No, my friend, my lodger. I don’t ‘feel better’ this evening than I did this morning, nor will I ‘get over’ this in a couple of days. Here’s why.
I want to express, calmly but passionately, why I am so distraught about the result of the referendum. I voted remain, primarily because I was, and am, intellectually convinced it was by far the better option, but also because I am, in my very being, a European. I am not arguing in any way against the outcome of the referendum. I am confident that it was fairly conducted. However, I am not comfortable about being asked, or sometimes told, that that’s the way democracy works and I just have to come to terms with it. Here are the reasons why.
I have a French surname. I was born and raised in Jersey, to a Jersey father and English mother. I learnt to speak French quickly. All our school trips were to France, sport competitions were against neighbouring French teams and we had partnerships with French youth orchestras. I was ‘adopted’ by a French family with whom I am still in contact. France is in my blood. In my twenties I moved to live there, in Angers. I bought a flat and had three of the happiest years of my life there. I was embraced by the French, got very involved in French life and have ongoing friendships with people there too. Looking back, I’m not sure why I left, but I moved to the UK to do a second degree. Apart from my three years at music college aged 19 to 22, it was the first time I’d lived in England.
I also had two periods of two years in Madrid, Spain, one before France, the other after. I loved everything about moving around Europe in this way. I learnt new languages, discovered new cultures, began to understand alternative ways of looking at the world, and learnt, especially in Spain as I arrived barely ten years after Franco had died, a lot about dictators, wars, politicians and the hunger for power that can characterise governments. I began to appreciate how much the European Community had contributed to European and worldwide peace. I embraced EU values, rejoiced that the UK shared them too, and benefited from a huge amount that the European Union had to offer. Reciprocal tax agreements, reciprocal pension agreements, easy and inexpensive health care, freedom of movement across borders, a real sense of belonging to something that was politically worthwhile.
I became European. Being European is built into my identity. It is in the warp and weft of my being.
Jobs came easily in England and I just stayed on. It was part of the EU! For the past 20 years I have ensured I get to France at least three times a year, for roughly a week each time. It’s a quick and easy trip, made all the easier by the straightforward border controls, despite the UK not being part of the Schengen agreement. I have frequently contemplated retiring in France and the nearer the time approaches, the more I have taken the possibility seriously.
All that changed with the result of the referendum. Let me explain.
First, my identity, so bound up with England being part of the EU, has been pulled from under my feet. England has rejected the EU. It goes right to the core of my being. I too feel rejected.
Second, I realise how little I have in common with over 50% of my British countrymen and women. I feel a stranger, and unwelcome.
Third, I find that this new England doesn’t share values I cherish. Values of cooperation and collaboration across twenty five plus nations. Values of tolerance and welcome to refugees and strangers.
And fourth, to my dismay, I find that this new, little England is bent on turning itself into a proper island once again, inward looking and with an apparent goal of reclaiming its former glory as an Empire. This is not a vision or a future I can embrace.
Time to return to France, I think. But no, it’s not so easy. All of a sudden I find a second Berlin Wall has sprung up in the middle of the English Channel, overnight, just like the first one. ‘Out is out’ the remaining EU countries insist. The status of UK nationals already living in the EU is precarious. They will lose all the reciprocal agreements. They will need to take out private health care insurance, if they can. If the exchange rate remains turbulent, or even if the pound settles at a weaker position than it’s been for the past 5 years in relation to the Euro, then I would get far less pension than I’d anticipated. It’s possible that EU countries will impose hefty financial requirements on UK citizens who apply to retire in them in the same way that Australia does. I will, of course, be perceived as a retiree, not moving to work and contribute to the economy. There will be many hoops to jump through, masses of paperwork, long queues and lengthy periods of uncertainty.
I feel imprisoned in England. I don’t want to live in a country that doesn’t want to be part of the EU, yet I can’t get back to live there. I don’t want to live in a country that makes me feel unwelcome, which I feel has rejected me and the values I hold dear, yet this seems to be what I’m facing. I don’t want to be part of an Empire, or its modern day equivalent.
The decision to leave the EU is a decision that will last my lifetime. It is not like a general election where in five years’ time the UK population has a chance to change its government. My identity, my very being, has been pulled from under me. It is no wonder that I am furious. It will take me, and millions like me, our lifetimes as the barest minimum to even begin to come to terms with it.
* Alison Le Cornu is a new member of the Liberal Democrats from Oxford. She works in higher education.
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21 Comments
*hug*
inward looking and with an apparent goal of reclaiming its former glory as an Empire
Surely a contradiction here?
Either it’s inward-looking, or it has the goal of reclaiming its former glory as an Empire, which is a fundamentally outward-looking ambition.
It can’t be both, can it?
Welcome Alison, it’s nice to hear some emotion about this. I had a small involvement with a school mock referendum (they voted to remain) and have been struck by how many children I know who are sad about the result (and cross with some of their grandparents!).
Sadly, my local branch of the Lib Dems is dominated by Brexiteers – hard to forgive.
A persuasively written article. Emigrate, give up, lump it, adapt to it, or join a political party that wants to change it. Thanks for doing the last of these!
I keep thinking that my middle aged doing-well generation has gone through life thinking that politics doesn’t matter because whatever the government ‘we’ can lobby them to achieve what we want. Which now means Brexit as you say, so we all have to get stuck in if we want a different Britain.
I am sorry for your loss, but It is not an identity I share any political sense.
A lot of what your saying feels familiar to me (despite my distinct lack of experience of traveling or living abroad). It does feel like the proverbial rug has been swept out from under my identity. That said, it also leads me to wonder how the Brexiteers were feeling prior to the vote.
Did the Brexiteers feel forced to be part of a world that they had no interest in. Did they feel rejected by an establishment who were convinced of the benefits of a union that offered them nothing (in their view). Did they feel their identity was stymied and reviled, and their concerns were belittled and ignored.
I’m sure the answer to this is yes. And whilst I believe they made the wrong decision, I can’t help but feel that we, the 48%, are being treated to a taste of the anger and disenfranchisement that the Brexiteers, in their various forms, have been suffering for a very long time.
So, whilst I sit here horrified about the future that faces us, I can’t help but feel ashamed. I wouldn’t wish this feeling on my worst enemy, yet I’ve somehow failed to grasp, or flat out ignored, it in my (nearest) neighbours. Whatever happens, I hope we can get to a point where no-one feels like this.
Dav
In the later days of Empire the British described themselves as Europeans and distanced themselves socially from the natives, In India Englishwomen only learned enough of the local language to give orders to the servants-Kitchen Urdu as it was known.
Thank you Alison for a superb article. You have expressed (far more eloquently than I could) exactly how I feel. You are not alone & you’re in the right party!
Gary
The Brexiteers are the ones that are left behind by globalisation without the skills to adjust. However many of their problems are a result of government inaction not the EU. There is a need to involve these people in the membership of our movement to show them there is a Liberal way forward.
William
Emigrate? The internet has a global reach these days. I’m on a church fellowship committee even though I am six thousand miles away.
Thank you all for your comments. I am encouraged! I didn’t want to appear whingy, but I did want to write about the emotional impact this has had on me, and I’m sure on millions of others. The person I originally wrote it for was a ‘leaver’. He was astonished to read it, and commented that for him it was ‘just a vote’, which I found eye opening.
So Gary, although I fully understand what you say and find myself questioning my own assumptions, I do actually think – without evidence – that the main reason why the vote went to ‘leave’ is because the EU is so complex that people tended to settle on one issue to base their decision on: immigration, democracy, economy, etc. I doubt they even gave a thought to things like reciprocal agreements, European peace and so on. Those things simply didn’t figure in the campaigns.
Thank you all! And yes, I’m delighted to have done what I should have done after the last general election: join the LibDems!
Manfarang. I totally agree.
I would say that progressives, whilst understanding the true nature/cause of the societal problems affecting many Brexiteers (namely poor governance at home), underestimated just how overwhelming the depth of feeling was. Being treated to that depth of feeling first hand, leads me to a greater understanding of just how ripe for being misled and for lashing out in anger the Brexiteers were (and perhaps still are). Hopefully both sides can find a way to a) see past the rhetoric, and b) agree a way forward based upon, facts, empathy and compromise.
I think some Brexiters will have a rude shock when customs controls are reintroduced and there is a limit on the amount of e.g. wine that can be brought back from holidays in the EU.
I feel indignant that other people have decided to take away my EU citizenship and rights because they don’t want them for themselves. I wish I qualified for an Irish passport but I don’t. And yet I understand that our infrastructure simply cannot cope with unlimited and unpredictable migration and, therefore, why the vote was lost. I hope we can find a way to mitigate this disaster with free trade and a degree of free movement that allows for all the positives whilst letting services catch up. I hope in my lifetime that my citizenship and rights will be restored with strong majority consent. And, Alison, I hope that you are wrong and this happens in your lifetime too.
A referendum gives a binary choice. For those on the losing side it makes democracy look like the dictatorship of the majoity. Indeed, it emphasises division and limits scope for compromise.
Much has been written about how new technologies will affect the conduct politics. Some believe more and easier referendums on more subjects will be the outcome. I rather hope not.
I hope technology can reinvigorate representative democracy rather than partially replace it.
Absolutely how I feel.
We live in a democracy. We have to accept the result.
However, we *don’t* have to like it, we don’t have to forget and we certainly don’t have to forgive.
I voted remain primarily because we would have still been at the discussion table.
It was a shock when David Cameron resigned so quickly, when he could have been there longer.
Was this referendum really advisory and if so why were we not told, were we deliberately misled and why is it not being emphasised now?
Does this legally open the way for a second referendum?
Does this not make a mockery of a democratic vote?
Hi Alison,
A lot of what you have written reflects exactly how I feel since the vote, I have a Dutch Wife and a French daughter, I am English but consider myself European and have fully embraced the European ideals.
Whether you voted in or out there is no chance of ‘going back’ the world has moved on and we have to move on too.
I am encouraged by Vince Cable’s idea of the 48 Movement, and I will watch with interest to see if it gains traction.
I voted LibDem at the last election and I am seriously thinking of joining up, as I think the Lib Dems have a real chance to gain ground against all the other parties including UKIP!
I am trying to be optimistic about the future, so lets see if we can build a new optimistic outward looking and open Britain with opportunity for all members of our society.
@ Alison,
With all due respect to you I would say you are making the very usual mistake of equating being pro-EU with being pro-Europe.
You probably won’t agree but you might like to try to understand that there are those of us who do regard ourselves as being pro Europe but anti the EU as it now operates.
It’s an anti-democratic monster which is now forcing the French government to introduce even more economic austerity as a supposed cure for the economic malaise caused by previous bouts of austerity.
Its makes no sense when French levels of unemployment are as high as they are. 12% the last time I checked. The French people need an economic stimulus not economic cuts.
If there was another way I could help I would. But, reluctantly, I felt the only protest I could possibly make was to vote Leave last week. My decision was very much in solidarity with unemployed European workers. The EU needs a huge kick up the backside and I hope I played my part in giving it that.
petermartin2001
The problem is the euro. The federalists have a lot to answer for. They have turned Europe into a powder keg, again.