“Pleased that the journey has started,” says Colin, a Tory voter in Kings Lynn, Norfolk, who wants Theresa May to hurry up and take the UK out of the EU.
That was the dominant sentiment of this week’s leave supporters, who are among keeping Brexit diaries for the Guardian and Britain Thinks as part of a new project looking in depth at the views of 100 people across the country over the next few months.
“It’s a relief that things are starting to move; a feeling of satisfaction we are getting out,” says Nina, a leave voter in Bradford, from the latest focus group of 20 asked to write widely around the topic of leaving the EU.
But some of the out-voting respondents – from Glasgow, London, Manchester, Bradford and Kings Lynn – still display a degree of scepticism that politicians will really carry out Brexit as promised, confusion about the process and worry over the current period of uncertainty.
“I am tired about hearing about Brexit,” says Farzana, a Labour leave voter in Bradford. “I don’t think it will have much impact on me because I don’t believe it will go ahead.”
Her views are echoed by SNP leave voter, Elsie, in Glasgow, who writes: “I’m still very confused as I thought all these things would have been read through and discussed in parliament. During the campaigns of whether we stay or leave, politicians sold the idea and now the vote was leave, they seem they don’t know what they talking about any more.
“It’s sad and now boring, like everything this country does, drag it into the muck till no one recognises what it was in the first place we are trying to achieve.”
Remain voters who responded were also baffled about the parliamentary process for leaving, with Labour voter Lesley in Manchester saying it was “confusing and worrying”. She has already experienced financial insecurity as a result of the Brexit vote as a major contract for her employer ended in September.
However, Lesley is one of the only diarists to notice a personal effect, with most saying that apart from perhaps some slight increases in prices in the shops the consequences of Brexit are still to come.
In terms of what a good or bad deal will look like, the leave voters tend to speak positively about immigration controls and sovereignty, while remain voters express anxiety about the economy and think a good deal will involve as little change as possible.
“I don’t want Brexit to happen so I’ll probably look unfavourably on all Brexit deals as I don’t want to see any of them happen,” says Laura, a Lib Dem-voting remain supporter in London. “If I did I would say anything that kept as close ties as possible would be best, and anything that was kept as close to the way it is now would be best.”
Despite confusion and reservations over May’s Brexit strategy, she still scores higher than the Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, in terms of her approach to the process among both leave and remain voters. Corbyn in particular gets low scores from Labour remain voters, with three ranking him a 0/10 for asking his MPs to vote in favour of Brexit.
But the prime minister only attracts partial support from both leave and remain voters over her refusal to guarantee the rights of EU nationals in the UK. Wale, a remain Labour voter in London, says EU citizens in the UK “should not be used as a guinea pig. They have established family ties here and they contribute to the economy so they should be treated with respect. How many British nationals are prepared to do the job the EU national are doing in the UK?”
But Ann, a Labour leave voter in Kings Lynn, is complimentary about the prime minister’s approach: “Of course she should do exactly what she is doing. You cannot give away your trump cards before the game begins!”
Some remain voters also feel conflicted, including Labour-supporting Sadia in London. “It’s not fair on the people or businesses that depend on them but there are a lot of Brits abroad too so I can understand her reason,” she says.
“The government is listening to all shades of opinion, whilst being firm that we will leave regardless”
Ann, a leave voter from Kings Lynn, says she is surprised at the amount of input parliament is having on the process before the formal negotiations with the EU have started. She suggests that leaving the EU has made her follow the news more closely.
“It’s something to talk about, particularly with my husband, as we agree on almost nothing else,” she says. “I enjoy explaining the news to him, as he has usually only heard snippets of it.”
Despite describing herself as a Labour voter, she gives the prime minister 9 out of 10 for her handling of the Brexit process so far. “The EU has had its chance and had its day,” she writes. “Ideally it would be in everyone’s interests to make trade easy. There is a whole world outside the EU.”
She says she is wary of the UK doing any deal to pay into the EU after the country leaves the bloc. “I don’t see why we should pay anything to a club we have left. They only ever wanted us for our money. They should have made contingency plans for us leaving,” she says. “You cannot take people for granted for ever.”
Despite her keenness for the UK to forge new trade links with the rest of the world after Brexit, Ann says she thinks Speaker John Bercow has the right to speak up about the US president, Donald Trump. “Unlike most of his party, I quite like him,” she says, having listened to him being criticised on Radio 4. “He says what he thinks is right and tries to modernise parliament a bit.”
However, Trump should be allowed a state visit, she says. “He will not be president for ever. State visits often involve objectionable leaders. I hope they give an opportunity for our people to influence them a little. Those with reprehensible views and behaviour should be exposed to criticism.”
“I don’t want Brexit to happen so I’ll probably look unfavourably on all Brexit deals”
Jessica, a Labour voter from Glasgow, says she has been extremely worried about the prospect of the UK leaving the EU without a trade deal. A remain voter, she says that finds it hard to follow the twists and turns of the negotiations, when one moment it appears the UK will have to fall out of the bloc and rely on WTO tariffs, and the next moment politicians are suggesting the UK will continue to follow some EU laws.
“I saw that when Theresa May triggers article 50 there might not have been enough negotiations taken place and rather than a ‘hard Brexit’ there would be basically nothing, and we would be left falling back on international guidelines,” she writes.
“This would mean that we were left in a mess and couldn’t rely on other countries for support. This impacted me as I am very concerned about the economy and have spoken to people who came from countries that have faced an economic crisis before, Spain and Ireland, who have said that certain things like jobs and prices and news are happening here the same way they happened to them just before the crisis.”
She gives Corbyn, who instructed his MPs to vote in favour of article 50, a 1/10 for his handling of Brexit so far, and May a 3/10. May should have promised to give EU citizens the right to say regardless of reciprocal arrangements, she says.
“The British people voted to leave the EU so it should be the British people that are in the other countries that should be penalised and forced to move, not the European people here,” she says.
