Brexit day…

Brexit means Brexit, said Theresa May, when no one knew what it meant. Not much has changed in this matter since then, but I think I can tell a bit about what Brexit means for European immigrants in the UK, as I was one of them.

People tend to assume we left the UK because of Brexit. No, we didn’t, Brexit was not a direct reason. Did Brexit play a role at all? Yes, it did, but only as one of the many elements of a jigsaw puzzle that eventually led us to this decision.

I still remember the night of the referendum. I woke up after midnight and decided to quickly check the initial results. Of course, I knew the majority would vote for remain. I knew, didn’t I? What was BBC showing then? How the hell was this happening?! I didn’t sleep until the morning, checking the results every 5 minutes and hoping they would change.

The next day at work felt like a funeral. We could not believe it, we did not even know how to comment. Was it possible that we had lived in a bubble all this time? Academic environment – by definition diverse, tolerant and open, colleagues and friends who would never vote Brexit, diverse and multicultural Liverpool... In THAT world Brexit would never have happened. Did we know Britain at all?

Since then it started to feel a bit different. No, nobody told me to ‘go home’ or treated me differently. But a lot has changed in the public sphere and too many nasty things were said about immigrants, both by the media and leading politicians. I still remember Jeremy Hunt, back then the health secretary, making statements that sounded like he was doing EU doctors and nurses a favour when allowing them to stay in the UK, to save lives and make sure the NHS (British state health system) does not collapse. Was this still a welcoming country?

Brexit did not even happen yet, but the harm was already done. Not only to the 3 million of European immigrants, whose future was unknown. Brexit debates created deep and visible divisions in British society, while growing uncertainty and lack of key decisions affected many industries. Higher education, for instance, was significantly affected in the area I worked in, by the lack of certainty regarding future research funding and European partnerships.

Maybe those who voted ‘leave’ are right thinking that Britain will be better off in a long-term perspective, although I personally can’t see it coming. What I know for sure is that the country I made my home for several years, does no longer feel like the country I arrived to, and this change is not a good one, at least for my (European) taste.