WARRINGTON has changed its mind about leaving the EU, according to local campaign Warrington for Europe.
Members of the group carried out a street survey in the town centre to ask passers-by their opinion and it was clear that most people felt leaving the EU was going to be bad for the UK, bad for jobs, bad for the NHS and that things generally were not going well.
This was in contrast to the referendum, when Warrington voted in favour of leaving.
Campaigner Graham Gowland said: “We had a great day meeting real Warringtonians and the vast majority were clear on how they felt about Brexit.
“We did meet a number of people who still felt ‘leaving’ was the right thing to do, and it was interesting to talk through their views. A common concern was about housing, and a belief that EU migrants had a priority claim on social housing.
“We were able to put their minds to rest on that point as Warrington’s housing policy puts reduced preference on anyone without a local connection. We also had a number of interesting discussions on the benefit of losing EU ‘red tape’ on business, although often what they hadn’t realised was how much EU law protects our employment rights, such as the Working Time Directive, and other aspects such as our environmental protections. It’s great to see such for many the debate that’s gone on over the last 2 years has really increased awareness of the issues with Brexit.”
Over the next few weekends, Warrington for Europe will be focusing on the Party conferences, with marches planned on the September 23 in Liverpool at the Labour Party conference, and on the September 30 in Birmingham at the Conservative party conference. Full details can be found on the group’s social media feeds at @WarringtonForEU.
Warrington for Europe campaigners
Town has changed its mind about Brexit, say campaigners
2525 Comments
25 Comments
It is no surprise that Warrington want to stay in the EU. So do many who voted to leave. WHY CAN’T THERESA MAY SEE THIS.
What has it got to do with May? You can’t just change your mind after a democratic vote!
Of course people can and do change their minds – that’s one of the basics underpinning democracy!
There would be no point to have elections or referenda if decisions once made were cast in stone never to be changed again.
Why can’t anyone change their mind. If I get married can I not then get divorced? If I get engaged, do I have to go through with the wedding, even if I subsequently discover that my fiancee has been sleeping with someone else?
Totally different. That is two people the Brexit vote was a national vote. The majority of the nation voted leave. Warrington cannot change that. The prime minister said it was a once in a lifetime vote. So the country cannot have another.
The majority of the people did not vote ! ,The vote to leave is a majority of those who voted .it is now clear that the vote leave campaign broke electoral law and also lied .Since the vote the economy has slowed to become bottom of the G& economies when before were at the top .This means lower pay, less jobs and less in taxes to spend on our services .
That’s a very sweeping statement I have not changed my mind and I doubt that the rest of Warrington have how dare they speak for me!
You haven’t changed your mind. Amazing! You must have an incredibly strong will to persist to believe in something which is so patently and obviously not true.
Well said Jacqueline Smith. Maybe some people have changed their minds but for campaigners to state that the Town/Warrington has changed its mind is as you say a very sweeping statement and without any actual figures to support their claim it means nothing… well not to me anyway. I don’t know anyone who has changed their minds and I know a lot of people who voted to leave at the time.
Calm down a bit Jacqueline Smith! Brexit seems to bring out the extremes in everyone!
I don’t think anybody’s claiming that every Leave vote in Warrington is now a Remain supporter, if you read the article they seem to be saying that a few percentage of people have changed their minds.
As the vote was very close in the first place in the town it only takes a fairly small number of people for the town to flip from being Leave supporting to being Remain supporting.
Not surprising. There has been a swing to Remain across the land, as it has become how woefully ill-prepared the leaders of the brexit campaign were for the job of leading the country to their bright-lit fantasies. Every day brexit dies a little more. Time to call time on this silly idea.
Oh, give up – most of the government who are handling Brexit didn’t want it anyway. If people got behind this democratic vote we wouldn’t look so weak in the eyes of the EU.
People don’t get behind it because they know it’ll be bad for the country.It’s not that the government is week it’s that they want to cherry- pick but can’t.
Get behind what, exactly? Brexiteers don’t have a plan and never had one, despite whining for 40 years. Chequers is dead in the water, as it isn’t acceptable to the EU and the IrelandNI border issue is impossible to resolve with the current state of politics
funny that the remoan people got that result isn’t it?
wonder if a leave party went and did the same type of survey would they get the same result or would they get a mainly in favour of leaving result?
would be nice to know exactly how many people were interviewed and what percentage had had a change of mind.
It’s open to anyone.No one is interviewed.Set up a brexomiter yourself and see.
My thoughts too Evil Sid.
Warrington just like the overwhelming majority of other towns & communities have now seen the light & they know what Leave is going to get them. Quite sensibly opting for the best deal ever possible they have decided to Remain.
Congratulations to all those in Warrington who have decided to change their minds about Brexit. I hope they will talk to their friends and colleagues to persuade them of the sense of that decision. Warrington will be the better place if the UK stays in the EU.
That’s the wonderful thing about living in a democracy – we are all free to change our minds!
Well done, all those residents in Warrington are beginning to review the wisdom of first voting Leave. There seems now to be definite trend towards wanting to remain. Democracy is a process and not a destination. Those who keep parroting ‘We have had a democratic vote, get over it’ really don’t understand the concept.
But what is worst, is that the current members of parliament (on both sides) don’t realise it’s their job to decide – referendums are a crap way of doing politics because the general public cannot possibly have all the expertise required: that is why we elect them. The current lot seem totally derelict in their duty.
The politicians obviously cannot be trusted to make those decisions. It was they who promoted the referendum and now whining because the vote went against them. Politics hey, mind you your probably right. Democracy doesn’t work, let’s do what the EU Gruppenfrurers tell us instead.
Martin, a referendum is democratic but it is not a process, it really IS a destination. Parliament decided to ask the people, I too wish they hadn’t, the result was one I didn’t want. However if you like me believe in democracy then the majority will has to be observed. The consequence of not doing so is the same as saying that you have changed your mind about who you voted for in a General Election or a Council Election so the election must be re-run. The idea of a re-run is undemocratic and tantamount to sedition. It is too late the result is already in and if people could not work out what the issues were they should not have voted, then the mandate would have been weak and easier to overturn. As it is now a re-run would invoke a constitutional crisis, just leave it.
How many people honestly know about or have benefitted from working time directive? Very weak argument there. Housing was never the issue nor was migrants. It’s about controlling movement. Open markets. Transparency of government. Value for money. Accountability. Stop being emotive and scaremongers. Stick to facts only. First fact. Referendum called, vote taken, result was leave. Let’s leave.
Nothing the Remainers have said since have persuaded me that I should change my mind. I do think the Government have made a total mess of the negotiations and obviously they are led by a Remainer whose heart doesn’t appear to be seeing we get a good deal. There were lies told on both sides so no-one comes out of this smelling of roses. The vote was taken and we should get on with it, stop talking the country down and have a bit of faith in it going forward.