What Do Remainers Feel Now?

The Briefing Room

BBC

News, News Commentary

4.8 • 731 Ratings

🗓️ 28 July 2016

⏱️ 29 minutes

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Summary

There was jubilation among many who were on the winning side of last month's EU referendum. But the vote, more than any in recent memory, laid bare the UK's divisions - not only in demographics but also social attitudes. Many of the 16m people who voted Remain expressed shock, sadness and even grief after the result. Two weeks ago The Briefing Room visited Wakefield in West Yorkshire to find out about those who voted Leave. In this programme, David Aaronovitch takes the opposite tack and visits Lambeth, the south London borough that stretches from the banks of the Thames opposite the Houses of Parliament to the Capital's suburban fringes. He talks to long-standing residents and relative newcomers to find out what Remainers feel now. In in area where nearly four-fifths of those who voted backed Remain, is there a still a sense of upset over the result? And having been outvoted in one of the UK's biggest democratic experiments, what do they plan to do now?

Interviewees in Lambeth include: Devon Thomas chair of the Brixton Neighbourhood Forum, local Green Party candidate Rashid Nix, Labour Party volunteer Gareth Rhys, Rosamund Urwin of the London Evening Standard, Tom Shahkli general manager of the Brixton Pound project, and Rui Reis, vice chair of the Portuguese cultural and football club in Stockwell.

Studio guests: Cordelia Hay of Britain Thinks and Stian Westlake of NESTA.

Producer: Mike Wendling Researcher: Kirsteen Knight.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, I'm Mike. I'm one of the producers here at the briefing room. Two weeks ago, we talked to people in Wakefield in Yorkshire, where most people voted to leave the European Union. And since it's only fair to get the other side, this week, David Aronovich and I were on the streets of Lambeth in South London. Now, Lambeth has a place where nearly four-fifths of people voted Remain. And we wanted to know how those people felt about
0:21.9	being on the losing side. This is one of those kind of great arterial thoroughfares through
0:27.7	South Ladder heading towards the city. And we're standing on one of the, alongside one of the
0:32.5	more interesting terraces along this road. It's rather beautiful houses if they were to be done out.
0:38.3	And from the third floor of one of them, right in the middle, there are two flags hanging.
0:43.3	One is a gay pride flag, and the other is something you hardly ever see in Britain, which
0:47.3	are the stars of the European Union being flown by a private individual.
0:53.3	Rare enough to make you wonder what kind of person lives here.
0:57.4	I'm Gareth Rees. I'm 27 years old. I'm a student.
1:01.8	I was born in Dulwich just down the road.
1:04.1	I was an official observer from the Remain campaign
1:06.1	at Brixton Recreation Centre where the Count went on.
1:14.4	Music Brixton Recreation Centre where the camp went on. On the 23rd of June, 48% of Britain's 16 million people voted to stay in the EU.
1:22.9	Two weeks ago, I was in Wakefield in West Yorkshire, where I heard from voters in favour of exiting the European Union.
1:29.3	They told me they were taking back control of their country. They won. But what about the losers?
1:37.3	Tonight for the briefing room I'm starting off in South London in the borough of Lambeth, the area that most overwhelmingly voted remain.
1:47.0	What do the attitudes of these voters tell us about Great Britain today?
1:52.0	I mean, I really was not sideways by the result.
1:55.0	My reaction was incredibly visceral and emotional. Panicked, really.
1:59.0	It's like losing friends. suddenly being on the outside,
2:01.6	you know, the vision of the future that we take for granted now.
2:04.6	I feel like that's been stripped from me.
	...

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