Will my British house become a home?
Brexit uncertainty will make for anxious few years for expat in London
So this is what 49.42% of Quebecers felt like on the night of the referendum in October 1995. I had hoped to never know. Yet here we are. Thankfully, Canada is still secure; it's the United Kingdom, my adopted homeland, which has cracked. Yesterday, we chose to exit the European Union.
The early reviews haven't been great. The pound is getting crushed, global markets are quaking, and the future of the British union is now under threat from angry Scottish nationalists who voted en masse to stay in the EU.
No wonder you could hear a pin drop on the Tube this morning. A vote that was meant to solve a Tory political problem has instead spawned new existential ones. My country feels different today.
- Vote to Leave puts Britain on uncertain course
- Full CBCNews.ca coverage on the referendum
- LIVE BLOG RECAP l How Brexit unfolded
My choice to stay in the EU was based on five reasons:
- The economic consequences of leaving are real, and possibly catastrophic.
- I love immigrants and the spirit and initiative they bring to London and couldn't stand the overt racism of leavers like Nigel Farage.
- London thrives because people from around the world come here to start businesses where I might wish to work.
- I support a United Kingdom and leaving the EU would prompt questions about Scotland and Northern Ireland that don't have easy answers.
- Leaving the EU wouldn't insulate the U.K. from the problems of Europe, it would only push our chair away from the table where problems like migration are being discussed and, hopefully, resolved.
The Remain campaign tried to present all these arguments, yet the majority of my fellow Brits chose to leave.
- Victory should send chill down EU's collective spine
- EU leaders call for speedy Brexit, French far right touts 'Frexit'
As a democrat, it would be churlish of me to be upset at democracy. I worked in politics long enough to know the voter is always right. This is what Britain was promised and this is what the country voted for, twice: first in the 2015 election when David Cameron's Conservatives promised an in-out referendum and were awarded a majority government; and then in the referendum itself, which the leavers ended up winning quite handily. It's a clear victory.
That will have to change, because the splits this vote has left behind are real. It will take a herculean effort to keep the U.K. together. Some parts of it, such as Wales, for example, voted overwhelmingly to leave, while others, such as London, were equally adamant about staying. I now know what film critic Pauline Kael felt like after Richard Nixon's re-election in 1972; nobody I know in London voted to leave. Not a one.
That said, what's done is done. It's time to get on with things. I've even managed to cobble together the slimmest of silver linings: with property prices surely to fall, I might now be able to find a decent three-bedroom flat in central London for something less than $2.2 million Cdn. Hey, I'll take my "wins" where I can get them.
Anxious few years
My friends are less sanguine. Some who work in banking are already researching property prices in Frankfurt and Paris. Sure they love London, but they'll be fine no matter where they end up. Others won't be so lucky.
I can't help but look around the small startup where I'm currently consulting on a project. Only one or two of the programmers and designers are Brits. The majority, including the owners, are from the continent. Would they come to London today under the new circumstances? They won't say, but who could blame them for staying away? It's hard for them not to feel rejected.
The worst things about this referendum are its finality and the uncertainty. There will be no do-over, but it will take years to sort out this country's new relationship with the world. That means it will take years for me to know whether my adopted home will, as I had planned, become my permanent home.
It will be an anxious few years.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
