds, a building project manager, says he voted leave in part to stop foreign intervention in British lawmaking, and would do so again because “there are pros and cons to both sides”.
Kim Carpenter, who owns Kim’s Domestic Appliances, seems resigned about the whole thing. He had harboured a dream of buying a boat to live on in the south of France when he retires in a few years. “But that’s gone now, isn’t it,” he said.
Pushing his twin daughters along in a pram outside the shops, Stuart Kilshaw, 43, a docker, says his views have been brought into sharp focus since their birth five weeks ago. He voted remain, but is now more worried about what Brexit might bring. “I feel we have a lot less security now,” he said. “We were better off as we were, and we should have stayed how we were, but we were scuppered by imbeciles who thought too much about immigration rather than what immigration brings.”
Unsurprisingly, the remainers in Cafe du Jour think Labour’s balancing act on Brexit is losing the party votes. Christian Weale said: “The message we are getting on the street is that people want [Jeremy] Corbyn to take some leadership and not just follow the prevailing narrative.”
Whatever the party’s stance, groups in the umbrella organisation Britain for Europe are gaining members. Perry said: “We are growing under the radar, but we are growing. If there is a second referendum, I would bet my bottom dollar that large numbers of the soft leavers would go our way this time.”
Alexandra Topping
‘We used to govern an empire’: the no-regrets older leavers
Lionel Digby, an 82-year-old businessman from Torquay, says he voted Brexit not for himself, but for the newest members of his family.
“I did it for my great-grandchildren – to ensure they would enjoy the same freedoms I had when I was young. I didn’t want them to suffer under an unelected Brussels leadership, as we have done,” he said.
He remains optimistic at the prospect of the UK’s departure. “It’s taking longer than I’d like, but I don’t regret voting for Brexit. Not for a second.”
Digby owns a costume shop on Market Street that specialises in providing military uniforms for film and TV. In the 1960s, he was a music promoter who, just before they became huge, declined to book the Beatles for a week’s residency at a dance hall because they were asking for £50 more than his going rate.
“I may have got that wrong, but I’ve got it right over Europe. Yes, the pound has gone down, but even that has been a good thing. Business is booming and more tourists are visiting,” he said.
“A lot of youngsters were frightened for their jobs if we came out of Europe. Bloody Europe needs us more than we need them. We used to govern an empire. I’m sure we can govern a small country without the EU. I’m certain it will be for the best.”
In Torbay, 63% of people voted leave . The “English riviera” has an elderly population , and a Tory mayor and MP, and many residents are sympathetic to the pressure they believe the EU has put on the local fishing and farming industries.
Ukip is also strong here and has an office a few doors up from Digby’s costume shop. Ian Walsh, 60, a former Torbay Ukip chairman, says he voted for Brexit knowing things could be tough in the short term.
“I’ve heard people say that nobody voted to make themselves worse off. I did, at least in the short term. I thought, I’ll take a knock. I know that later on we will all be better off,” he said.
He does have worries about progress on the negotiations. “I’m concerned about this term hard and soft Brexit. During the campaign, it was just Brexit. People know what we meant by Brexit – it meant walking away from the whole shebang. Just go, clear off. There’s a worry that we might get something that’s so watered down that it isn’t freedom.”
Jan and Jeff Porter, both 74, are enjoying tea and a bun outside the Corner Cafe on Market Street. Both voted Brexit and remain cheerful. “We are a bit worried about our savings,” said Jan. “But I think it was the right thing to do. We are a proud people, a proud country and will do better out of Europe.”
Jeff nods vigorously. “I think it’s the best decision we’ve made as a country in the last 50 years.”
In the market hall, Annie Savage, 72, who runs a boutique, declared herself a socialist and a Corbyn fan. “But I voted for Brexit. I think we were paying too much money into Europe. I’m in two minds now because of the turmoil the country is in and I don’t think Theresa May is up to the job of sorting it out. If there was another referendum, I’m not sure what I’d do.”
Stephen Holgate, 60, who owns the market and has a delicatessen, also voted leave. “I was worried about the influx of immigrants into the EU. Just at the time of Brexit was when Angela Merkel was welcoming everyone – the Syrians and the like. The same as a lot of people, I went: ‘Whoa’. I can see the good and the bad now. If there’s a club, we should be in it, but I don’t like that the EU is a non-elected body stronger than our own government.” Steven Morris
‘We want more say’: the angry student remainers
When Zaki Kaf al-Ghazal walked into the polling booth, there was no question how he would vote. Like 75% of voters aged 18 to 24, he wanted to remain. The result left him shellshocked.
“I was pretty strongly for remain and I feel as strong now,” he said in the noisy atrium of Leeds University’s students’ union. He feels angry about the Brexit process and believes young people are being ignored.
“I don’t think the government has done well in engaging young people in the conversation and I think that’s a huge mistake,” said the 24-year-old. “We want a lot more of a say.”
Almost all the students the Guardian met in the students’ union said they would vote remain if there were a second referendum, although there was little appetite for one. Everyone who voted remain said they felt as strongly or even stronger than they did in 2016.
They expressed a mixture of concern, anger and bemusement about the future, fearing the result would limit their opportunity to study and work abroad, and that it had diminished Britain’s status. There was frustration, too, from those who had been too young to vote.
Ezra Bellwood, 19, said: “I really wanted to vote at the time, mainly because I felt the leave campaign was based on xenophobia, especially from the Ukip side.”
The philosophy student felt the generational divide more sharply than most. Her family was “split down the middle”, with the older people voting to quit the EU. She even had a row with her septuagenarian neighbour who wanted to vote leave.
Turnout among 18-24s for the EU vote was 60%, almost double the figure quoted in news reports in the immediate aftermath. Their turnout in the general election was 64%, leading Jack Palmer, a students’ union executive, to believe that the extra 4% could have swayed the referendum in favour of remain.
“I don’t want to cry betrayal and put the blame on the older generation. To a certain extent we’ve got to take responsibility for our turnout,” he said. “Everyone was genuinely shellshocked and felt it was such a slap in the face, and I think there’s been a reaction from young people that we need to take part.”
However, Palmer, 23, said a second referendum would be more toxic and divisive than the first. “You can’t just keep overturning the will of the people.
“I still think that it’s a bad thing for the country that we’re leaving the EU – economically, politically – I think we’ve driven a wedge between us and our partners. I think it’s bad socially. I think it brought up a lot of ugly truths about how our society is fracturing and how it perceives other people.”
Peter Boden, 22, and Sam Thomas, 26, both studying Mandarin, were among the minority in the common room: both were pro-leave and neither cast a vote because they were overseas. They too expressed little appetite for a re-run. “It would just be a neverending battle: if we’re not happy with the result, we will vote until we are happy,” said Boden. Josh Halliday
Topics
Guardian reporters speak to voters in Mansfield, Bristol, Torbay and Leeds about their post-referendum positions
Brexit: Britons favour second referendum by 16-point margin – poll
Fri 26 Jan 2018 16.31 GMT
Brexit: Britons favour second referendum by 16-point margin – poll
Read more
Trevor and Marvin Salisbury. Photograph: David Sillitoe for the Guardian
Donna Musgrove. Photograph: David Sillitoe for the Guardian
Vinny Overton. Photograph: David Sillitoe for the Guardian
How the country would vote if the Brexit vote were re-run
Across all respondents, excluding don't knows, remain leads leave 51% to 49%.
However, the same ratio of responses was seen in 2016; that is, the sample had a slight remain bias against the actual result of the referendum. Opinion polls before the referendum also underestimated the leave vote.
All respondents
Q1 If there were another EU referendum tomorro
how would you vote?
remain leav 5050%% 51 49
Q2 What impact do you think Brexit will have on the British economy?
negative none positiv 49 36
Members of the Bristol for Europe group from left: Eileen Means, Becky Gilbert, Christian Weale, John Windsor and Stephen Perry. Photograph: Adrian Sherratt for the Guardian
David Reynolds. Photograph: Adrian Sherratt for the Guardian
Stuart Kilshaw with his five-week-old twins. Photograph: Adrian Sherratt for the Guardian
Lionel Digby. Photograph: Steven Morris for the Guardian
Annie Savage. Photograph: Steven Morris for the Guardian
How Brexit views are shifting, and becoming more polarised among some groups of voters
The change against 2016 is against respondents who say they voted in 2016 and remember, and are prepared to say, which way they voted. For this reason, the leave and remain percentages in this section do not add up to 100. For example, in the student case much of the new support for remain seems to arise from those who didn't (or couldn't) vote in 2016.
Zaki Kaf al-Ghazal. Photograph: Christopher Thomond for the Guardian
Jack Palmer. Photograph: Christopher Thomond for the Guardian
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