Page 8 | “Everybody thought the EU was about people coming into the country … no-one told of us the benefits”.

MrsMurphyIWish · 2026-02-18T07:00:24+00:00

[[https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cm2136jnjx1o https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cm2136jnjx1o]] And the response to this very now deprived community is to vote Reform. “Brexit has removed a key source of funding, which the area desperately needs. County Durham received £154m of EU funding between 2014 and 2020, about £22m a year. Since the UK left the European Union, it receives about half that amount, £12m annually, under the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.” The story is sad (and typical of deprived areas - I know, I live in one). Towns feeling forgotten and never recovering from closed industry but why can they not see history will repeat itself?

CaptainMyCaptain · 18/02/2026 10:29

LadyRoughDiamond · 18/02/2026 09:44

Having worked in marketing/advertising for 20 years, I remember thinking that the remain campaign was woefully inadequate. There should have been an EU flag flying from every EU-funded project, street parties celebrating what that funding had achieved, information going out to everyone pointing out the specific EU-funded local projects that benefited them.

Instead, it felt like Cameron et al truly believed that if they told the UK how to vote, everyone would just toe the line. They came across as the smug, entitled elite that they were. Johnson, Farage and co saw a power vacuum and filled it with a stories about underdogs and bulldog spirit that turned out to be bollocks. In the end, the remain campaign only had themselves to blame.

I think a lot of people, including Cameron, thought it wouldn't happen, he completely misjudged and I blame him for that.

It's not even a Left v Right issue. Cameron and May were Remainers and Corbyn a Brexiteer.

TopPocketFind · 18/02/2026 10:31

The Brexit campaign was boosted by Bannon/Epstein and other foreign influences.

BumpyWinds · 18/02/2026 10:43

AreYouSureAskedNaomi · 18/02/2026 07:06

"No one told us of the benefits"
That's not true, is it?

It's not true, no, but the people that focussed solely on immigration were brainwashed to believe any "benefits" were either lies or would be overcome by the extra £350m a week the NHS would have.

Now, sadly, the same people (i.e. Reform) are continuing to be brainwashed into voting for them.

Boolabus · 18/02/2026 10:44

LadyRoughDiamond · 18/02/2026 09:44

Having worked in marketing/advertising for 20 years, I remember thinking that the remain campaign was woefully inadequate. There should have been an EU flag flying from every EU-funded project, street parties celebrating what that funding had achieved, information going out to everyone pointing out the specific EU-funded local projects that benefited them.

Instead, it felt like Cameron et al truly believed that if they told the UK how to vote, everyone would just toe the line. They came across as the smug, entitled elite that they were. Johnson, Farage and co saw a power vacuum and filled it with a stories about underdogs and bulldog spirit that turned out to be bollocks. In the end, the remain campaign only had themselves to blame.

They could have flown EU flags everywhere and celebrated the benefits of remaining and it would not have made any difference. It is extremely difficult to campaign on a complex issue using facts when those campaigning against you are lying and using simple (often completely irrelevant) soundbites. What I do wonder though is how those campaigning for leave got away with the lies and misinformation? I would question where and what were the the electoral commission doing at the time, because it was obvious voters were being misled

Whatafustercluck · 18/02/2026 10:46

LadyRoughDiamond · 18/02/2026 09:44

Having worked in marketing/advertising for 20 years, I remember thinking that the remain campaign was woefully inadequate. There should have been an EU flag flying from every EU-funded project, street parties celebrating what that funding had achieved, information going out to everyone pointing out the specific EU-funded local projects that benefited them.

Instead, it felt like Cameron et al truly believed that if they told the UK how to vote, everyone would just toe the line. They came across as the smug, entitled elite that they were. Johnson, Farage and co saw a power vacuum and filled it with a stories about underdogs and bulldog spirit that turned out to be bollocks. In the end, the remain campaign only had themselves to blame.

I think the problem is that it's far easier to sell an idea to change the status quo, promising mythical sunny uplands, than it is to campaign to essentially keep things as they are.

TempestTost · 18/02/2026 10:46

I am seriously underwhelmed by the idea that these kinds of problems are really about Brexit. I also doubt that Europe, and by Europe I suppose we mean Germany, is really all that keen to be funding towns in the UK.

TempestTost · 18/02/2026 10:56

Brefugee · 18/02/2026 09:47

One of the benefits of EU membership was the freedom of movement of goods and services. It was fairly ignored by vast swathes of the UK population - even though it was the main tenet of a very popular TV programme back in the days of 4 channels only. Auf Wiedersehen, Pet showed what that movement meant.

The construction workers went to Germany to earn money, which they sent back to their families. And when the economy in the UK improved they went back. Remember all the Polish plumbers? Were we still in the UK for sure some of them would still be in the UK. But due to EU investment in Poland it has become an attractive place to live and work, and a lot of the Polish workers (not just plumers) would have gone back home. Incidentally, countries like Poland which have been in net receipt of EU funding, who are now more prosperous and expected to pay in more and receive less to fund newer, less well off entrants, are grumbling about their own versions of Brexit. Hmmmm.

And i know a lot of people voted for Brexit "to give the government a black eye" several (ex)friends looked me in the eye and said that, even though they knew it would be a huge upheaval for me. No "oh sorry, Bref, but that's how i feel" just glee that they would be punching the PM on the nose. And of course i don't expect my friends to vote in my interests over theirs, but it was an interesting visit (3 weeks before the referendum)

Another thing i heard from people - and be sure, i talked about the referendum to just about everyone i came across on that visit - was simply "i'm voting to get the foreigners out" and they sometimes meant all foreigners (the plumbers etc) and brown people. But more often it was brown people. People who don't look like us and weren't born here (even the ones who don't look like us and are 2nd, 3rd and 4th generation immigrants).

Do you think ANYONE listened to us saying: yes, a lot of immigrant populations are voting for Brexit because they want more visas for people from their original countries, to make it easier to bring family over (often aging parents, but also siblings, cousins etc). And why wouldn't they?

Brexit was far too complicated for the nasty misinformation that lots of campaigning was based on. For people who weren't doing well, economically, were bound to vote for change, people who were doing ok or who were more informed about what the EU does (including many many UK citizens in EU countries, who were not allowed to vote) were more or less bound to vote to remain. Vastly wealthy business owners were often more likely to vote leave because they believed it would open more lucrative markets and didn't need EU trade to make money. Others realised their trade was mainly EU and they wanted to stay.

And then the third of people - the fuckers - who didn't vote at all. Pretty much rendering the whole thing meaningless (and it wouldn't have mattered which way the result went, the fact that one third of people had no opinion should have been a huge red flag). The referendum should have been a qualified majority, and the fact it wasn't is the biggest scandal here, for me. (as well as outside interference)

But again: it is what it is. We all need to work for a better future. And that should be one that doesn't consign the regions to industrial wastelands and shantytowns of internal economic migrants all over the south east.

It wasn't really that simple, the advantages of going to Germany began to lessen because the employment market there became less favourable, and the population - particularly other builders - resented the foreign workers to some extent, and so they changed the tax advantages involved. And IIRC also made it harder for British workers to take those kinds of jobs, though the details on that element are hazy in my mind now.

SerendipityJane · 18/02/2026 10:58

Whatafustercluck · 18/02/2026 10:46

I think the problem is that it's far easier to sell an idea to change the status quo, promising mythical sunny uplands, than it is to campaign to essentially keep things as they are.

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Which is why a supermajority would have helped.

Also dismissing peoples pathetic idea that the two options were in anyway equal.

Minjou · 18/02/2026 11:04

HeBeaverandSheBeaver · 18/02/2026 07:30

In many way we were deceived. Instead of facts we had fighting and conspiracy and propaganda. That clouded any facts about any benefits.

for example the small
boats. How many knew about the Dublin agreement. I certainly didn’t.

it might have gone an different way.

the eu were choking us with rules but like you say

we need to sort these issues out now and nige isn’t the answer imo. But who is ? Honestly? the whole of the west is in decline

China and India are the new superpowers.

all we can do is try
mitigate the consequences

add ai and we are all screwed tbh Brexit will be the
least of it.

No. You were given facts, but you chose to see conspiracy. You were given facts, and fought against them rather than listen. You claimed facts you didn't like were propaganda.
All the facts were right there, but people wouldn't listen to them.

LakieLady · 18/02/2026 11:34

NotNowFGS · 18/02/2026 08:15

Brexit is the reason that they have lost a good chunk of funding which the poorest regions could ill afford to lose.

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Not just the poorest regions, either. There were projects in some smaller deprived areas in Sussex that were EU funded. They all ended up folding because councils couldn't cover the shortfall.

Thechaseison71 · 18/02/2026 11:35

LakieLady · 18/02/2026 11:34

Not just the poorest regions, either. There were projects in some smaller deprived areas in Sussex that were EU funded. They all ended up folding because councils couldn't cover the shortfall.

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The money was there though as UK no longer paying it to the EU. Blame the UK government for not propping up these places

JacknDiane · 18/02/2026 11:39

Let's face it, people are just fucking stupid. The ones who voted leave will now vote reform. And they will be royally fucked....again.

user64788643122 · 18/02/2026 11:39

I voted yabu because people did say about the benefits, and Brexiteers described it as “project fear”. I personally can’t understand why people fell for it, rather than listen to the economists who almost without exception predicted exactly this.

LakieLady · 18/02/2026 11:43

I am however amused that, because it's a lot harder for Polish, Portuguese and other European healthcare and hospitality workers to come to the UK, they've now been commonly replaced by people from places like Ghana. I bet the leave voters didn't see that coming.

I made this very point to my Brexit-voting MIL when she complained that all the nurses and domestic staff who looked after her when she was in ICU a year or two ago were Filipino.

When I asked her if there were communication issues, problems with her care etc, she said there weren't, but she was most unhappy that they served her Weetabix without any sugar...

CaptainMyCaptain · 18/02/2026 11:43

user64788643122 · 18/02/2026 11:39

I voted yabu because people did say about the benefits, and Brexiteers described it as “project fear”. I personally can’t understand why people fell for it, rather than listen to the economists who almost without exception predicted exactly this.

I voted YANBU fir the same reason. I think the OP was saying the people who thought we weren't told were wrong.

JHound · 18/02/2026 11:44

ThatThisThatYou · 18/02/2026 07:02

Do you not think the UK governments of the past 30 years have a part to play in the decline or is it all the fault of Brexit?

Well in this specific example it was Brexit to blame for the removal of their funding.

Brefugee · 18/02/2026 11:47

Portakalkedi · 18/02/2026 10:18

Those despairing at the fact that a majority of voters voted fro Brexit - don't worry, Labour seem to be trying very hard to get the UK back into the EU, despite the fact that voters decided to leave. They still have a few years left to carry on with this reintegration no matter who leads them.

the UK had a fantastic deal with the EU. They got more refunds (thanks to Thatcher) than any other country.

What Labour will take you back into is EU-lite, where hopefully the UK will be back in the free trade area, and we can all start sending parcels back and forth without our friends having to pay 40 quid to get their birthday present. (yeah, we stopped all that, but not before my aged mum had sent things to us that we had to fork out for)

It is absolutely bonkers not to have better conditions when trading with people who are 21 miles away across a stretch of water.

Brefugee · 18/02/2026 11:51

TempestTost · 18/02/2026 10:56

It wasn't really that simple, the advantages of going to Germany began to lessen because the employment market there became less favourable, and the population - particularly other builders - resented the foreign workers to some extent, and so they changed the tax advantages involved. And IIRC also made it harder for British workers to take those kinds of jobs, though the details on that element are hazy in my mind now.

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that is what i said. There was always a flow, between the UK and the continent, and also the other way round.

Workers who could or would move to where the jobs were/are have always been around, and the EU made that so so so so much easier. See also temporary staff for harvests.

It was a huge bloody mess. But the outside interference (I believe it has now been shown that Russia was implicated?) played a massive part.

I'm also of the opinion that Brexit has cost the UK dearly, but what is making it worse is a global downturn.

Winter2020 · 18/02/2026 12:04

user64788643122 · 18/02/2026 11:39

I voted yabu because people did say about the benefits, and Brexiteers described it as “project fear”. I personally can’t understand why people fell for it, rather than listen to the economists who almost without exception predicted exactly this.

Many people that voted Brexit accepted that it would come with economic consequences. That was the trade off for the ability to control our borders. The politicians then went on to betray the British people and allow huge unprecedented amounts of immigration.

We are at least in a position now where we can control our borders (to a great extent aside from the small amount of people that arrive illegally on boats etc) and now we need to vote in a party with the appetite to do it. If we were still in the EU we still would not be able to even begin to control people coming in- EU citizens would have free movement including recent immigrants to the EU once granted EU citizenship.

Without Brexit people from around the world that believe Britain's streets are paved with gold wouldn't even need to risk life and limb coming here- they could get citizenship of any EU country and move here under free movement.

SerendipityJane · 18/02/2026 12:06

We are at least in a position now where we can control our borders (to a great extent aside from the small amount of people that arrive illegally on boats etc)

What do you think the number of people on boats coming to the UK is versus the number of people who do not. I am sure you won't be offended it I ask for cites ?

Winter2020 · 18/02/2026 12:13

SerendipityJane · 18/02/2026 12:06

We are at least in a position now where we can control our borders (to a great extent aside from the small amount of people that arrive illegally on boats etc)

What do you think the number of people on boats coming to the UK is versus the number of people who do not. I am sure you won't be offended it I ask for cites ?

Without looking anything up around 1 million people moved here (net) in 2023. I believe around 40k arrived on small boats and a few more than that also claimed asylum after arriving via other routes such as student visas.

Alexandra2001 · 18/02/2026 12:30

Winter2020 · 18/02/2026 12:13

Without looking anything up around 1 million people moved here (net) in 2023. I believe around 40k arrived on small boats and a few more than that also claimed asylum after arriving via other routes such as student visas.

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We actively went after these 1m people, we advertised for them, sent delegations to encourage them to come here.

Labour have now limited this to 220k pa (net) and bought in further English standards.

Why do you think migrants who eventually get EU citizenship (after many years) would then all come here?
They would have built their lives in Germany France etc and Eastern Europe is now quite prosperous.

If we were now in the EU, we would have far better co-op on x channel migrants, even able to send them back.... instead, it seems like France just sign posts them to the UK

hairbearbunches · 18/02/2026 12:33

The whole damn thing has been bullshit from start to finish, and when I say start I mean the EEC morphing into the EU. Outside of London, this country has huge deprivation and yet we were sending billions over as net contributors. It boils my piss immensely that we keep getting stories about Poland now booming and overtaking the UK in terms of GDP. Well, of course it bloody well will given the amount of money that's been thrown at it. So would this country have with the same amount of money being spent.

Where this country is at right now is down to successive Governments since Thatcher only caring about London, not having a modern industrial policy and not giving a shit about how best to revitalise post industrial areas where industry has now closed. The EU provided a fig leaf for them to hide behind. We are not down the shitter because of Brexit. Brexit exposed the state of the country for a lot more people to see. It's not pretty, is it?

Winter2020 · 18/02/2026 13:12

Alexandra2001 · 18/02/2026 12:30

We actively went after these 1m people, we advertised for them, sent delegations to encourage them to come here.

Labour have now limited this to 220k pa (net) and bought in further English standards.

Why do you think migrants who eventually get EU citizenship (after many years) would then all come here?
They would have built their lives in Germany France etc and Eastern Europe is now quite prosperous.

If we were now in the EU, we would have far better co-op on x channel migrants, even able to send them back.... instead, it seems like France just sign posts them to the UK

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A lot of "we" didn't. A lot of "we" voted to control our borders. You might have supported this but a lot of the population did not as evidenced by the Brexit vote and the rise of Reform - and the fact that any political party not talking about reducing immigration now is making themselves unelectable.

I didn't say migrants given EU citizenship would "all" come here. I said if they wanted to then (without Brexit) they would be free to come here under free movement. Which they would.

Winter2020 · 18/02/2026 13:16

Alexandra2001 · 18/02/2026 12:30

We actively went after these 1m people, we advertised for them, sent delegations to encourage them to come here.

Labour have now limited this to 220k pa (net) and bought in further English standards.

Why do you think migrants who eventually get EU citizenship (after many years) would then all come here?
They would have built their lives in Germany France etc and Eastern Europe is now quite prosperous.

If we were now in the EU, we would have far better co-op on x channel migrants, even able to send them back.... instead, it seems like France just sign posts them to the UK

Show quote history

"Send them back" until they are granted EU citizenship and come over with a ticket under free movement. Why even bother?