The first major study since Brexit of UK citizens living in the EU has revealed its profound impact on their lives, with many expressing serious concerns over their loss of free movement and voting rights – and a very different perception of Britain.
The survey was conducted a year after the end of the Brexit transition period.
The survey, of 1,328 British nationals across the continent, showed that if “the public narrative suggests Brexit is done and dusted.
‘Done and Dusted’ my foot since there is plenty shit to come. It has already brought deep transformations to the lives of British citizens in the EU and EEA”, the study’s co-lead, said.
“The long tail of Brexit is evident in its continuing impacts both on the way they live their lives, and in its lasting significance for their sense of identity and belonging,” said Benson, a sociology professor at Lancaster University.
The survey, conducted between December 2021 and January 2022, a year after the end of the Brexit transition period, and part of a wider project by Lancaster and Birmingham universities, found 59% of respondents had lived in their country of residence for at least five years and most intended to stay.
But many were angered by their loss of free movement, meaning they can no longer move within the EU for work, or retire to another EU country, and especially worried about being unable to return to the UK with non-British family members in future.
Asked whether their past or future migration plans had been affected by Brexit, 27% of respondents said it had affected them a great deal, and 14% a lot.
“Where does one even start?” was the response of one British citizen living in Belgium. “Loss of rights like freedom of movement around the EU and to the UK. With a wife who is an EU citizen, I had to decide whether to move to the relevant EU country or stay in the UK. Family now cannot move back to Britain. Uncertainty.”
Another said: “I moved to France in 2020 in order to protect my right to live and work in France post-Brexit. My migration is 100% a result of Brexit.”
Brexit, and the British government’s handling of the Covid pandemic, strongly affected 80% of respondents’ feelings towards the UK, with responses including “deep shame”, “disappointment”, “a shit show”, “embarrassed to be British”, “shambolic”, and “like watching a house on fire”.
Just over 30% still felt very or extremely emotionally attached to the UK, compared with 75% who said they felt a very or extreme emotional attachment to the EU, and 59% who felt the same in relation to their country of residence.
About two-thirds had changed their legal status since 2016, acquiring residency or citizenship. But nearly half did not have the same status – and therefore the same migration and settlement rights – as some or all of their close family members.
Those who felt they may want or need to move back to the UK at some stage felt particularly affected, since non-British partners and other family members coming with them would now be subject to UK domestic immigration controls.
The loss of EU voting rights was also a big concern, with 46% saying they could no longer vote in European elections or, in most cases, local elections in their country of residence. Roughly 42% were also unable to vote in the UK because they had lived abroad for more than 15 years, although this is expected to change. Thanks to lord Dobbs…
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There here in Ireland to , but they keep there mouths shut .
Some years back, I was on holiday in Turkey, was reading the comments in the feedback book in the restaurant. Mostly in English. One of the staff came over. "Tag. Wie gehts" I said. Not wanting to be associated with the English comments in they book – they were so shameful. 🙄
Fortunately, more and more around the world are starting to see the difference between English and British. Not all Brits are now getting tarred with the same brush.
Anyway Irish passport:)
I am ashamed! not of my motherland,But that i have chose,to live in a country that is not my motherland.I am greatful to the netherlands,for allowing me to stay. I do not interfere in dutch politics,but i do interfere in UK politics online.But the brownshirts cannot get to me.I am loyal to my country england,And her most glorious majesty,queen Elizabeth.We have a rouge government of traitors.My Queen can call on me at any time to assist,the removal of the traitors.My loyalty,is only with our royal family.
Brexit was a con, to make british dont go abroad, but to visit Cornvall and Wales instead!
And to make UK british, avoiding to move to another country and get some childs with foreginers that can claim a UK citicen schip!
The best of Brexit is that one can go to Cornwall and Wales, without any hospitality personel.. its only B&B, you get kippers at breakfast if you are lucky!
That old tosser defining an expat as British is just a cretin and the worst type of British migrant. I was an expat, so was Manuel from Fawlty Towers, and so are many of my colleagues from all over the globe, asia, south and north America, Eastern Europe, and yes even Russia. An expat is quite simply someone not living in the country of their nationality. I was British and living in the Netherlands and now I'm Dutch so I'm an immigrant and no longer an expat. However as an expat I was also an immigrant. People like that fool really do give expats a bad name that the majority do not deserve.
I currently live near San Miguel… where the man on the video was playing bowls.
No wonder I have an irrational desire to move far far away from all thise idiots!
Honestly…. 'expats are British'. What an ill educated bunch of people. I hang my head in shame!
Hahaha 🤣 grossly offended, I thought I was an expat living in Britain!
Marcus, if British immigrants have moved to an EU country, why don't they have freedom of movement within the EU? Is this because British immigrants are not yet citizens of an EU country?
"The British Are Never Foreigners Wherever They Go…." – Here in Australia in the 1970s and 80s, the English were mercilessly pilloried as more of them came out as immigrants. The bullshit term "Ex-Pat" was never used here, instead you were labelled a Pommy Bastard, or a Pommy C …. and that stuck. That sort of attitude by that fuckwit 01:38, is the reason why they weren't liked here.
Crumbs. I’m delighted to find you’re a Remainer.
I just posted critically on a Gammon video posted by GB (or is it UK) News. Waiting for the usual push back to begin.
I can see how you might be embarrassed.
My Spanish family is actually upset that British legal immigrants to Spain can vote and be elected in local elections. This is reciprocal, BUT the Brits concentrate in ghettos in Spain, so non integrated non EU immigrants can be elected in Spain. In the UK Spanish immigrants don't take over large areas as the Brits have invaded the coasts. Many would be happier with not being elected in the UK, making sure the Brits cannot be elected in Spain.
You are so funny. A great regard from Spain.
I know someone who voted for Brexit who now regrets it.
This is because he can't make as much money illegally bringing in cigarettes from Portugal, and now his inlaws have sold up and moved back to the UK, so he can't have free accomodation holidays there.
Selfish c***
Fab ! Love it !!
What? what do you mean?
I can't have freedom of movement?
I'm an expat that was supposed to be for the foreigners?
Oh the irony…
And ALLSHORTS no, as far as I can seem you have nothing to be ashamed about it, et je pense que vos voisins français vous diront la même chose…
Last week, in the corner market of the town I work in, where I usually go and buy something to eat on lunch break, you know, some bread and "filling", water, a chocolate or some fruit, the usual small stuff, I was buying some coffee powder, and there was an elderly coupe, probably people on vacations, buying eggs, and they couldn´t decide on the brand of eggs to buy. Well, eggs here are assorted according to size or being bio or not, but bio is becoming standard. I was taught to help someone if I see him/her in trouble or difficulties, I think that is just a normal thing, to be civilized, not associated with culture or religion, so I gave them a hand, spoke in English with them (I was speaking German, French and English when I was about six years old so, not a special thing to me) and looking at the eggs saw the five or six brands on sale where the same "category" (meaning size) and just told them they were about the same, so choose at will. They thanked me, a quick word, and off we went on with our daily life.
I did not think a minute about this, until later on in the week, when talking with some online "friends" I discovered that the old folks where probably overwhelmed with the quantity of food stuffs in the shelves, most of it local and the rest, how it is here in my region, in both sides of the border, some from Spain next door, because, quote "the variety of goods in British shelves is very limited and eggs, well, sometimes they are not good and you buy them and discover it only at home". This was very strange to me, since we are talking about a small shop, a normal market, what we call a "supermercado" here, not a large "hipermercado", where you can find, without any exaggeration, about ten or twenty or more different brands of eggs, besides different sizes, with the usual quota of about 80 to 90 % local… It was both sad and strange for me to learn things had really become so bad there, in the UK, besides the usual jokes.
And just for context I live and work in a region with a lot of tourists, migrant workers, and people from around Europe and the world, so, I am not at all bothered by a foreigner asking for help or helping someone I see that is in need of help, I don´t care at all about such things, I have no problems speaking English, German or French, or any other languages I happen to understand, languages are a tool, not a brand and English speaking people should understand they should learn the local language for their sake, and as a sign of respect towards the country you want to live in.
But over the years, I must be getting old, I´ve seen German, French, Dutch, and, oddly, American residents (example), tend to learn at least the basic conversation skills in Portuguese, from the basic olá e obrigado to more complex terms and even "normal" speech, and sending their kids to school to learn it properly, and the English seem to continue to, in their majority, can´t lie about that, be convinced others should speak their language, and that immediately digs a deep pit between them and the locals – not because of the fact, but of the action and what it implies.
Because you can have a British pub in the local town, with some British traditional decoration and products, but you can´t live like you were in Britain, the Portuguese also have traditional stilled restaurants in France, Germany, USA, Canada, etc, but they integrate in the local community. Ask the French or the Swiss, they have gotten used to eating Portuguese pastries, coffee, "bacalhau", bread, etc, because Portuguese businesses open themselves to the community, and contribute to the local society. It as come to a point that those businesses and products are a part of that community and taken as their one, providing wealth, jobs and most important, cultural input, an essential thing to any culture, because cultures are not stale unmoving things, they are constantly evolving, and we need it in order to not, well, go extinct.
So any British emigrant – expats looks like some kind of klingon swear word – can open up a business locally, sell their beer and pies, but remember to integrate yourselves and your business into the community, hire local workers, participate in local events, learn the language, in one word, be an actual part of the community, you will benefit from it, and benefit others.
These "expatassaurus" are really very sad and a reason to be ashamed of being British, not because of their relevance to anything really, people like Marcus here, ALLSHORTS, are people that do not bother anyone except our local racist idiots who haven´t got anything better to do, I am sure most of the neighbors just talk about the British couple living down the road, like in my home town when we talked about the British, German and Dutch people living around us. So people like Marcus or any "normal" British citizen or dual nationality citizen shouldn´t be blamed by the shenaningans of the blonde ogre and company.
Because you know, idiots like the old man in this video, I can just ignore him and send him to the wrong side of the road and instead of going to the beach he´ll end up in the middle of a field somewhere in Portugal and Spain, trying to convince a sheep to tell him the way to the "Algarve", or just answer them in German or in Portuguese and say "no English", be aware us Portuguese may smile a lot, but we are not idiots.
So as an EU citizen I can say people coming here, willing to integrate in our society, and remember integration is not culture obliteration, (I have French and German bloodlines and a lot of cultural traits from them, for better and worse) well you are welcomed, but people like this gentleman in the video, well, they are doomed to disappear, since those days are long gone, in fact, they really never existed, except in the tolerance of the EU nations like Spain and Portugal, and others, to such illusions, and in the spoiled brat mentality of some Brits and WW2 wet dreams.
As bad as it gets you can rest assured, that in the USA we can do worse!
I did not become a British citizen because I already have enough embarrassment being American. When I tell folks I’m a New Yorker they sigh in relief.
Well the only thing I can say is that they new what they were voting for . Didn`t they???
I've said it before; but iy bears repeating that once I say that I am Scottish almost every interaction here has warmed markedly. We moved here (France) in 2020 in reaction to Brexit, in order to protect a property we had here as well as as many of our rights as possible, and are not planning to return to the UK other than to see friends.
We have in Scotland some people who think of themselves as british right up until they go overseas when suddenly they're Scottish it's just a pity they don't think that way in Scotland.