Brexit 'Regretters' Say They 'Weren't Really Voting To Get Out Of The EU'

'I based it on a false premise really.'
|

More and more people are now admitting that they regret voting to leave the European Union in last week's referendum, with many claiming that they never intended to leave but simply wanted to "protest".

Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Barbara Ansdale, from the Black Country, said she had voted leave but "wasn't really voting to get out of the union".

Open Image Modal
More people have admitted that they regret their voting decisions
Anthony Devlin/PA Wire

The 78-year-old said: "I based it on a false premise really.

"I wasn’t really voting to get out of the union, it was really like a protest because many, many years ago I voted one way and things turned out to the another and I decided there and then that I wasn’t going to let that happen again."

Ansdale said she was "shocked" when she heard the result, adding that she began to regret her decision as soon as she heard the final decision.

"The way it’s been spelled out to me it’s going to affect a lot of young people who will go abroad to study and this £350m isn’t going to stretch very far is it," she said, adding that she hoped there was a possibility of a second referendum.

The reaction on Twitter to her comments were incredulous... 

In a letter to the editor of The Times, Mike Whittle said that he too regretted his decision and had voted leave as a protest.

He said: "Sir, I admit to and regret voting Leave; I suspect many others feel the same. Why? Mine was a protest vote in solidarity with so many in forgotten rural and blighted industrial England, disenfranchised by both a Londoncentric and European political system that offers little to the unemployed and working poor.

"I believe the protest vote was so strong that it swung the outcome.

He said that he felt neither Jeremy Corbyn or David Cameron represented the "working poor and long-term unemployed".

He added: "To those like myself who voted Leave as a protest, we made a big mistake, but at least we weren’t too lazy to turn out and vote. We must now accept the verdict and make the most of whatever comes next. I have made money out of this result by having money in an overseas account, but I would gladly lose this tomorrow to change this bad result."

Other 'regrexiters' had rather different reasons for choosing to vote to leave, including language:

 

And believing "lies":

The stream of regrexit began on Friday when a Leave voter admitted on national television that he didn’t think his ballot would matter and is now shocked the UK will now leave the European Union.

In a segment during the BBC’s rolling coverage of events, Adam was introduced as a Leave voter and asked for his reaction.

Open Image Modal
Adam said he didn't think his vote mattered
BBC

He said: “I’m a bit shocked to be honest.

“I’m shocked that we voted for Leave, I didn’t think that was going to happen.

“I didn’t think my vote was going to matter too much because I thought we were just going to remain.”

A poll by Survation for the Mail on Sunday found that 7% of respondents regretted voting Leave equivalent to over 1.1 million voters – although 4% also said they regretted voting to stay in the EU, equating to slightly fewer than 700,000 voters, according to Politics Home.

If the vote were to take place again with the results amended thus, it would still result in a Leave victory but with the slim margin of 400,000.

One Twitter user had a suggestion for a new improved ballot paper:

Leave won 51.9% of the total vote to Remain’s 48.1% after the final count.