Faces of Brexit: What Britons hope for the future

Union Jack, the royal family, a full English breakfast. When walking around in the British capital London, it is easy to be distracted by the many symbols of British culture that fill almost every street corner, and forget the many years of political chaos the country has gone through after the Brexit referendum in 2016. Here it seems life has moved on; the tube is running as normal, men dressed in neat suits head to work and tourists are taking pictures in front of Big Ben, the iconic British landmark.

Just a couple hours north from the city lies the little town of Earl Shilton in the Midlands. Here you find small shops, suburban houses and the occasional British flag. It also seems like the topic of Brexit is still alive here, including for 77-year-old Ken Goodwin. He voted to leave the European Union, in the 2016 referendum and would still vote the same today.

“When we were in the EU, everything we tried to do here in Britain was always blocked by someone in Europe. That’s how it felt to us, so we wanted our independence,” Ken explains.

The EU consists of different institutions, one of them being the European Commission which is appointed by member countries and not directly elected by citizens. For Ken, the EU is too bureaucratic:

“There’s too much admin, too many of these ‘civil servant types’. I don’t like that there are people making decisions without anybody voting for them.”

Ken worked as a poll clerk at the local polling station on the day of the referendum. He still remembers the certain buzz in the air when people came in to vote, because most people in the area were leave-voters. 

Finding out the turnout of the election was exciting to Ken: 

“I was so happy. Jumping and skipping and everything,” he says with a grin on his face.

While Ken’s views are far from unique, others view Brexit quite differently. He is careful when it comes to sharing his political views, as he knows not all people feel the same as him. 

“Most of the people I worked with at the time wanted to remain, so I kept quiet. I think if I went back to work with them again, I’d be in trouble.”

Young generation facing a new reality

 In the calm neighbourhood in Earl Shilton, the sound of the front door opening and footsteps in the hallway fills Ken’s house. In walks his granddaughter, 20-year-old Lola Richardson. 

“Hi papa”, she says, greeting her grandfather with a warm hug. As she sits down, Ken walks over and offers her a hot cup of tea with biscuits on the side.

It takes a bit of time before politics enters the room, but when it does, they can't help but poke a bit of fun with each other. 

“Oh you leftist”, Ken says jokingly to Lola. Even though her grandfather would still vote for Brexit, Lola feels the opposite:

“Even though I couldn’t vote then, I was already really interested in politics. I couldn’t believe that leaving the EU was even a question, so I was very shocked by the result.”

One of the rights Britain lost after Brexit was the freedom of movement within the EU. Freedom of movement means that all the union’s citizens can live, work and travel freely in another member country without the need for a visa. British people no longer have this right, as a result of Brexit.

Lola is currently studying modern history and politics at the University of Manchester, but has always planned on a more international future by living in another European country. That is no longer as straight forward:

“Brexit has changed what I can do with my life,” she says with a sense of frustration in her voice.

Today, many young people are left frustrated that they don’t have the rights of free movement within the EU anymore, including Lola. It’s not simply the loss of freedom of movement that frustrates her:

“If the voting age was different, it would have been a completely different outcome. I wasn’t allowed to vote, but the older generation’s opinion has now changed the way in which I can live my life, which I find really unfair.”

Lola’s aunt, 56-year-old Louise Carta, lives in the neighbour town Hinckley. Her husband is from Italy, and before Brexit he could live in the UK without any need for documentation. However, Brexit meant he had to fill out a lot of paperwork for his residency: 

“He just got a new passport, so he had to do all the paperwork all over again. It’s a real pain,” she says. 

Louise also reflects on the challenges she has seen for the younger generation after Brexit. Her children obtained Italian citizenship after Brexit, so they could keep their right to freedom of movement in the EU. This has for example enabled her daughter to move to Amsterdam without trouble.

However, Louise’s Italian nephew had plans of coming to England during his medicine studies, but lost that opportunity after Brexit: 

“I think the future generations are more limited now. It’s a bit easier for my children, because they have dual nationality,” Louise says.

From leaving the EU to Brexit failure

The generational divide at the 2016 referendum was quite clear. Research fellow at the British think tank ‘UK in a Changing Europe’, Joël Reland, offers insight on what was and still is at stake for the older and younger generation regarding Brexit. He explains something that’s more common in the older generation, for those who are highly engaged in politics: 

“The mentality that Britain is distinct and charting its own course in the world, is still going strong for some people.”

He points to the fact that many from the older generation have lived in a time before UK was a part of the EU, whereas that is not the case for the younger generation.

“They are much more likely to support the EU, because they don’t have that same kind of grounding mythology, but also because they are the ones that have to live with the consequences.”

Despite the majority voting leave in 2016, a survey conducted by YouGov earlier this year shows that around 6 in 10 of British people view Brexit as more of a failure today.

According to Reland, for the last few years a majority of people have said they would rejoin the EU, but Brexit is still a sensitive topic for the British people: 

“Brexit was a long trauma that the country went through, so the idea of reopening that debate is something that most people want to avoid.”

Breaking Brexit before Brexit breaks Britain

Even though the Brexit referendum took place almost a whole decade ago, some people aren’t giving up the fight against Brexit.

Back in London on a Wednesday morning, a small protest is taking place in front of the parliament. In the beaming sunlight and rush from all the tourists trying to snap a picture of the iconic parliament building, an older man is standing in the middle of the crosswalk, shouting anti-Brexit chants whilst surrounded by EU-flags and a sign that says “We’re still here because Brexit is crap”.

While traffic is passing by on both sides of the small protest, the ABBA song ‘Money Money Money’ blasts on a speaker and the man chants in the microphone “We all live in a Brexit tragedy” over and over again. It might seem like Londoners have generally moved on since Brexit, but it sure hasn’t left the parliament area. 

68-year-old Peter Cook from Kent rides by on his bike plastered in anti-Brexit stickers and a big yellow jacket with the words “Fuck Brexit – Rejoin EU” on the back.

As part of the organisation ‘Reboot Britain’, he is fighting for one goal: get the UK to rejoin the EU. He fights for this goal by writing books and songs and talking to parliament members, amongst other things.

“I’m here to break Brexit, before Brexit breaks Britain,” Peter says with a laugh on his face. 

“I haven’t personally been affected by Brexit, but I do this for the younger generations’ futures.” 

Reboot Britain has five strategies to “Break Brexit”, one of them being breaking the silence of Brexit. 

“In the last general election in 2024, the politicians stayed very quiet about Brexit. We want to get Brexit back on the table, so we can openly talk about how much of a mess it is and hopefully get rid of it.”

Another strategy is to simply talk to people and try to change their minds about Brexit.

“I will be able to go to my grave being able to say I did everything I could.”

As Peter takes out an EU-flag from his bag, a group of Italian tourists walk by as they cheer Peter on. With a limited English vocabulary, they clench their fists in support and happily shout “European Union”. Despite the short words of exchange, Peter receives the message of support and smiles back at them.

Britain’s uncertain future

Even though organisations like Reboot Britain are trying to get the UK to rejoin the EU, Joël Reland is unsure that will happen anytime soon: 

“No one in the mainstream of political debate is campaigning to rejoin, instead it’s more about trying to undo the economic damage of Brexit.”

According to Reland, British politics are a lot more uncertain now than before. This also means that more significant changes to the UK-EU relationship would require more confidence than currently seen amongst the British politicians. That, however, seems unlikely at the moment with Brexit continuingly being a sensitive topic.

The unpredictability of British politics keeps the question of Britain’s future open to regular British people, as well as for Ken Goodwin and Lola Richardson. While politicians stay cautious, Ken and Lola have clear hopes for the future.

When thinking of the future, Ken hopes the debate of Britain’s future will be calmer. He especially hopes that people will be better at listening to each other and be more tolerant to each other’s views: 

“There are so many divisive things now. I wish people would listen, so you could say something that wouldn’t cause a shouting or a row. You need to hear each other’s point of view.”

Lola is torn between what she hopes for Britain, and what might be the more realistic scenario: 

“My dream scenario is that we got back in the EU. Realistically, I hope that we get a better relationship with the EU again and have many of the same benefits, like free movement.”

To many, Brexit might just be an issue of the past, but even on a quiet afternoon in the little house in Earl Shilton or a sunny morning in front of Parliament in London, Brexit is still a part of the conversation, and the question of Britain’s future place in Europe remains open.