On 23 June, Britain voted to end its 43-year relationship with the EU. We spoke to people around the country who responded to a Guardian callout to find out why they voted to leave, and whether they’re happy with the outcome.

Here’s what they said.

For a better standard of life

I want a stable country where people from all counties across the UK are heard and not fed scraps from the south. I don’t want to fear that when my daughter has children there’s no room in schools due to overcrowding, or if she has health issues a medical appointment doesn’t take longer than growing a baby.

We should feel safe in our jobs and not feel as though if we’re not willing to work seven days a week, 10 hours a day then someone can quite easily be drafted in from abroad and subsequently thrown on the unemployment pile further straining local economy.

When every Briton lives a suitable standard of life, then my tax money can be spent elsewhere. When the systems put into place – NHS, state schools, housing – are well-equipped and capable of looking after each individual residing in the UK, then we can accept more and do right by others.

We, the little people, or even the big boys that apparently run the country haven’t got full control over what happens, and if suffering a downturn in wages due a weaker economy over trading deals is a price to pay to make the country and its people better educated and in a full bill of health then so be it.

The image of racism is far from true and shouldn’t be used as a smear against the voiceless that live day-to-day with the consequences of the decision makers that reside in a London borough away from real life and constantly roll the shit downhill.

What the writers in a swanky London office or sat at home at a fine oak table with an Apple Mac drinking espresso from Starbucks don’t realise is that the leave voters from wherever they’re from aren’t afraid of rolling up their sleeves and putting in the graft that will make the country great.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Leave campaigners celebrate as they watch the results of the referendum come in. Photograph: Ray Tang/REX/Shutterstock

Danny Lancaster, 30, Barnsley

To feel like my voice is heard

I voted leave for empowerment, and to feel like my voice is heard and can influence change. The compromise to remain was too high a price. It’s a reminder that democracy does exist here.

The present leaders have failed to address the have-nots, preferring to placate the haves. Visiting London in 2014 there were no signs of a recession. The city has alienated itself from the rest of England. It felt obscene.

I have worked in mental health for 30 years. In that time I have observed that society is reflected in the people who access our services. The biggest issues are feeling connected, or rather disconnected, in society. The majority are probably the people who have the smallest voice, but who rely on others to advocate for them. How much energy and financial support is offered to EU nationals who are vulnerable, when our own are ignored? I haven’t seen any EU benefits to mental health at all. I’m struggling to understand what they’ve done.

This is an opportunity. If people can see beyond the loss, and see it as an opportunity, we can affect change for people and how they experience life. The people who are actually living the life made the choice. All these people who are aggrieved. Why weren’t they out campaigning? All these smug people who thought it wouldn’t happen ... it shows a real sense of arrogance.

Fiona, mental health nurse, 52, Derby

The working classes have been betrayed, to be poor is now a sin

The bosses love foreign workers. They are non-union, cheap and pliable. The British people who used to do those jobs have not gone on to university, they have gone on the dole or worse. There is also an issue over the conditions that the foreign workers have to endure, and the housing situation in the UK is abysmal.

Elite media types and people like Bob Geldof have failed to understand the concerns of normal people. They look down on us and call us racist, but they are the ones guilty of bigotry.

Britain became a socialist country after the second world war through the sacrifices of ordinary people. A welfare state was their reward. Now to be poor is a sin and you are attacked from every direction, so there was an element of a “stuff you” protest vote.

The EU sacrificed cohesion for expansion that seems to be run by Germany. Angela Merkel decided to allow 1 million migrants into Germany, breaking EU law and not consulting the Bundestag. Germany broke Greece and is offering expedited negotiations to allow Turkey into the EU. They do not consult and it is not a union.

Britain seemed stuck on the fringe of the EU and our path to greater assimilation wasn’t clear. There is no plan for creating a Europe with the same taxes and minimum wage, so the movement of people adversely affects those countries with better conditions. The EU is monolithic and so hard to understand. Where is it going? It failed to make itself clear, simple and accountable. It just rumbles on.

The EU has had a negative impact on the countries that surround it, with the Ukraine feeling part of another sphere of influence and migrants from Africa dying in the Mediterranean due to failures of planning. I was pro-EU, feeling that Europeans had a better standard of living than us, but became disillusioned as it expanded to include countries like Romania. I can’t see how being in a union with failed states benefits us.

During the referendum campaign I was shocked by how much the establishment failed to provide balanced views. Reports were churned out that predicted the worst case scenarios of Brexit but not the best. I am happy, but concerned, that if Scotland gets a referendum to leave the UK then England and Wales will be stuck in Tory hell for a century. I believe Scotland is its own country and maybe should become independent. They may be worse off financially, but freedom is worth a lot.

I hope that the Labour party unites under a strong leader like Alan Johnson and re-engages with its traditional support base. Labour needs leaders from the same streets that its supporters come from. Actually I think we need proportional representation so we can focus on issues rather than party politics.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Leave supporters celebrate opposite the houses of parliament in London. Photograph: Anthony Devlin/PA

Angus, 52, Norwich

A way to hurt the government and banks

I would like to see economic reform where one person’s wealth isn’t the debt of another’s, and people are rewarded for their contribution rather than what they can extort from others through rents and fines.

I’d like an economy where growth is genuine, which potentially means overhauling the whole banking system. I would like the bank to be disempowered from creating money and those powers going to central government, albeit a government whose aim is to represent its citizens rather than control them. The money supply should not be held in private hands.

Politically, I would like to see Brussels and Westminster reformed, and arrogant politicians and public servants begin to serve public needs and not be bought like prostitutes by vested interests. Eventually, under the right circumstances, I would like to see us return to the EU, with more visionary and ideologically driven representatives that are forced to make themselves accountable to both their home population and the wider European population. Europe could be a fantastic political structure that would promote the growth and needs of all its people, but not with the current political mentality.

The arrogance displayed by politicians here and all over Europe who suggest citizens are not “educated” enough to be left to decide is conceited and undemocratic. Chief among these is Jean-Claude Juncker. I am very sad we are leaving the EU, but the administration of both the EU and the UK need fundamental reform that promotes the lives of its citizens rather than loading them up with debt to pay for a defunct political and economic system. The absolutely wrong people are being put in charge of a economic and political system that no longer allows people to rise through the ranks.

Immigration would not be such a problem if the UK built homes and infrastructure and trained adequate doctors, nurses and essential workers, but politics is deliberately creating scarcity. Take housing, where landlords are being helped turn everyone into tenants while demand for homes continues to be stoked by immigration, pushing up rents and making us poorer every year. These are moves towards a return to 19th century serfdom. Although I know the government and the Bank of England are the ones pushing people down, this vote was the only way to really hurt them.

Kerry, 51, Essex

Non-EU citizens are discriminated against

I voted for a fair immigration policy. My wife is a non-EU citizen from Thailand and we are discriminated against. If I didn’t earn £20,000 or more – the required figure – the choice would be to claim benefits and then when it came to my wife’s visa renewal she would have to leave. Her visa costs almost £1,500 every every two-and-a-half years.

Cameron has only himself to blame. He thought he could bully the electorate, the same as in the Scotland referendum, but forgot that nobody is enthused or patriotic about the EU and millions hate him. I also don’t like to be told by governments and businesses how to vote, that’s why we have a secret vote. There’s a lot of anger against Cameron.

I think any xenophobia and racism is stirred up more by the remain side, not the leave side. I am very much in favour of a fair immigration policy. The Australian points system was a big deciding factor for me. I’m not sure if it would be any easier for my wife under the points system. Depends on the level, but I would hope as a British citizen I wouldn’t be discriminated against.



I’m very happy with the result, it should keep all of them occupied for years and less time to start picking fights around the world.

Andrew Riches , 54, Graphic design, Midlands



Take back control from non-elected bureaucrats in Brussels

For me it was all about sovereignty, the ability to make our own decisions and not be ruled by the faceless, non-elected bureaucrats in Brussels; not to be frogmarched into ever greater political union and the creation of a European superstate which no one ever sought my opinion over. It was about regaining control over our own borders and regaining a say into our own destiny.

It was also about uncontrolled migration, but never about the economy. I never believed “project fear”, and if the economy does falter, now we have regained control of our country we can make decisions and take action ourselves to rectify it.

An independent Britain that trades and lives peacefully with its European neighbours, but is not ruled by them. One that listens to the needs and opinions of the ordinary people and not just those of the white, middle class, liberal elite in London.

As an older member of the population, I also resent the current ageist view being peddled by remain voters that my vote to leave was somehow selfish and of less value than those of a young person, and that I should have thought of their future. I did think of their future, it was just a different future I saw; one living in a free, independent nation, able to make its own decisions unencumbered by Brussels.

Just because I am older, my opinion is to be ignored or seen as being of less worth. You could say that as I have worked for over 40 years, paid more into society than any young person I therefore have more at stake to lose. My opinion is far more valid.

Gary, 55, London

To support UK industry

I voted to support the UK fishing industry as UK fisherman are only allocated 30% of the quota for fishing in their own territorial waters. Hopefully all UK jobs, businesses and perhaps companies will now stop importing goods and food that could be bought in the UK, in turn supporting UK industry and creating jobs. Perhaps we will eventually start producing world class cars and machinery again, because all of that’s gone tits up since joining the EU with all the rules and regulations.

The EU is failing. The euro is collapsing, and the whole EU is going backwards while the rest of the world overtakes.

I am not a Nazi racist and have no problem with immigration or free movement of people. I do, however, have a problem with immigrants being able to claim child support for children that don’t live in the UK.

I don’t agree with the remain campaign’s false statistics, blocking fishermen’s protests in the Thames, and shouting abuse at working class men just trying to provide for their families and general sneakily hidden foul play.

Truthfully none of my friends or colleagues are having second thoughts either, everyone here is happy. We knew the pound would temporarily fall, and knew the euro would too. I also know the pound will recover, more than recover in fact. Not sure if the euro will recover. Maybe we were never stronger in Europe, but Europe was stronger with us.

I hope the media will start giving all the facts, not just the scaremongering ones. I hope for the success of the working man and UK businesses, not just multinational businesses, millionaires or the upper class who make all their money from investment banking.

Jay, 24, Devon

To see the breakup of the EU

I would love to see the breakup of the EU. Nation states should free themselves from the voluntary shackles offered by cynical, deceitful, anti-democratic, sneering control freaks.

I voted because of the almost insurmountable obstacles to reform in Europe. Other member states, and some of our own representatives, were far too keen on keeping in place the undemocratic practice of appointing rejected leaders to positions of power in Europe. The way the Mediterranean countries have been treated has also been a disgrace.

The initial hit to the economy is going to be painful. I hope it passes as people get a grip on what’s actually happening. Trade is not ceasing, barriers are not being erected, hard-working Europeans aren’t being deported.



I also hope the people of Britain will face the coming challenges united, and bury any ambition of demanding more referendums on previously settled matters. It’s the EU’s way to tell everyone to vote again, not ours.

Tom, 23, Glasgow

Britain will do very well outside the EU

I wobbled a bit this morning when I saw the reactions on Facebook. Around 98% of my Facebook friends were strongly remain. At our staff briefing the headteacher talked about it being a bad day. All my colleagues seemed to have voted remain, so I’ve kept my vote private. I’ve yet to come out on Facebook and I’m not sure I will, as I may have a lot of anger thrown at me.

The EU is doomed to fail in the long- to very-long term, and Britain will do very well outside it. The EU is undeniably failing economically, and its principal solution seems to be increasing what is most likely to be causing the failure.

I can foresee popular movements against the EU rising in several countries, indeed they already seem to be starting in the countries that have been in the EU the longest. It could become, as it has in the UK, an easy target for disaffected people to lash out at.

I’m a Green party member. I think Labour have a strong chance in the next general election, and hopefully they can introduce proportional representation to produce the progressive, coalition government this country could have.

Sally, 34, primary school teacher, London

To make politicians accountable

I am a socialist and believe in democracy, and my main sticking point was the secret TTIP discussions and I was fearful for our NHS. I am an EU national as well as a British citizen, and I also didn’t like the lies from the remain camp telling us that our workers’ rights exist only because of the EU. Trade unions fought for our rights as they have always done.

We need to hold our politicians accountable and vote them out if necessary. We can now choose how we spend our own nation’s money and not be given our pocket money like children. We can decide who we trade with. We shall decide the terms of that trade by negotiation. We shall set our own agenda. We shall be able to keep our public services and not be forced to privatise them, and if we choose we can re-nationalise our industries which would not be allowed in the EU.

I didn’t like the way remain were continuously trying to imply that anyone who didn’t agree with them must fit the media’s narrative that a leave voter is a rightwing bigot. I believe in every country determining its own fate and I have always supported nations claiming independence for its own people. Why are we considered bigots or racists for wanting to make our own decisions for our own country?

Whatever the long-term outcome for our country, I believe in freedom and self-determination. I hope we can get over the divisions and work together to find our identity once again. What kind of a nation we want to become will be decided by us, and we shall succeed or fail by our own efforts as a nation together.

I have been truly shocked and saddened by the vitriol spewing from members of the remain camp, especially the younger voters who have even suggested that the right to vote should be withdrawn from older people who disagree with them. What great advocates for democracy!

Jane, 19, north London



