Latest / The Discussion Podcast / View From The Street: Ten Years After Brexit: Voices from the Street
Transcript
- 0:00On the line now, coming live from somewhere in Ultringham, is our James Spencer,
- 0:04journalist and the man behind Views in the Street. James, how are you?
- 0:08I'm good, thanks. I've never been here before. I've just plunged myself in the
- 0:12middle of Starbucks coffee in Sainsbury's to try and get you everything as quick as we can.
- 0:18It sounds like you're in the middle of New York, to be honest.
- 0:20It's quite busy and noisy.
- 0:23So it's now 10 years since the UK voted to leave Europe.
- 0:29The famous or infamous Brexit vote. And you said we should do this topic,
- 0:35and that was because Andy Burnham has been raising the whole subject again.
- 0:40Exactly, yeah. And it was something I always wanted to do, obviously,
- 0:44from the street, but it needed an inflection point as to why we should do it.
- 0:48And like you said, because it's become topical, it's been in the news lately,
- 0:52the Labour Party conference, Andy Burnham raising it.
- 0:54It seemed like this was the perfect time to finally, I don't know,
- 0:57This is our 139th episode, so it felt like a good time to finally make it on people's history.
- 1:04I mean, it's one of those topics that sometimes people don't want to speak about.
- 1:09Sometimes people are very keen to speak about.
- 1:12It was such a division at the time.
- 1:18But today, I find that people were very...
- 1:21Chatty when they started talking about it do you know it wasn't yeah it wasn't
- 1:26as bad as i expected because i was anticipating that,
- 1:29it's going to be a hard slog but it wasn't i'm happy about that and i i have
- 1:34to say it was one or two people completely surprised me and and and it reminded
- 1:39me never never make big assumptions and,
- 1:44i i gotta say our 90 year old lady who looked like she was 80 at the most and
- 1:50it was extremely eloquent she she was one of those surprises really wasn't she,
- 1:56yeah i'm just editing that part now actually and i think that she,
- 1:59she didn't look 90 at all i was shocked when she said that she looked more like 75 i thought 78.
- 2:05Uh she had she had like nice hair she had a makeup on she had like color color
- 2:10scheme like like it was like an orangey,
- 2:13blouse like jumper matching her trousers she had like was it dior glasses on
- 2:18so she was like very sophisticated gene from temperley was looking cracking actually i gotta say,
- 2:26she was looking dapper as you would say well i gotta tell you what let's get
- 2:30into it you're listening to the late late lunch show on radio alti
- 2:34so good afternoon rod we're in a wet and damp altering them today how are you
- 2:37doing i'm all right i'm i'm not too bad it is it is damp But at least it's not
- 2:41cold, James. It's not cold. It's all right.
- 2:44It's relatively mild, isn't it? Relatively mild.
- 2:48Not like the international political climate at the moment. You couldn't say
- 2:52it's mild, could you? No, it's not. Spicy. Spicy.
- 2:56And what's your opinion of today's topic on 10 years after Brexit? 10 years on. So I...
- 3:04I guess from my own perspective, the world in 10 years has changed massively.
- 3:10In that time, we've had COVID, for example. We have wars in the Middle East.
- 3:15We've got the situation with the Ukraine and Russia.
- 3:19We have got, for example, the rise of AI and more industries becoming borderless as well.
- 3:27We have an increase in right-wing movements across the world.
- 3:32The world that we went into Brexit with is totally different to the world we're now in.
- 3:38And any assumptions people might have had about what we could do seem like they're
- 3:43being blown open by what's happening internationally.
- 3:47So I'm really interested to see whether people are still as enthusiastic about
- 3:53Brexit if they were originally, or whether they feel like the political context,
- 3:58the international context, the economic context has changed so much.
- 4:02That they would rather be closer to Europe right now.
- 4:05Yeah. And we know that this is in Andy Burnham's thoughts because he's raised
- 4:09it in the Labour Party conference recently.
- 4:11And also opinion polls have shown, well, actually when the Green Party lost
- 4:16in London, Zach Polanski lost, it was because apparently Labour voters that
- 4:20voted in, well, basically Labour won that seat.
- 4:23Basically, they want to give Andy Burnham a chance. So whatever his policy is
- 4:27on Europe, they want to give him a chance in terms of his overall agenda.
- 4:31So what's your thoughts on that?
- 4:33Yeah, I can, I can, well, that's tactical voting, isn't it? I mean,
- 4:38of the people who voted for Brexit back 10 years ago, first of all,
- 4:42how many of them are still alive? You know, you've got that dimension.
- 4:45How many people would still vote for it?
- 4:48But even Europe has changed. Europe has become more right-wing in that time.
- 4:52Is it a good time to re-enter in a right-wing Europe as well?
- 4:57And would we have the same respect?
- 5:01Would we have the same control or leverage that we had when we left?
- 5:05And even then, it was lower than it should have been.
- 5:10But it looks like we're stagnant in the world, politically, economically,
- 5:17and economically and it looks like the people we might have thought were our
- 5:20partners Trump for example America,
- 5:24he's been extremely openly critical of this country to the point where I think
- 5:28it's actually quite embarrassing he's not hiding that now there's the midterms
- 5:33coming up and that's probably part of his rhetoric but so.
- 5:38Where do we who do we deal with, who do we actually do deals with,
- 5:42we do deals with Europe and we're not in it, but would they take us back?
- 5:46I'm pretty sure Trump has a Scottish grandmother or is it his mother?
- 5:50He actually really likes the royal family and tradition. He might do,
- 5:54but he's not showing any respect to the nation at the moment.
- 5:57That's a whole different ballgame.
- 6:00It'd be really interesting to see where people's mindset is today.
- 6:05For those who are happy to talk about voting for Brexit, are they still as certain
- 6:12about it today as they were 10 years ago. 10 years is a long time.
- 6:15And there's so many different layers to this, like not being part of the European
- 6:19Common Market, the divorce bill that they're still paying off,
- 6:23and driving up the price of living, cost of living for food and housing and everything else.
- 6:29And even the fact that we now have to have our own separate,
- 6:32whenever we're traveling, we can't go with everyone else. We have to go for the non-EU.
- 6:37But at the same time, Europe is changing as well. and it feels like it's not
- 6:42as unified as it used to be.
- 6:44It's a different place. Just the world, from a geopolitical point of view, is in a mess.
- 6:51But would it have been better for us to be part of a bloc, i.e.
- 6:56In the EU, while this mess is going on?
- 7:00Because it still feels like we haven't completely left it because we're in different
- 7:06organizations. We're trying to do deals now with individuals within that bloc, like Germany.
- 7:13I don't know myself, but I'd be intrigued to find out what the people of Alti think today.
- 7:18Do you have any predictions, by the way? no i don't i i think i actually,
- 7:23part of me thinks that people will be looking at it differently but i don't
- 7:27know i really don't know we'll find out when we start talking okay i'll give
- 7:30my view later and let's see what everyone's view from the street is ng,
- 7:34so good afternoon sir welcome to view from the street with myself james spencer
- 7:37and rob maxwell here at radio ulti in alchheim today and asking you today about
- 7:4110 years on from brexit i just wanted to know from you what's your opinion,
- 7:45on the whole Brexit issue and leaving the EU?
- 7:48I think Brexit happened when I was 17. If I was three months older,
- 7:52I would have been able to vote.
- 7:53I think for everyone I know in my age group, had the decision been a year later,
- 7:59I think it would have swung the other way.
- 8:01We now know that Russia interfered with Brexit as well.
- 8:04So I think in the light of that, there should be another referendum.
- 8:07I don't think it will happen.
- 8:08If it does, it's going to be at least a decade from now, but it's what the public
- 8:11do want. The only reason they wouldn't want it is because of the faff and the
- 8:14fuss that comes with it but I think the mood is very much remain.
- 8:17Do you think part of that is that geopolitically the world has changed dramatically
- 8:22in the last 10 years and actually people that we thought we could work with
- 8:26we can't do now or is less likely to be able to?
- 8:30I don't think that's as much of a factor as people think. I think it's more
- 8:33down to the fact that the reasons people voted to leave have very much backfired.
- 8:37One of the main policies was,
- 8:39More funding for the NHS. The NHS is in more debt. Safer shores.
- 8:43And now we're looking at all the issues with the small boats.
- 8:45Immigration is, well, illegal migration has increased massively post-Brexit,
- 8:51specifically under Conservative leadership.
- 8:53So yeah, I think the very reason people voted for Brexit didn't work.
- 8:56So for that reason, they go the other way. So on the simple things,
- 8:58the obvious things, do you think actually it's backfired, really?
- 9:01I think it's essentially, yeah. The reasons people voted for Brexit haven't,
- 9:06so that's not materialized.
- 9:08So people will feel duped. I think they'd want to give the EU another shot.
- 9:11You're listening to the Late Late Lunch Show on Radio Alty.
- 9:14So good afternoon, madam. This is Jamie Spencer and Rob Maxwell for View from
- 9:18the Street on Radio Alty on a Monday afternoon.
- 9:20And today, so we're asking about Brexit 10 years on. And I just wanted to know
- 9:24from you whether this was a mistake from the country.
- 9:27I think now it was a mistake because it just caused so many people so much hassle,
- 9:31red tape, et cetera. So yes, that's my answer.
- 9:34And do you think that if they were presented with more information about it
- 9:38now, they would vote differently? Yes, definitely.
- 9:41I think they would, even if they didn't get more information because it's been
- 9:44tried and tested and it hasn't worked.
- 9:48If you were to say something that's backfired, what do you think that would be most of all?
- 9:53I think it's more business owners that have suffered the most with it.
- 9:56You know, there's so much red tape for them now and it's caused so many businesses,
- 10:00I think, to go bust in the long run. So I think from their point of view...
- 10:05That's been a big mistake. So good afternoon, ladies. On View from the Street
- 10:09today on Radio Walthy, we're asking people 10 years on for Brexit,
- 10:12do they think with all this going on, people would vote differently and what's
- 10:17their personal opinion?
- 10:20Madam, can I ask, what do you think? 10 years on, do you think you would vote
- 10:24differently or do you think the country would?
- 10:27I think possibly the country might. I voted to remain and I would still vote to remain.
- 10:32I don't think Europe is perfect. I think some things would need to change,
- 10:37but I would feel safer and more secure as part of a bigger group of countries and nations.
- 10:45Do you think some of the reasons people thought that we could exit Europe was
- 10:49that we could trade with other nations like America, for example?
- 10:53It feels to me like America is sort of sticking two fingers up at us at times.
- 10:57Do you think there's that element of it, the pure economic element of it?
- 11:02Definitely. I mean, we voted to leave, so I bought into that and was looking
- 11:06forward to, yeah, new trading partners, Singapore, all sorts of things that were talked about.
- 11:12And I think that's been massively disappointing. I think Donald Trump possibly
- 11:16hasn't helped that, but there you go.
- 11:18Can I ask you, Madam, you mentioned that you had actually voted to leave.
- 11:23I did. How would you vote today if you had the chance? Remain.
- 11:26I regretted voting the way I did. And what do you think led you to vote the way that you did?
- 11:33Well, I just felt at times we weren't always treated fairly in the EU.
- 11:39And I thought coming out of it, it will improve, but it hasn't.
- 11:44And what do you think is the biggest issue that we have now outside of the EU?
- 11:49Dare I say Donald Trump and America. And he seems quite provocative at times. Just quite?
- 12:00He's not got any diplomatic manners or anything, I don't think,
- 12:05and we seem to be at odds with them. If we don't do what he wants us to do.
- 12:10We seem to be at odds. And now with what's happening in the Ukraine,
- 12:14I would rather be part of a greater Europe.
- 12:17And of course, he's just done a fuel deal with Russia, which apparently,
- 12:20although it might be billions of gallons, is probably one day's worth in America.
- 12:25It just doesn't feel like you know who to trust anymore.
- 12:28Well, I don't trust him because he started with the Straits of Hormuz and it's
- 12:34now progressed and it's got worse. And I think it was wrong what he did.
- 12:40Trump. And it's made the whole situation for the world a lot worse.
- 12:45It's been a mad ten years, hasn't it? Yes, and I haven't got children,
- 12:50but I feel sorry for people that have. Where's the hope?
- 12:54Exactly. Yes, it's a strange world at the moment. It's a very strange world.
- 12:59It seems to get stranger every day.
- 13:01Well, there you go. Well, Alti's dry and you're off for lunch,
- 13:04so enjoy it. Thank you very much. Bye-bye.
- 13:06So, good afternoon. Today on View from the Street and Radio Alti,
- 13:09we're asking people about Brexit 10 years on, would the UK vote to leave still
- 13:14with everything else that's going on in the world?
- 13:16What was your opinions on that? I don't think they would, no.
- 13:19I don't think people knew what Brexit was going to look like.
- 13:22Nobody knew what Brexit was going to look like. David Cameron didn't know what
- 13:25Brexit was going to look like.
- 13:26So I think it came as a bit of a shock to people and it's not really delivered
- 13:30in the way that people expected.
- 13:31So I think, no, I think people would not vote to leave.
- 13:34Do you think people would feel strongly enough about it to rerun the referendum?
- 13:40If Andy Burnham's government said this is a key foreign policy strategy for
- 13:45us, do you think there would be support for rerunning it again?
- 13:48Possibly. Some people definitely. Well, I think a large group of the population probably would.
- 13:54But I really don't know.
- 13:57It was tough going. You know, the whole trying to get used to being out of the
- 14:02EU and then what kind of negotiations would have to take place.
- 14:06I mean, what would it be like? Would we have to have the euro?
- 14:09I think people would be against that.
- 14:11I really don't know whether there would be enough people wanting it,
- 14:15to be honest, if it really came down to it and they started going into the nitty gritty of it all.
- 14:19We're stuck between a rock and a hard place really, aren't we?
- 14:22Because in some ways, we don't really have as many friends internationally anymore
- 14:26the way things have worked out. It's hard to know which way to go really.
- 14:29Well, no, yes, I agree with you. But,
- 14:32I mean, if we could align ourselves more closely with the EU without actually... Taking Europe?
- 14:39Yeah, and without going back into it kind of full-time, well,
- 14:43you know, big style, the way that they would expect it of us.
- 14:46A full member, I mean, that might be the way forward, but I don't really know.
- 14:50Right. Thank you for your view.
- 14:52So, good afternoon, Madden. This is Jay Spencer and Rob Maxwell for View from
- 14:56the Street on Radio Alty and Rob Maxwell, The Late Late Lunch Show.
- 14:59So today we're doing 10 years on from Brexit and just wanted to know what your
- 15:03opinion is on Brexit. Is this something that is personal to you and as do you
- 15:08believe that Britain should have left or do you think that they have missed out by leaving?
- 15:13I think that Britain should have stayed where they were because we were doing
- 15:17very well, thank you very much.
- 15:19And there was no reason. And I don't often agree with Andy Burnham,
- 15:25but I do agree with him that there was some sort of a fudge,
- 15:33some sort of… Was this the Russian influence you're meaning here? I'm not sure.
- 15:37I wouldn't commit to saying who it was. Yes.
- 15:41But certainly someone interfered because so many people that I knew,
- 15:47obviously, it's my age. I mean, I'm 90 years old now.
- 15:51So I remember about what was going on.
- 15:55And we've always been very close to the Europeans and we've always had a good
- 16:01relationship with America until recently. But to me,
- 16:06We are closer to Europe in as much as we fought a war with Europe.
- 16:12And I remember that well.
- 16:14I also remember that if it hadn't been for December the 7th.
- 16:19Pearl Harbor, the Americans wouldn't be there.
- 16:22I mean, admittedly, when they came, they helped us win the war.
- 16:27But now I'm not sure. I'm not sure. Do you think, because you said you're 90, by the way. Yes, I am.
- 16:33You're a very fresh-looking 90-year-old, may I say. A lot of people thought
- 16:38that your type of generation would have been more about getting out.
- 16:42No, no, no, no. No, I totally disagree.
- 16:44I totally disagree. My generation don't particularly like change.
- 16:49And there was no reason to change.
- 16:52There's no reason at all to change.
- 16:55We were doing quite well. We traded with Europe.
- 17:00And as far as I'm concerned, I was absolutely amazed, as was David Cameron, I think, to be fair.
- 17:09I mean, what has gone right for us since then, really, because there's been
- 17:14such a lot of animosity amongst us all.
- 17:18So good afternoon, sir. This is James Spencer and Rob Maxwell for View from
- 17:22the Street on Radio Alty. Today, on a Monday afternoon, we're asking about Brexit, 10 years on.
- 17:28I just wanted to know from you whether you think this was the right decision from the country.
- 17:33Yeah, at the time, yeah. I voted out, yeah.
- 17:36And now, would you make the same decision? wavering a bit.
- 17:40I'm wavering a bit and I think if we get back in Brexit maybe we'll stop the
- 17:44illegal migrants or have more the Schengen Agreement which stops them travelling from,
- 17:50where you've got to stay in the first safe country. Do you think.
- 17:58So many of the assumptions have changed around Brexit that the world is a massively
- 18:03different place even 10 years on?
- 18:04Is that something that might... It is a different place isn't it yeah it is
- 18:08a different place it's a scary place isn't it is isn't it it's changed a lot
- 18:12in 10 years yeah well I just feel for my kids and grandkids what's going on and
- 18:16whether Brexit would you know rejoining Brexit would have any impact on what's going on,
- 18:22in Ukraine or Iran I don't think it would but,
- 18:26If it was put to a vote, I think I'd probably go with having a look at it again, maybe rejoining.
- 18:33I'd want to see, you know, the last time we paid billions, didn't we?
- 18:39And they changed stuff, you know, like they went from pounds to litres and couldn't
- 18:44sell bananas, you know, all silly things. Yeah.
- 18:48So I definitely voted to leave last time.
- 18:52I think it was all right at the time. Sure. 10 years on, as you say, I'm not sure.
- 18:57I'd like to see more of the arguments for going back in, which Andy Burnham,
- 19:03in his wisdom, will no doubt be trolling all over the papers and the news in
- 19:07the next 6-12 months, won't we? So we'll have a look.
- 19:12So maybe have a referendum on whether we should have a vote.
- 19:18So one vote is a referendum for a vote, and then the next referendum is for
- 19:22Breakfast for Europe. So two different ones. Well, I don't know.
- 19:25If he calls an election on the proviso that if he vote for me,
- 19:30we're going to rejoin the union. That'll be another different issue, won't it?
- 19:33That would be an interesting perspective. But I'm not sure that...
- 19:37I voted Labour. I voted Brexit to get out.
- 19:41But I've always voted Labour. I've been disappointed with Starmer and hasn't everybody.
- 19:48We'll give Burnham a chance. We've got to, haven't we? There's nobody left.
- 19:54So we'll see. But yeah, to answer your question, I would give it a bit more thinking about.
- 20:00I want to see the... Be presented with the full facts this time and then make a decision. Yeah, yeah.
- 20:05So can I ask constitutionally, do you think, because at the time,
- 20:09I think David Cameron said it's a once-in-a-lifetime, you know, it's a one-time show.
- 20:14Do you think there is any grounds by which the current Labour government could
- 20:19turn around and say, we think actually it's appropriate to rerun that referendum?
- 20:24Difficult to say at the moment because there's such a lot going on with the
- 20:28government at the moment. They've got a lot of plates in the air,
- 20:31if you like, for want of a better expression.
- 20:34And obviously their prime concern at the moment is a budget.
- 20:38They can't focus really on anything else until that's out of the way because
- 20:44somebody's going to get upset.
- 20:46Somebody's going to not agree or whatever.
- 20:50So I think we'll have to wait for the decision from the government to decide.
- 20:56I think he is pro-Europe, obviously, but depending on what they decide will
- 21:05depend on what the British people, how they view him.
- 21:10The British people are very fickle. They're very, very fickle. They sort of...
- 21:15Swing They do swing Yeah they do swing I mean.
- 21:20I mean A lot of my age group Don't want to talk politics Religion politics To
- 21:25my Two favourite subjects I know they get Banned but I don't I don't want to
- 21:30argue about them But why not talk about them Exactly.
- 21:34Can I Can I ask In your 90 years of life Have you ever known A more Unbalanced
- 21:41Delicate time Internationally No I haven't,
- 21:45There's only the war that I can focus on. And in the war, Hitler,
- 21:51we totally misread that guy.
- 21:54I mean, he was an absolute head case, as far as I'm concerned.
- 21:59And we ignored it.
- 22:02But now with, you know, sort of technology and that sort of thing,
- 22:08of which I know absolutely nothing about, we're a bit more circumspect.
- 22:13I think that's the word. Yeah, yeah.
- 22:15But as I say, I've never known times like these. I've never ever known times like these.
- 22:22I mean, I can remember 1930, 1940.
- 22:27I was only a child then. I remember the end of the war. I remember the carnage of that.
- 22:33But this is different. This is a bit more subtle. Yes.
- 22:38And that's actually one of the challenging things about it. It's not in your
- 22:42face. It's not on land. It's behind the scenes, isn't it? You've got to.
- 22:47I never read the papers. I'm another nude watcher, but I never read the papers.
- 22:52And I can, you know. But say I'm another nude watcher, which lots of people my generation know.
- 23:00So anyway. Well, thank you for stopping with us. My pleasure.
- 23:03All right, Rod. How do you think that went? Well, it was good to get so many opinions.
- 23:06And I'll be honest, I'm not entirely surprised.
- 23:10I'll tell you the one that did
- 23:12surprise me was the lady who's 90 being so against Brexit to begin with.
- 23:18And I think some people take the view that older people just naturally voted to leave.
- 23:24And you've got to realize that there are always differences of opinion.
- 23:28You can't just say it's a broad brush. But I think generally what we heard there
- 23:32was, even from people who voted for Brexit, that things have changed so much.
- 23:38Promises haven't been delivered. The world has changed so much.
- 23:41There would be some appetite for revisiting it. But it caused a lot of turmoil.
- 23:47And are we ready for that? Yeah.
- 23:51We're ready to open up those old wounds. And also, there was a good breadth
- 23:55of Voxbox today. Do you think that we've got a wide variety of views,
- 23:59which on a grander scale could mean that a lot of people have a diversified view on this?
- 24:05I don't know. I don't know. But, you know, I think people are starting to question
- 24:10a lot of aspects about the vote as well, you know, because we've heard claims
- 24:16that there was interference by foreign states.
- 24:21And also, you know, as I said before, the world has changed dramatically in
- 24:2510 years. I mean, we seem to be going through rates of change unlike any other time we've ever known.
- 24:32And so, yeah, I'm not really that surprised by that.
- 24:37I think the challenge, though, is, you know, if the UK decided to rerun the
- 24:43vote and their vote was to go back in, could we ever go back in in the same way?
- 24:48Will we be made to pay or or or what you know and and europe,
- 24:53europe has its challenges you know the european bloc has its challenges and
- 24:57so it's it's not an easy it's not an easy thing you know suddenly reversing
- 25:01it doesn't make it all easy and and and better.
- 25:06So it's very difficult but we'll see what the government decides so although
- 25:12it's complicated on the face of it the way that the system used to be,
- 25:16because obviously our political system and economic system has had a lot of fallout since then.
- 25:20I think we're into our seventh prime minister since then. What do you say on
- 25:23the face of it to rejoin the European common market or to be part of that club
- 25:28of countries again? On the face of it, there are some positives.
- 25:33Yes, because I think that we are still very linked with the EU anyway.
- 25:40We've not managed to divorce ourselves to separate ourselves completely in a number of levels.
- 25:47And they are our biggest, closest trading bloc.
- 25:51But it's more for me, the fact that so much else in the world has changed. Who do you trust now?
- 25:56At the moment, you can't do business with Trump's America. You really can't.
- 26:01There's no doing business with the Russians, I don't think. And our stance on
- 26:04Ukraine is quite clear that would have an impact there So I just think,
- 26:11you know, from a pure economic and trading point of view.
- 26:19We sort of stabbed ourselves a bit.
- 26:23At the same time, you know, would that mean giving up the pound?
- 26:27Would that mean adopting more European laws?
- 26:31You know, that's the hard thing.
- 26:33It's not an easy situation at all. No.
- 26:38This is a complicated topic, Roger. It's a very complicated topic.
- 26:41But interestingly, I think what you do is you say today, out of the people that,
- 26:45we talked to, and they were across the generations, I think if you were,
- 26:51you would run the vote, I think people would turn around now and say,
- 26:55it's a good chance that they wouldn't have voted up for it. Yeah.
- 26:58And on that last note, do you think that people would think,
- 27:01okay, things were fine, maybe the way they were 10, 15, 20 years ago.
- 27:05And as compared to what that is now, of course the world changes,
- 27:08but in terms of the system, it was more stable.
- 27:12At that time, it was more stable. Yeah, it was more stable, but also the vote was complicated.
- 27:18It was confused you know people were voting for lots of different reasons and
- 27:23we didn't we weren't clear on what we were voting to do,
- 27:28it was clear on what we were voting to leave but not what we were going to do
- 27:32and I you know in some ways the.
- 27:36Propaganda of the whole thing took over in a way but I I mean I'm a conspiracy
- 27:42theorist I have no doubt that some of that propaganda was fuelled by foreign
- 27:47states who would have benefited from this.
- 27:50Lies on buses from Boris, and that was just misleading people.
- 27:55People didn't have the real representation of the facts. Well,
- 27:58whoever it was from, I don't know, but there was definitely...
- 28:03Disinformation as well but you know i think we go from what 10 years on my god
- 28:09it's been a mad 10 years really hasn't it and and 10 years on at least based on what,
- 28:15the people we met today and we met them from across generations i i think if
- 28:20you were to rerun that in the next couple of years,
- 28:24it would suggest that actually we would probably look to get back in if we could ever even do that,
- 28:30wouldn't need mr burnham to go to the negotiating table but on that note rod
- 28:34thank you we will discuss later in the studio we will you are listening to the
- 28:38late late lunch show on radio alti.co.uk,
- 28:41this is radio alti and online and on the phone is james spencer from fufin street
- 28:47to wrap up today's fufin street which is a bit like in europe the final countdown james.
- 28:55Interesting topic interesting topic what's your view as somebody who's about
- 28:5920 years younger than me what was your view about it and about where we stand today I think that.
- 29:06It wasn't an issue it wasn't something that they should have made a referendum
- 29:10I think that David Cameron should never have done that like we should have just
- 29:14kept everything as it was
- 29:15maybe he should have had a referendum to have a referendum but anyway basically
- 29:19we shouldn't have done that so I think that was a massive own goal and then
- 29:21that was the end of his six year premiership And then after that,
- 29:24no one's really been prime minister for as long as he has, and we've not had any stability.
- 29:29I think we'll cover that in other B-In-The-Story episodes, whereby it's ripped
- 29:32up the political system and the economic system.
- 29:35So I think it was a really bad move, to be honest.
- 29:38Yeah, I mean, in some ways he gambled because he felt like he needed the offer
- 29:41of the country, the referendum, to try to consolidate the Conservative Party.
- 29:47And in some ways, some people think that he potentially...
- 29:52Slipped up himself if you like but but i mean,
- 29:56my take from listening to people today is that there was i mean it's not a representative
- 30:02sample we know that it's a random sample but but it did feel like um quite a few people would say,
- 30:10it should be rerun now yeah i think people didn't have the full information
- 30:15at their fingertips and they certainly have the full information now.
- 30:18In terms of the practicality of how it's planned out and i don't think people's
- 30:22lives are better off. I think people's lives are better before.
- 30:25Obviously the world moves on, things have changed,
- 30:29but maybe Britain were better off staying as they were and then rolling with
- 30:32the punches as in when they came rather than taking themselves out of the EU
- 30:36and then having to deal with the fallout of all of that and then people still
- 30:39don't know the full facts about how it's affected the country now.
- 30:43Yeah, and it has been a very disruptive 10 years geopolitically, James, doesn't it?
- 30:50Yeah, and for someone who studied history and politics It's kind of ruined what
- 30:53I learned in politics because I did politics from like up to 2014.
- 30:59So that was two years before Brexit. So everything I learned about the British
- 31:04Constitution is completely different now. Like the textbooks have changed,
- 31:08the academic materials changed.
- 31:10So it's annoying. It's kind of frustrating. And even when you go on holiday,
- 31:14it's frustrating. So I don't see many benefits to it.
- 31:17Even if there was bureaucracy at the table of Brussels, they've got to pay a
- 31:21massive divorce bill, which means no wonder everything's so high and they tax
- 31:25everything. So I don't see any benefits there.
- 31:27Yeah, well, I mean, it wouldn't be easy to go back in if that's what was decided.
- 31:32But it's interesting, we have not,
- 31:35This topic is not behind us as a country, is it? It's very much ahead of us,
- 31:39and the world has changed dramatically over the last 10 years in many ways.
- 31:45But James, we're going to have to wrap it up there today.
- 31:48Thank you. It was a really great topic. Always good to be out in the street with you.
- 31:52We met some lovely people as usual, didn't we?
- 31:54We did, Rod. And that 90-year-old lady, I think she was the best of the bunch,
- 31:58I have to say. You're listening to The Late Late Lunch Show on Radio Alty.