To think that most people voted to leave the EU to stop freedom of movement?

[Moomin8]

The proposed new rules the government have supposedly set out that are designed to keep out 'low skilled' workers seem to me like social cleansing. Most recently , when people moan about 'immigrants' they are always talking about people from Eastern Europe in my experience.

What really annoys me is that almost all leaver voters deny repeatedly that their vote had anything to do with the fact they wanted freedom of movement stopped.

Sorry if this has been done to death. But why won't people just be honest?

I imagine the majority of those who voted leave did so because they live in the areas most affected by an uncontrolled influx of foreign workers . It can’t be fun to live somewhere where your schools , gps and housing provisions aren’t keeping up with demand .
The middle classes benefit from the excellent builders, cleaners , waiting staff etc

What I find really odd about the immigration issue is that it's a solid fact that in 20-30 years' time developed countries like the UK will be fighting for people, giving them all sorts of incentives to choose to move to their country. Politicians must be aware of this but maybe they're in denial or something?

I imagine the majority of those who voted leave did so because they live in the areas most affected by an uncontrolled influx of foreign workers . It can’t be fun to live somewhere where your schools , gps and housing provisions aren’t keeping up with demand

I read somewhere that it's areas LEAST affected by immigration and where people are mostly white British that voted leave. I will have to hunt down the article.

Here is one: theconversation.com/hard-evidence-how-areas-with-low-immigration-voted-mainly-for-brexit-62138

Among ordinary people, negativity about immigration isn't about racism, it's about feeling out of place in your own country and not wanting to look a fool when you can't understand the Polish shopkeeper or the Lithuanian hairdresser. It's plain and simple 'us and them' - those forriners aren't my tribe, I want real British people that think and look like me. That's not racism as such, that's low self esteem and a fear of the unknown. It's a completely emotional reaction that's got no basis in reality.

Method - Perhaps it’s a fear of loosing what they have ?

YANBU. I voted leave largely on this basis.

EU migrants pay in FAR more into the UK economy than they take out. It's been proven time and time again. On average more than a UK adult in fact.

Non-EU migrants take out more than they pay in.

Sooo... how does leaving the EU benefit us in any way, shape or form?

www.oxfordeconomics.com/recent-releases/8747673d-3b26-439b-9693-0e250df6dbba

Sooo... how does leaving the EU benefit us in any way, shape or form?

Well, I believe it doesn't. Nothing I have seen from this current government goes me any confidence I'm wrong.

Method - Perhaps it’s a fear of loosing what they have?

My personal opinion is that it's a mix of ignorance and believing the headlines in the gutter press that "the immigrants" are stealing jobs/benefits or are criminals.

I voted Remain, but have family who voted to Leave. They're highly intelligent, informed people, so although I disagree with their stance, I can acknowledge that they made the decision on factors that were important to them.

As with any vote, the whole electorate isn't considering one aspect - do you agree with every single thing your political party stands for? Unlikely, particularly as individual politicians within each party don't agree either. So then you vote on the stance that best fits your needs or view of what's most important.

So for some, having more controls on Eu immigration may have been most important. For others, maybe the bureaucracy surrounding the EU, or fishing policies, or membership as a whole etc etc etc. Life's just not that simple that all voters agreed on one thing is it?

The only person I know who has admitted she voted leave because of immigration said "I voted to leave to get those brown skinned girls out". (Her words not mine)
Said 'girls' are Nepalese. I pointed out they weren't from the EU so would be unaffected. And even if they did have to leave the country, why the fuck would you want an already understaffed care home to have even less staff?!?! (The fact we always have vacancies is proof that the British born unemployed don't want the job).

MulticolourMophead Get off your high horse, it is NOTHING to do with racism at all. Racism is thrown around to make people feel bad about what they are seeing and to shut up about it. Get a grip.

This country is on its knees, whether anyone wants to admit it or not. And the common denominator in the vast issues we are experiencing is mass immigration.
It's gone too far, it went too far a long time ago.
Britain is becoming a cess pit.

I thought there was a study that proved that the contribution of those who migrated here since the EU expansion in 2004 was net neutral.

LittleBoyJuly2020 the country is on it's knees because the government is shit and won't fund anything properly. But keep blaming the immigrants if it makes you feel better.

I live in a small town. I remember having a conversation with an acquaintance that went like this:

Him: Yeah, I just don't think the pakis should take our jobs anymore.
Me: Pakistanis?
Him: Yeah, I just think they've taken all our jobs, it's hard to get a job now.
Me: So you're voting leave?
Him: Yeah, I think so.
Me: Because pakistanis have taken the jobs you want to apply for?
Him: Yeah...
Me: ...
Me: You do know Pakistanis come from Pakistan?
Him: Yeah
Me: .... which is outside the EU?
Him: What do you mean?
Me: They're not from Europe, you are supposed to be voting on whether you want us to stay in the EU.... this has got nothing to do with Pakistanis...

There is a LOT of this attitude in my town. I think it would be naive to think otherwise. There are legitimate reasons to leave the EU, but I have only heard ONE person talk about anything other than Pakistanis/Polish people are taking my jobs (that I'm not applying for...)

I just don't ask people why they voted leave anymore, I just don't want to know. The level of wilful ignorance is pretty high around here.

LittleBoyJuly2020 I posted about the people in my town. And significant numbers are racist here, and that played a big part. So get off your high horse.

@MethodToThisMadness The same government that advertise British benefits in Eastern European countries, enticing people to come, for no reason at all.
Again, the focus and relentless drive for immigration is the problem.

... the same government that many, many leave voters just voted in, in fact. They are blaming the wrong people, and signifying to the government that they are happy with the situation.

Youcunnyfunt funny enough I had a conversation with a British Indian friend of mine and asked why she was voting remain "because Im the descendant of a migrant family"....is India in the EU?! Ignorance works in both directions.

@Youcunnyfunt maybe he's related to the idiot I work with

My ex (who I would imagine voted leave, if he voted at all) was always bleating on about the immigrants coming here stealing our jobs. He was never unemployed when he was with me so I'm not sure what jobs they were stealing

Can’t speak for everyone but my hometown is one of the top leave voting towns. 97.9% white. In my entire large secondary school in 2001-2006 we had a boy from China and a mixed race girl in my year. People are racist and use racist language every day. They don’t “fear losing what they have”, they just hate foreign people. Local takeaway even does a “Brexit Box” takeaway, featuring pizza, kebabs, and pitas.

OnlyFoolsnMothers anyone can be ignorant. I mean, it's tenuous, but maybe your friend just meant that she was pro-immigration in general?

Thank you to the posters who linked the studies, very interesting!

The middle classes benefit from the excellent builders, cleaners , waiting staff etc

Any tradespeople I've given work to recently have been British eg plumber, window cleaner. I don't recognise the picture of all builders being Polish. A house is being built at the end of my road and I've heard no foreign accents there at all.

I don't have a cleaner, too working class to have "staff".

I agree most waiting/hotel staff are from overseas, but it depends where you live - in London yes, in somewhere like Chester, they've usually got local accents. I've just spent a few days in Leeds where there was a mix of local and overseas (and other places in the UK, they were probably uni students).

isn't the British birth rate quite low

While we were still in the EU we had the second highest birth rate in the EU.