Anywhere but Westminster: return to Brexit Britain

In the first of two new films, as the Conservative conference promises 'the best Brexit for Britain', John Harris and John Domokos talk to Tory true believers and pro-EU protesters, before heading out on the road to find the reality beyond the political noise. They meet hard-working Europeans worried about their future in the UK, businesses that fear the worst, and angry voters who still passionately believe that Brexit must happen
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[@nbob6186]

Liam Fox's answer was ridiculous. The EU obliges us to to accept the free movement of labour only; we can deny residence to anyone who doesn't have a job after 3 months.

[@ffi1001]

John Smith THANK YOU!

[@jonfox944]

says who? because there are 4 freedoms, not 3 Labour, Money, Goods, and PEOPLE note the last means ANY CITIZEN OF ANY MEMBER STATE MAY MOVE TO ANY OTHER WITH RECIPROCAL BENEFITS AS GIVEN HE THE CITIZENS OF THAT NATION the caps are the exact words of the treaty TLDR'd

[@daydreamer1098]

Yes have lived in spain and greece eu members this is correct, it is up tothe government of the country to uphold it. No benefits either unless u hv worked and paid tax for 2 yrs...maybe uk shd do the same as they are eu still and hv the same legal position. Question the government not the eu. I have lived 30 years in the eu.

[@XiagraBalls]

Yes, his answer pissed me off. Study after study shows that EU citizens come to work, not to go on the dole and the govt could kick them out if they did that anyway under EU Law.

[@XiagraBalls]

@YoshiPeach Mario Probably because there aren't that many living off the dole here.

[@jimsy5530]

Hahaha, unemployment of 4.3%... zero hours contracts, 'self-emloyed' employed people, part-time, working homeless. All included in that stat. Can't afford to live, but they're in work! What's the point in working, if you have to go to a food bank at the weekend?

[@fuberlin1]

Spot on! I am not from an EU country and even though Brexit is not what I would like to see, O empathise with the working class Brits and hope things get better for them. I hope EU giv3s you a good deal. I don't want Europeans to hate each other. Last few times such feeling existed on this continent we had the madness on two World Wars.

[@drunkensailor112]

Exactly. Income disparity is why the UK is fucked and the EU is not to blame. EU countries like The Netherlands have low levels of income disparity.

[@buildingabout3505]

no worries mate , when the immigrants will be gone , the native population will be squeezed even more to pay those hefty benefits for the brits on the dole . have you seen how much are the councils around london paying to house 1 individual?

[@lukewarmape603]

GoodThings voting in Tory is definitely going to help the working class!

[@marcperrett662]

@@drunkensailor112 and the population of the netherlands is?and the size of their economy is?not really comparing apples with apples there, plus there is not millions of migrants there even though they are at the epicentre of europe

[@lisamcandrews8594]

I feel so bad for the people in Britain it looks like it’s turning into the United States. Schools closing down, hospitals

[@dorianphilotheates3769]

“In a democracy, free citizens ALWAYS deserve the government they get.” - Aristotle (my Uncle who runs the souvlaki joint down the street from my place).

[@fuberlin1]

5:26 this dude has got it wrong though. There are other reasons too. In my view Brexit was a protest vote/punishment for the British political class who didn't take care of the lower classes of society. This was the only way "the poor" had to strike back and make them hurt.

[@redmozzy]

By taking the power from Brussels and giving it all to the very people they wanted to punish?

[@wecandothiswarriors]

And rightly so GoodThings

[@erikzoe1]

GoodThings - what you say is, of course, true, but voting to leave the EU, which is an act of national self-harm, in order to punish the British political class shows why we need unadulterated representative democracy, and why important decisions should never be put directly into the hands of the general public. It's like giving a two-year-old a loaded gun to play with.

[@christinedennison7770]

Too true

[@neilmurray1771]

That's such a tired cliche. It wasnt a protest vote it was a genuine vote to leave the EU and try and get our identity and sovereignty back.

[@simongentry]

enjoying your series. refreshing to actually hear what people on the streets think - how it’s effecting their lives - parliament is governing from within a vacuum. keep it up mate.

[@MrDanielfff777]

fr

[@fuberlin1]

Such type of journalism is so refreshing. I like your work, man!

[@danmchale1558]

Watching this just after the 2019 election

[@gregwilmot3260]

hands off my italian wife...

[@mitchyoung8791]

I'm pretty sure that the UK has some mechanism to allow spouses to immigrate.

[@neilmurray1771]

Haha dry your eyes Guardian. BREXIT is done!

[@glasshalffull8471]

I'm against whatever Alistair Campbell is for,always,keep winning also.

[@mitchyoung8791]

Heck Sausage Owner: Please please please keep my cheap labour coming!

[@patrickredman3040]

why did he have a tate and lyle lanyard on at the end?

[@CherEnjoyer57]

Sorry but how can you look at the people playing the kazoos and feel nothing but second hand embarrasment???

[@gorgu08]

This is an outstanding series, it has enlightened me to both sides of the story immeasurably

[@philippek96]

Why would we not Come and work??? We arnt welcome sadly :(((

[@GrimUpNorth_yt]

Its a nightmare - where the hell are these business owners going to get cheap labour from? Christ next thing you know they will have to pay a little more to give local people a job. Might mean a slightly smaller detached house or lower model car for them - thats going to be really hard.

[@carolynwestlake2246]

And more expensive food for you and your family

[@fuberlin1]

@dynamiccoins1 I hope you are right mate. I hope companies start paying you better further down the line. The salaries in the UK are just .... rough stuff...

[@thompoz7114]

@@fuberlin1 Britbongs are certainly overpaid for what they do as "job".

[@jfkdemocrat8465]

Seems like the UK is very poorly managed. As soon as the Brexit vote was decided, they should have set up an effective & speedy system to identify all businesses run by EU Citizens & all EU workers who were contributing to the UK’s economy to provide work permits & business licenses to eliminate uncertainties & retain productive people. They should have also identified positions where there were shortages of skilled employees & let EU Citizens know what jobs to apply for. As for the EU Citizens & Aliens who were committing crimes or free loading on gov’t benefits, they should prepare to deport these individuals back to the EU & stop benefits. Finally, the UK needs to educate & retrain it’s population to help expand its workforce & economy. Hope Brixit works out for the UK! Think other countries will bail from the failing EU Project.

[@swerve1960]

1:48 I've never seen so many white people!

[@staycalm88]

You know nothing Jon Snow

[@TONYSPURSMAN]

Stop Brexit ...lol... you did not stop it did you

[@christhomas9956]

wat a load of bollox i would pack sausages for a decent living wage

[@HondoTrailside]

One sausage worker said that she wanted to know more about various things, and her pension. Then the interviewer goes on and disparages the Conservative over his attitude on spongers. So has the Latvian sausage worker who looked well into her 60s been in the UK all her life, or did she arrive shortly after the factory in 2013, and is expecting to draw a UK pension for the rest of her life for a few years work? One suggestion is you can have labour mobility in the EU, but only if the country you are coming from offers the same minimum wage and benefits. That comes from Yanis Varoufakis, who is the past labour Minister of Finance of Greece. Of course, unless there are strong borders, people will just migrate anyway.

[@shredderly]

6:09 HE'S WEARING A HIJAB, DEPORT HIM!

[@zoolhert3535]

This journalist looks like a Guardian Journalist.. if you know what I mean... he has drank more soy than a CCP soy drinking competition

[@metheone2486]

kerry food's /miller's has been going for for more than 30 year's and was English people doing the jobs so stop all the bollox about English people wont do these jobs , i myself worked there many years ago packing sausages,pork pie's ..ect..ect it's all about cheap labour that's it!

[@wecandothiswarriors]

And those who pick the fields ..There were MANY Brits picking , including myself as a younger student..UNTIL they lowered the wage to bare minimum,invited the East Europeans in and offered housing at 10 to a house!!

[@SuperStareGry]

@@wecandothiswarriors I think you should lead country out of eu. You got all your views spot on. Economy knowledge is your asset.

[@norquay626]

Fascinating series

[@hejla4524]

John Harris is excellent though he needs to stay clear of too much editorializing like his fellow Guardian journalists who are making the paper increasingly unreadable. Liam Fox's answer was interesting given that the vast majority of EC immigrants come to the UK to work, so Brexit under his terms will make little difference to the numbers allowed in. It would be interesting to know who did all these low paid factory jobs before the mass immigration of the Blair years and if they were British workers why won't they do them now?

[@normagriffiths9570]

Your s remainder ain't ya John tye guardian journalist was well had if there

[@lucyduffyllovelytown2619]

who is going to pick the veggies and fruits now whats it like in 2023

[@neilblockhead]

God bless all the Europeans. But if they leaveteir countries for Britain, whois going to revitalise their own countries? Who is going to make the reforms their own countries need? Guardian always on the side of the little guy, except if he/she is British.

[@nomadcompany]

its why u have the trouble you do,.... far too many non British people making decisions that affect the British. We have a British Mayor here that decided to not celebrate Australia Day.... i mean how dare she!!

[@kaze987]

That Liam Fox guy at the end - he wants workers, not people. Terrible. Inhumanity on full display

[@BedsitBob]

6:24 "I think they don't know what they're doing, when they say yes." 6:32 "I'm not sure that they know what they vote." How patronising .

[@hollytalbot6695]

To all the people who have no faith in Britain, please catch the first available flight to mainland europe and stay put.

[@danemma3610]

why they whereing blue burkas?

[@JAMAICADOCK]

This feels like one of those non-events - that passes for history these days. Something like Putin's 'invasion' of Crimea - a weak event simulating strong events from history. Both sides of the conflict granting far more significance to it than it actually deserved. Likewise, the EU neither adds up to the dreams of the remainers or the fears of the leavers. It's just a boring bureaucracy that had a few decent ideas but just as many silly ones. Britain will survive outside the EU - but there might be a mild recession zzzzzzzzzzzzz. Let's face it, History has ended in the West - all we are left with is weak facsimile. It seems real history has been outsourced to the developing world. Which we might be grateful for if not for the terminal boredom of our simulated history. But it's like the developing world has too much history - an overload of history. It seems to be in receipt of the surplus history that's no longer happening in the West. History in the West is repeating as an endless farce - whereas history in the Third World is an endless tragedy.

[@DCI-Frank-Burnside]

Good to see that English sight of wizened, headscarf wearing, claw jabbing pensioners thrown back from the post war period.

[@ianstoker1]

Australian Points system please, points system!

[@buildingabout3505]

australia has sun , beaches , natural resources and space. Britain has brits on the dole , cold weather , cramped places, dropping healthcare & wages and rising fascism. who wants to come to UK? from 2021 onwards is mad. you don't need no points system beyond that point

[@NicholasWarnertheFirst]

Excellent journalism!!!

[@mavericmorph5358]

Strange isn't it, us brexiteers are very excited about leaving little eu. We are getting prepared and looking forward to a big and bright future. It does annoy me that since we joined little eu in the past 40 years, our youth have been ignored and neglected by government and business alike, and of course we are now producing morons leaving schools with no YTS to utilise. Businesses then get their slave labour from Europe and then got the audacity to say we can't survive without them.

[@ianstoker1]

A handful of Foreign doctors and nurses look after shed load of foreign migrant cheap labour workers. POINTS BASED SYSTEM NOW!

[@F--B]

"I just ask questions" Is that you just asking questions at 9:54? Disingenuous.

[@jerryorange6983]

The Eastern Europeans should not be afraid at all. Germany pays much better now and cost of leaving there are much lower. The people tend to go there now and statistics confirm this. On top of that Liam Fox MP says he is not against the people coming and working but only against people coming with no jobs using our benefit system. He is so incompetent. It is UK own choice to run the benefit system the way it is which is really unfair especially for those who have more than 16k in assets, that means no access to it although they pay high taxes. The EU law says clearly that you don't have an automatic right to the benefit system and if you can't prove you can support itself you can be kicked out after 3 months. It looks like he wants to leave the EU to implement finally the EU existing laws. Perhaps he should be a GP not MP.

[@Sarah-ft8jr]

So you want to work here and earn minimum wage and pay very little tax and then when you're old you want the uk government to give you a pension and pay for your care???

[@flitsertheo]

You get a pension according to the wages you earned. So minimum wages result in a minimum pension.

[@mattllo1]

Brexit is a terrifying act of economic, social and cultural self-harm. We are blaming the EU for the neglect and the faults of Westminster. We had full sovereignty anyway. EU rules were written by us, for us. We had the best deal out of anyone in the EU. No euro currency but all the benefits. Industry and finance flocked here because we were stable, business-friendly and English-speaking. We had the ability to control unskilled immigration and the misuse of benefits if we'd needed to. And we've thrown it all away because of lies and misinformation. Sorry Europe. We'll be back in a generation when we've realised quite how much we've lost.

[@AlphaGoII]

mattllo1 If you can't see what the EU is, how it will kill Europe and our nations, then God help you.

[@llamudos9809]

7 out of 10 brits now want brexit. Just time to accept that its happening!

[@mattllo1]

My child wants a flamethrower for Christmas. I'm not getting it for him as it will be dangerous and stupid and he doesn't understand the consequences. Same rules apply.

[@llamudos9809]

Consequences for who exactly? the Rich? EU migrants? German car industry, The EU corporate elite? EU agriculture, EU Tourism? Massive hit to French food and wine industry Massive hit to Amsterdam trade German car industry take a big hit. EU loosing out to about 6.6 billion when we take back our fishing rights. EU loss of UK security, intelligence and Military Might. Nuclear waste return to sender policy (back to EU for own storage EU trade exports dry up costing 40 -80billion I can go on but it just becomes a massive list So the consequence of EU not getting on with an amicable trade deal is dangerous and stupid and has consequences like you state! Not just UK but the rest of the world as its all interlinked. EU could be seen in a very bad light throughout the world if the try and hinder an amicable settlement. UK wants to leave EU rule not Europe but i would place a bet with you now that EU fail while UK prospers in the next few years!

[@mattllo1]

llamu dos Oh blimey. You really have been fooled haven’t you? We will still buy German cars, and French wine, because we don’t make anything as good ourselves. They will just cost a lot more. Fishing? Surely it’s a good thing cod is back on the menu due to regulations. Do you really want to rewind that clock. And I see you’re getting your excuses in early about blaming the EU for when it all goes wrong. Which it is destined to. We (you) decided to leave. When our economy falls off the cliff it will be us (you) to blame, not the EU.

[@Rainex-my7jd]

When are you going to question Corbyn's idea of bankrupting the UK ? there are other many workers Worldwide who will work without being in a political union !! you love the the EU I love the the UK! that's the difference

[@bitiminicik]

Maybe they can move the saucage factory to Poland. We have meat here on the continent! yum yum yum yum

[@bluntycunty6952]

Yes u need to go back

[@jamesfyffe2768]

John Harris is the best political journalist in this Country easily, his pertinent questions are always on point and he always meets the voting public from all sides of the political divide, outstanding political reportage. Cheers John.

[@leedn5]

Their singing of 'Ode to Joy' - with Alistair Campbell's Dawson-esque rendition on the pipes - is the most ridiculous thing remoaners can do. The British national anthem is God Save The Queen. Nobody should be in doubt about remoaners' contempt for this country.

[@MrCorker2000]

Don’t believe the guardian

[@beldengi]

The answer is simple. Come to the lucky country. Aussie, Aussie, Aussie.....oi oi oi.

[@djphat1736]

Why don't the UK and EU fix the EU? Clearly this is movement of people issues (immigration). So, FIX that and be done.

[@marcperrett662]

i think its a whole lot more complicated than that---the brits have been a complete nuisance for 20 years trying to change the eu from the inside to make concessions that just could,nt be delivered,,ask a certain mr d cameron for details, once the popular rhetoric began to take hold it was very difficult to stop the flow

[@inglese2996]

Ah yes, the guardian. That objective, non-biased bastion of reporting. You're as left-leaning as the sun are right-leaning, as such i would encourage people to read your content, but understanding that you will present one side of the coin, through liberal/progressive/socialist prism.

[@markreynolds6220]

Wow this is bias.

[@scissoroarscissoroar3214]

I wish trump was in charge of the UK he would sort it

[@andybliss5965]

Feel sorry for some of these foreigners. All the scaremongering by the Guardian has made them believe the gestapo are coming to kick down their door and put them on a cattle wagon.

[@satwadude3371]

Much more videos by this guy please.

[@kynchan3332]

What the EU should do is pay the UK to be a member as the UK has a net deficit with EU and EU sends more workers to the UK. It makes no sense to be a member. If UK was not powerful no immigrants would come. The UK pays to support the weak economies of the EU in many different ways. People would leave the UK instead if the other countries became more powerful. The arrangement is all wrong. If I asked my customers to pay twice there would be anarchy: 1/Max price for goods and 2/Membership fee to make me feel good.

[@Iamawesomenorly]

Well, see that's the difference. The UK does not "pay" the EU countries so much as invest in the EU. The only thing they pay for is access to the Single Market, same as everybody else. Besides, by your reasoning, the UK would have to pay Luxembourg, Ireland, Denmark, Sweden and Finland since they all contribute *more* and receive *less* investments per capita than the UK.

[@1brenmaster]

Can't you not still exploit cheap foreign labour with controlled emigration ? 😂

[@ffi1001]

I don’t think anyone who voted 43 years ago to join the EU should have been able to vote in the referendum. You had your vote then.

[@F--B]

'We're completely dependent on foreigners' A prisoner is completely dependent upon their jailor.

[@derekgriffiths3368]

That guardian presenter who's asking questions doesn't live nextdoor to a refugee or immigrant. He's a fanny

[@jzk2020]

You don't know that.... he probably lives in London - if that's the case then there is a good chance his neighbours are immigrants.

[@BDaMonkey]

You make one hell of an assumption.

[@derekgriffiths3368]

BDaMonkey am I bunch of London liberals

[@BDaMonkey]

Derek Griffiths You have no idea where he lives.

[@DinosawrsAreAwesome]

I hope I don't live next door to someone like you.

[@worthalook4870]

Bring on Brexit - democratic vote and the UK voted OUT. Took us 40+ years to get a vote so all those moaning for a second go - it isn't going to happen

[@petercott1]

If Brexit upsets the Guardianistas it's got to be good

[@NicholasWarnertheFirst]

How profoundly trivial.

[@garsm2290]

No doubt you say that because paedophiles also upset them.

[@andrew300169]

Gardanistas told you so 🤷🏻‍♂️

[@Dimera09]

This journalist is SUCH a snob.

[@JJ-te2pi]

Ffs Liam Fox. EU 8 migrants are the most economically beneficial migrants in the UK. For every £1 they take out they contribute £1.33.

[@j2b348]

Like the young Tory member said BREXIT vote was about immigration, its the day the racists and bigots won, to say anything else is really silly!!!