I had to break my enforced removal from MN to come and answer this thread.
That clip quite frankly shows that the voters in Sunderland simply "don't get it".
Not once during the entire piece was there anything outlined about the EU or the issues that the North East has with it, I did hear lots of anger about London and about austerity.
The repeated refrain seems to be "nothing gets done for us", which as a native of the North East I find to be totally untrue.
Lets start with public spending, there are 2.61 million people living in the North East and it receives very nearly as much public spending per head as London, using the same data (from the briefing paper public Expenditure by region, published March 8 2015) it has been LESS effected by public spending cuts than London ( Londoners have lost over £1,000 per head, where as the NE has lost 600). Not only this but the North East receives far more in public spending than it contributes in tax and this has been the case for decades. Oh and before people start, London contributes more than it gets in spending and is responsible for 30% of all tax paid in the UK (Corporation tax was divided amongst the regions to make taxes declared from London head offices non applicable to this figure).
Secondly, in the last round of spending from the EU the North East received £494 million for economic development, it was due to get 595.6 million in the next round. In fact the North East has benefited from EU spending far more than any other region since 2007.
So the North East gets more out of Government spending than it puts in and it benefits from more EU spending than any other reason. What does the North East not get?
Nissan in Sunderland got large grants from the Government to help it locate the production line for the electric car there (one for £20 million, one for £9.5 ) the pharmaceutical industries in Newcastle get funding from both the EU and he government. The area has 4 large universities which all benefit from spending from both the EU and government, universities which don't just provide middle class lecturers jobs but a host of others from maintenance, admin, security etc etc. Not only this, but there is also the multiplier effect of these jobs which creates more jobs, also a large student populations brings further spending in the area which of course generates more jobs. Oh and the universities in the NE actively encourage enrolment from local students, they get offers for lower grades.
We can also look at the effect of Government spending through contracts and grants to companies like Rolls Royce and Vickers.
Constant refrains of "we don't get anything" are quite frankly bollocks, yes the North East has been hit harder than some areas by public spending cuts, but there are far more issues in the area than that.
One is the fact that many, many people in the area have not changed their behaviour and attitudes from that of the heavy industy era. Teaching in the North East was challenging for the reason that education was not valued, this was OK when the shipyard, steel works doors were yet the open, or the pit, but those opportunities have been gone for decades yet the behaviour and attitudes are very similar to when they were.
The area has been massively dependent on public money for generations, many of the mines, steel works etc were unprofitable and were subsidised by the tax payer.
The North East has also been the victim of globalisation, other countries ( the ones that Brexiteers seek to do trade deals with) have massive comparative advantages in terms of heavy industry and are able to produce things that were once produced in the NE.
The old era of well paid work that allowed a man to support his family has gone and been replaced with lower paid work that is less secure, and usually requires 2 workers (however, lets not pretend that needing two working adults in a family is not necessary for the vast majority of the population)
All of this adds up to a level of dissatisfaction, but it is misplaced to pull out of the EU because of it.
People are here complaining about employment conditions, which are allowed by our national government, but not by others in the EU. People here are saying that by getting out of the EU things for those at the bottom should get better, when what you have are a government who are far more likely to remove EU regulations that improve workers conditions.
I really am having to stop my self from laughing at people who on one hand despise EU interference and talk of cutting its "red tape" but at the same time blame it for not doing anything to stop governments from changing legislation that protects workers.
What will happen to the North East if we leave the EU and don't secure trade deals? Well lets be honest Nissan might stay but it will cut production because it probably will be able to re locate to Renault factories based inside the EU ( you are aware of the Nissan-Renualt alliance right?) That will mean jobs will be cut, the same will go for the phrama industry, the same will go for the Hitatchi at Newton Aycliffe will probably go the same route.
What will you expect then? If being out of the EU effects London then one of the major net tax contributors ( 30% of taxes, 11 % of spending but 13% of the population), then you can expect to see further public spending cuts.
So public spending cuts, redundancies, less rights.
Yeah this vote has been good for the poor of the North East.