This article HERE in The New European is ostensibly about Grimsby and their demand for special status after Brexit but it's also partly about Cornwall, and probably other places too, they also want exemptions from the impact of something they voted for. In fact what it's really about is Stephen, Janet, Terry, Wendy and Maureen who are all mentioned or quoted in the article, and people much like them. They voted leave and at the moment, still think it's a good thing.
They hark back to another time when life seemed better and have a touching belief that their current problems are bound up with the EU, that Brexit will somehow restore their and our national fortunes. It won't. The truth is that things will get worse, much worse and they will want to be shielded from it.
I am sure they are all good people. I don't accuse them of xenophobia or racism. But when historians come to analyse Brexit I know they will conclude the decision was made by people like them who were woefully ill prepared to make it. And by that time even the people who were persuaded to vote leave will probably have to admit they made the wrong choice. How will they rationalise it? Will they say we didn't know what we were doing? Probably not. Some will, but the majority I'm sure will say it wasn't us, it was the idiots doing the persuading.
And how will the idiots who did the persuading handle it? No doubt they will blame the EU or the government either for being intransigent or not having the right level of belief in Brexit.
