Bromsgrove residents have their say on 'Brexit' - The Bromsgrove Standard

Bromsgrove residents have their say on 'Brexit'

Bromsgrove Editorial 28th Jun, 2016 Updated: 17th Oct, 2016   0

IN THE wake of the result of the EU referendum which has left the UK heading for a ‘Brexit’, Standard reporter Anu Shukla went out onto Bromsgrove High Street on Tuesday morning to gauge the views of residents.

Binman Shaun Nash, who votes to ‘leave’ the EU, said: “I don’t know if it’s going to be good or bad but I voted out because I thought it would be better for the country.

“Local businesses would do better, specially the fish trade where we’ve got the Spanish coming within five miles of the shore to take fish back to Spain, freezing it to bring it back and sell over here when our fisherman could do that and get their trade back.”

Gillian Warrilow agreed to leave the EU too.




She said: “I feel it’s time to come out now, stand on our own and have England back to ourselves.

“I don’t think it will affect the economy, though someone did put on Facebook this morning ‘that’s twice we’re out of Europe’ – which is a shame.” (referring to England’s shock defeat at the hands of Iceland the night before).


Matt Jinks from Imagination Street told us: “I voted out. It certainly wasn’t the easy choice, but sometimes you have to make a brave decision about what you think is going to be good for the long-term benefit of the country.”

However, he added: “We don’t have to be isolationist about it, we can still be part of Europe, but I think we need to be able to decide on the bits that work and don’t work for us.”

Speaking about the result of the vote, he said: “Am I happy? On Friday morning when I woke up to find the result, it wasn’t without trepidation because we know it’s going to be hard for the economy.

“But I think it’s a brave decision and I’m proud to be British.”

Former school teacher Paul Thomas also voted to leave: “Basically, it’s about immigration, and it’s not xenophobic, I hate to be called a racist, I’m not.

“There are too many people coming unregulated into this country.

“If they come here to have a job, they’re welcome, but people are just turning up and they need support and we can’t support these people. You can’t put two pints into a pint pot. I think Boris (Johnson) will have a few problems, but at the end of the day, it was an election.

“I was amazed when I woke up at 6.30am on Friday – never in a million years would I have imagined that result.”

Indian expatriate and fish and chip shop owner Raj Lally who voted at the last minute said: “I voted remain because I come from outside too, from India, and I am here making a contribution with my business.

“Most of my friends voted to remain too.

“Frankly speaking though, I wanted to not vote at all because I was so confused by the campaigns. I have no idea if it’s the right decision.”

Mum Tracy Hill said she also voted remain: “I didn’t want to take a leap of faith. Staying in is what I’ve always known.

“I was confused to be honest. Leaving didn’t seem like a very good idea.

“But I don’t think we were informed enough to make the decision.

“And I think most people who voted were really unsure.

“Immigration was the biggest reason most people voted out, but I don’t think that’s a massive problem to be honest.

“I think we’re doing okay as we are. As for voting out – I didn’t see the reason.

“It was the unknown for me and I didn’t really want to jump into the unknown.”

Francine Makar said she voted remain for her son. “He’s 18 and wants to go off to university, he’s a musician and he wants to travel and go to places like Berlin with his music – so this could now make it much more difficult for him.

“And not just for him, but for every child going off to university – their futures are in jeopardy because of this.

“And what about the funding universities get from the EU, what will happen to that?”

She claimed she found it disgraceful that the leave group used the immigration argument, saying she felt there was a bigger picture than that.

“But I really don’t think people realised what they were voting for – the other day someone said they voted to leave so they could come out of the Eurovision.”

Margaret Bosson aged 68 said: “The leave campaign only focused on immigration.

“I never saw anybody come up with an economic plan or be clear about what was going to happen.

“There’s no contingency plan in force and to be honest I suspect at one point they probably didn’t expect to win this because they’re not even prepared for it. “And by the way, I object to all this blame on the over 65s who voted to leave – I never voted to leave and I’m nearly 70. I thought about my grandchildren and my children.”

Margaret’s husband, Michael, added: “And if they want to be part of the single market, they’ve got to have an open door policy.”

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