But that is the core of Brexit. Because 'closer ties with the former colonies instead of Europe' only seems like a viable option to someone who's not fully aware of how British colonial rule is viewed by millions of people around the world.
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Once again, the xenophobic fears about non-white people in Britain failed to acknowledge how South Asian or African people first came to be British subjects. Because Brexit supporters tend to be people who haven't thought a great deal about the uncomfortable legacies of British colonial rule.
aug 24, 2025, 2:34 pm • 2 0 • view
Wow - xenophobia and racism too. Having spoken to many Brexiteers it’s really isn’t xenophobia, or racism (as it is often characterised) but a much more practical view of the problems caused by mass, uncontrolled immigration - very real strains on housing, overcrowding, jobs, NHS etc
aug 24, 2025, 2:40 pm • 0 0 • view
No nation the size of the UK can absorb a quarter of a million immigrants year after year for decades without putting strains on society. Those strains were successfully exploited by the leave campaign, which specifically targeted the freedom of all EU citizens to live and work in the UK.
aug 24, 2025, 2:48 pm • 0 0 • view
I'd say it's blaming non-white people, many of whom became British subjects as a result of colonialism, for the consequences of 40-odd years of neoliberalism. That's 40-odd years of underinvestment in public goods under Thatcherism, Blairism, austerity, and continuing under Starmer.
aug 24, 2025, 2:49 pm • 1 0 • view
It's not immigrants who repeatedly cut the NHS budget, underfunded then privatised public housing, mismanaged the privatised railways so badly they had to be bailed out, ended industry support for British manufacturing.
aug 24, 2025, 2:58 pm • 1 0 • view
It's not immigrants who squandered billions invading the Falklands and Iraq and Afghanistan. It's not the immigrants who blamed country post office staff for dodgy computers in the privatised Royal Mail, it's cut funding for schools and social services repeatedly.
aug 24, 2025, 3:00 pm • 0 0 • view
And yes, 40-years of neoliberalism and underinvestment in public goods turned to crap. A bit like the untreated crap the privatised water boards dumped in the rivers. Blaming those very real problems on immigrants was brilliant misdirection by Murdoch and his cronies.
aug 24, 2025, 3:03 pm • 0 0 • view
But then seeing a return to Empire, instead of Europe, as the solution to all that? That takes some deep unawareness of the uncomfortable parts of the British Empire's legacy. And yes, blaming non-white people instead of the elites is kinda racist, I'm sorry to say.
aug 24, 2025, 3:06 pm • 0 0 • view
You make a series of incredible assumptions about British people - I suppose you have to to make it fit your bias. You promote the view of a tiny, tiny minority and present it as commonplace. No one sought a return to empire. No one blamed non-whites for the uncontrolled immigration from the EU.
aug 24, 2025, 3:23 pm • 0 0 • view
"No one sought a return to empire." Go back and look at the first post in the thread. Or some of the fantasies that were floated before the Brexit vote: www.dw.com/en/canzuk-co...
aug 24, 2025, 3:29 pm • 0 1 • view
I’m not in disagreement there. This is where the right-wing press very skilfully deflected blame away from domestic policy and regularly pointed the finger at the EU.
aug 24, 2025, 3:13 pm • 0 0 • view
You don’t give people enough credit. I think people are well aware of the problems caused by Neoliberal policies and can differentiate them from the problems caused by mass, uncontrolled immigration.
aug 24, 2025, 3:09 pm • 0 0 • view
But that's precisely the point: The right-wing press in Britain routinely blames the problems of neoliberalism on immigration! A shortage of hospital beds? A major factor is 40-odd years of budget cuts to the NHS. Immigrants are blamed. A shortage of affordable housing? A major factor...
aug 24, 2025, 11:23 pm • 5 2 • view
...is more than 40 years of underinvestment in, and privatisation of, public housing. Immigration is blamed. Overcrowded and crumbling government schools. Again, austerity and neoliberal cuts are the cause, immigrants get blamed. After 40 years of austerity and neoliberalism, you have many...
aug 24, 2025, 11:26 pm • 0 0 • view
...public services with *very* little spare capacity. And then when there's any increase in demand at all, they fall over. The real cause of those problems immigration. It's 40-odd years of neoliberal privatisation and austerity.
aug 24, 2025, 11:28 pm • 0 0 • view
Yes, I understand the point about chronic under-investment and the blaming of immigrants. But, while many problems could be alleviated by a fundamental change in domestic policy, there’s only so much land to live on. There’s only so many resources and so the problems would, ultimately, persist…
aug 25, 2025, 7:38 am • 0 0 • view
The press exploited immigration from the EU as well as EU levels of control over the UK’s sovereignty as a scapegoat for domestic failures. I agree. That certainly influenced the Brexit vote. Sure. But, I disagree that that translates into a xenophobic, racist, Empire-doting ‘core’ for Brexit.
aug 25, 2025, 7:47 am • 0 0 • view
Immigrants didn’t do any of those things. But to deny that mass, uncontrolled immigration into a tiny country has no consequences is naive. One very direct and obvious source of immigration into the UK was from the EU. I don’t recall Brexiteers blaming non-whites for anything. They blamed the EU.
aug 24, 2025, 3:15 pm • 0 0 • view
You’re asserting that the main reason for Brexit was a desire to have closer ties elsewhere. I’d argue that is incorrect. It was an anticipated result of Brexit and not the core driver of it.
aug 24, 2025, 2:30 pm • 0 0 • view