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There are divorces that change the fate of an entire nation. "England has lost its spine, everyone is scared, so what if we decide to make the jump, we will give and soon." What can happen to us? "Asks a construction worker. positioning, with his two colleagues, a ladder. They repair the roof of the building attached to Peterborough Cathedral, 140 km north of London. The remains of Catherine of Aragon lie within. The daughter of Catholic kings. Destined to be the Queen of England. Henry VIII, her husband, canceled the marriage because she had not given him an heir. The cause of the first schism with the continent. Break with the Roman Catholic Church and the creation of the Church of England
The 200,000 inhabitants of Peterborough, who venerate the justice and goodness of Catherine every January 29 – the day of his funeral – voted for the Brexit majority in 2016: 60% against the 40% who wanted to stay in Europe. Its economy has grown over these years. Its streets are clean and beautiful.
However, there is a mixture of resentment in Peterborough about the new mistrust of the capital, London, and nostalgia for past glory, prompting many of its neighbors to say goodbye to l & # 39; Europe. "For many years we have been very successful on our own, why not try again, if we vote for the exit, let's get away," says Aubrey Vale, 70. She volunteers at the school's information office. She calls herself "publicana" because she has been running a pub for years .
Do not accept that Brexit is linked to a xenophobic feeling.Its age has made it wantful for a certain England.The Brexit is not a crisis of identity in the UK, Scotland, Wales and in Northern Ireland it is mostly angry outbursts from England and the English, disoriented in their loneliness – which we no longer recognize when we wander in the streets of the city itself.
Eastern Workers
But this is not a sweet nostalgia. Nothing to do with the three construction workers who continue their work outside the cathedral. They openly express their irritation and are suspicious of the journalist, even from the outside. They speak, but refuse to give their names. "My wife is a high school teacher, you have to deal with 16 different languages every day, most of them from Eastern Europe, which is already too much and we can not resist anymore. "
One in five Eurocetic Boston residents are from Eastern Europe
Constructions John Lucas is the name of the company, there have been layoffs. all are hired as freelancers and they have to compete with Poles, Romanians, Lithuanians and Czechs who arrived in 2004. Former Prime Minister Tony Blair has opened the door to a flourishing, hard-working and eager immigration to flourish that changed the landscape of an England that barely badimilated the arrival of the inhabitants of the former empire
Peterborough is the first stop of an England that stands out from cosmopolitan London , rich and pro-European, who accumulates during decades the political and economic power of the island. On the east coast, city of call and center for cultural and commercial exchanges with Europe, Boston has even lost the right to his name. Nobody thinks about it in the audience, but in the American city founded by its inhabitants.
Its main economic sector is agribusiness. Factories and other food processing plants are dispersed by their environment. One in five (58,000 according to the census) comes from Eastern Europe.
Alone, in a downtown street, Philip Dawson fights with a rich family butchery of more than one hundred years of history. Proudly show the black and white photos of the company's original, H. Dawson & Sons. "It does not take my head to get all these people out of the country," he says. "Most of them are good people, they have their businesses, they have raised their children here, they are good neighbors, and many of them were very brave, leaving everything behind and coming here. But … I do not know, they're made of other materials, they have a different character, "he says.
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Boston reported the strongest support for Brexit in the referendum in 2016. About 75% of its inhabitants voted in favor of leaving the EU.The medieval building of the Blackfriars Theater, a jewel of the city where Shakespeare clbadics continue to be performed, new theatrical productions from other cities and the works of groups of actors local, and where is a small academy of drama, middle of the small town. Its workers, mostly volunteers, voted to remain European citizens.
Resentment
"Nobody really understood why he was voting.The only thing that motivated many of my neighbors was immigration.This was the only reason for his vote," says Rose Brown, who gives a hand several days a week in the theater shop. "There are Saturdays when you walk in the central Boston market and you do not hear a single word in English. Polish, Lithuanian, Latvian, Romanian, Russian. All of these people came to work in food processing plants. They took jobs that the English did not want. And they aroused a lot of resentment, "he laments.
" And a lot of them are returning to their countries, "said Magdalena Jechimaok, a Polish, has been in Boston for 10 years and has been hired in a temporary employment company, CDS Labor.No of your posters in the window, with job offers, is written in English. "I do not know if it is possible to say that people are more angry, but they are clearly more stressed, more nervous in their attitude towards the immigrant population, "he says.
Going from East to West in the Midlands, from Boston to Liverpool, is moving one galaxy to another, with roads under construction, full of trucks, slow and tedious.These are clogged arteries of a country whose economy moves, but which undergoes years of austerity and the monopoly of the major part of the wealth of London.
The exception is Liverpool. of whom more than 10% are academics. A Labor government in a city that clearly voted for retention in Europe. Proliferates the construction of new buildings. Technology companies are emerging every day. And its streets are a river of young people. Most, knowledgeable. Most, with very articulate opinions. The majority, concerned about the leap into the void that the country is willing to give.
Rafa De Miguel
"We are going to lose everything we have accomplished in these 40 years." Petersborough workers voting for Brexit "srcset =" // ep00.epimg.net/t.gif 200w "data-srcset =" // ep01.epimg.net/internacional/imagenes/2019/01/ 26 / actualidad / 1548533704_802741_1548536233_sumario_normal_recorte1.jpg 720w, //ep01.epimg.net/internacional/imagenes/2019/01/26/actualidad/1548533704_802741_1548536233_sumario_normal.jpg 360w "/>
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The desire to remain Europeans is sometimes shocking in the face of democratic fervor to respect. as expressed by the population in 2016. Natalie Brown, Tasha Hales and Ria Patel, three chemistry students, are keenly discussing the opportunity for a new consultation. "In fact, I think that in this debate, there are two sides facing each other, London, where everyone is pro-European, and the rest of the country.I'm sorry for the Scots in their referendum on independence, they decided to stay in the UK for fear of leaving, they would no longer be members of the EU.
In the Baltic triangle, a region recovered from the city full of places to fashion and coworking spaces bringing together new artistic, creative and technological businesses, Matt Bell, Joe Tracy and Luca Tuberoni creating ads, no one has reached 30. There is camaraderie with the owner This is a small, bright space filled with Apple computers and colorful posters.
European Funds
"I come from the Devon area of Devon. Most hospitals, schools and highways have been funded with European funds, "says Matt, with his childlike face, almost a reincarnation of Harry Potter." The city is overflowing with posters stating that it's going to make a difference. European funds. And yet, he mostly voted in favor of Brexit. I think that they only thought about the sanctions of the agricultural policy of the Community, without doing everything around them.
"We're going to lose what we've had in 40 years," says a Liverpool engineer.
This is the same frustration that Rob Fletcher has shown. His architectural projects business for buildings and car parks yields more than a million euros a year. From his small office in Brew Works, in an old Edwardian red carpet brewery, home to many other new businesses, he expresses his astonishment at the gap with what has worked well. "I have no problem with Europe, I do not think the change that was voted was necessary, I do not see the benefits, the truth is we were as good as we were. We are now in a situation where Europe says, "All right, leave if that's what you want." But the truth is that we keep driving and we do not leave, "he says. .
At Liverpool Marina, his four most famous neighbors in the world laugh. The statue of the Beatles is a surefire gadget for tourists. Not a minute goes by without someone taking a picture next to them.
What would you think about Brexit? Would they have dedicated a song to that? "They would have been upset, like all of us, to have a very international mentality, in fact all of that is the fault of Margaret Thatcher and the rise of her English nationalism that we are experiencing," Kathleen Kurgi said. She is English purebred, from Newcastle. Her husband, Amir, is from Tanzania. Both are retired. It exudes sadness. You do not understand what happened to the host country. He still believes that it is possible to go back. "You say goodbye and I say hello", " You say goodbye and I say hello". All three of us came to the conclusion that it was the song of the Liverpool Quartet that best defines what is happening in the UK. There are separations that mark the history of a whole country, like John, Paul, George and Ringo.
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