‘Brexit Is Nice, I Support Brexit. It’s Cool’: The View From Rochdale And Oldham

Outside of Westminster, people are confused, angry, worried – and just plain tired of it.

“Brexit is nice, I support Brexit. It’s cool,” says 19-year-old Thomas Faseyiku. “I think it is going to be better because of illegal immigrants. It’s going to stop them.”

His girlfriend Joyce Odunmakinde, 18, is horrified. “Oh my god.” She holds her face at the discovery.

“I don’t respect his views. I never asked him about his opinion on Brexit so this is the first time I am hearing it and I am shocked.”

Odunmakinde does not have a British passport, only a German one. “I don’t really like Brexit, I am not with it. I feel it will make travel so much harder for everyone,” she says. “I also feel it is going to affect the country money-wise.”

All this week, HuffPost UK has been travelling along the M62, talking to people outside of the Westminster bubble as the clock ticks down to Brexit day.

On the latest leg of our tour, we visited two areas of Manchester with high numbers of ‘leave’ voters – Rochdale (60.1%) and Oldham (60.9%).

‘It’s like the millennium bug happening again’

Suzanna Clueit
Suzanna Clueit
Aasma Day

The majority of people in the town of Rochdale may have voted in favour of Brexit but Suzanna Clueit is a remainer as she believes it is the best thing for the country.

However, the 42-year-old says everything is now a bit of a mess with a lot of confusion about what is happening.

She told HuffPost UK: “Nobody knows what is going on and it was forecasted and it happened and nobody still knows what is going on.

“Now we are leaving, nobody knows what we are doing. I don’t think Theresa May knows what she is doing.”

When it comes to hearing about people stockpiling things like food in case of a no deal Brexit, she laughs: “Stockpiling – goodness me, that’s like panic buying isn’t it?

“It’s like the whole Millennium Bug happening again with the year 2000 and all the machines and computers crashing.”

‘Europe is greedy – it’s like a pig’

Donald Farrer
Donald Farrer
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Donald Farrer has lived in Rochdale for 25 years and voted to leave the EU as he believes Britain is better off without Europe.

“I actually voted to get out. For years and years and years, we have fed the fatted calf of Europe.

“It seems to be they want money out of us. The European parliament, it’s like a black hole.

“What it is with them MPs, they get paid for doing nowt. They get the expenses, they get everything. Then they tell Britain what they can’t do.”

Farrer says another reason he voted to leave is because he believes things are getting overcrowded with people who haven’t paid into the system making demands on services.

“Just imagine right, you are not part of the Commonwealth, you come from Poland, you come from Lithuania, you come from countries that have joined Europe. They have not paid anything into the national service.

“You go to you doctors, see an old person, they can’t get an appointment. They have got to wait nearly a month.

“The hospitals are full up because people who have not paid into the National Health Service have come along and taken their space. It is getting overcrowded.”

Farrer believes Britain is best when facing adversity and says the country will adapt and overcome any challenges that Brexit may bring.

“Put greatness back into Britain and make it better. People are scaremongering.

“What is best about this country is if you have not got food in the cupboard and are not getting paid until next week, what do we do? We adapt and overcome.

“It might look bad and prices of food might go up. But like your grandparents, you’ll just buy cheaper stuff and instead of buying it from the shops, you’ll make it yourself and you will make it last a bit longer.

“The best thing about this country; when we are going through our hard times, we are at our best. When we are at our worst, we are better people.

“Europe is just greedy. It takes, takes, takes. So we are better off without.”

‘It’s hard to keep up’

Amreen Ahmed
Amreen Ahmed
Aasma Day

In the north west town of Oldham, one of the most deprived areas of the country, people strongly voted to leave at 60.9%.

Amreen Ahmed, 27, is born and bred in Oldham and her parents came to the town from Pakistan and have lived there most of their lives.

The pharmacist voted remain but says it is hard to keep up with and understand everything going on with Brexit.

She told HuffPost UK: “To be honest, I don’t really know much about what is going on. There’s always things in the news, it’s hard to keep up.

“One day, it’s going forward; some days it’s not happening.

“In my line of work, I have seen how it has affected it. Already, a lot of drugs and stuff have gone into manufacturing issues and they think it might be because of what is going on with Brexit.

“It is a little bit worrying but for now, I am just hoping that things might settle and might not happen.”

‘Diversity makes you a nicer person’

Natalie Nixon
Natalie Nixon
Aasma Day

Natalie Nixon, 18, who is studying business, economics and psychology at Oldham Sixth Form, believes Brexit is “a bit of a scam.”

She said: “The government want you to think we are saving money but we are not actually saving as much money as they make out. They are exaggerating.

“They are still going to have tariffs and they are going to have to find new suppliers to get new trading agreements in so I don’t think it was worth leaving.”

She believes young people should have been given the option to vote as it will be their lives that are affected.

“I would have chosen to stay because I think we were doing fine as we were and I think it was good that we could trade freely with other countries in the EU and now we have lost all that partnership.”

Nixon feels maybe the reason places like Oldham voted to leave is because some people are resistant to diversity.

But she says: “I think it is good that we are all diverse and having a variety of people is better.

“You are meeting new people and learning about different cultures.The more you learn, the more open-minded you become.

“It just makes you more of an understanding person; nicer.”

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