Tag: Celtic Britons

Some 63% of Britons think life is worse now than when they were growing up, against 21% who think it is better now, and 8% who think the quality of life has not changed. That includes a clear majority of Britons in every age group - perhaps surprisingly, young people were most likely to think life in Britain was better when they were growing up (69% among those aged 18-34, against 59% of 35-54s and 61% of people aged 55 and over). Labour voters and Remainers are much more likely to say it has been positive, Conservatives and Leave voters are much more likely to say it has been negative. But the public is united in thinking immigration has divided the communities they settled in - 71% say immigration has caused greater division, including a clear majority across every demographic and across the political spectrum. Conservative voters are among the strongest critics of their own government on this measure - some 66% think they have not done enough to promote British values. Demos also conducted qualitative research across Britain, France and Germany, which found many citizens of each country have been alienated by profound social, economic and cultural changes - and attracted towards nostalgic political messages as a result. Demos's report warns that "the cost of mainstream politicians failing to respond to these developments may well be our societies becoming more exclusionary and less communal, underpinned by a more desperate, dangerous form of social competition - in short, the imperilling of our liberal democracies." Sophie Gaston, Demos's head of international research, said: "A lot of the nostalgic language that we see in our politics is rather exclusionary in tone. "If you are promising to take society back to the conditions and the structure and power dynamics of the past, there are a lot groups who will probably lose from that - whether it's women or minorities, any groups that have seen socio-liberalism work in their favour." For full Sky Data tables, please click here.

Instead Edward Llewellyn, the British ambassador, was subjected to a two-hour roasting by angry British nationals. “I went there seeking reassurance and I came away terrified about my future,” Ian Fox, a senior executive at an internationally renowned consumer brand in Paris, told the Guardian after the meeting. One woman wanted to know about inheritance law for children born in France and when the Department for Exiting the European Union official told her it was not within “his scope”, she interrupted: “Just say you don’t know.” She also wanted answers about the future EU research funding rights for a PhD student born to British parents in France, but now studying in London. Afterwards she said many felt the only way to not be stripped of rights was to get French nationality. “You say May is looking after our interests,” he told the ambassador. Whatever they are doing can only be considered making the best of a very bad job indeed.” Our rights to EU citizenship are worth fighting for – despite Brexit | Jolyon Maugham Read more About 60 British nationals went to the “outreach” meeting on Monday night, armed with detailed questions about their rights, the rights of their children to remain EU citizens, and freedom to continue working across Europe. There are an estimated 100,000 British nationals in France and, like many of the estimated 1 million Britons settled in other EU countries, chief among their concerns are the end of freedom of movement after Brexit and employment rights. British people will become third country nationals after Brexit. The British officials did not have a good answer for one man who asked how Britons would be treated when national law in some countries dictates that priority is given to EU nationals in employment, barring UK nationals from automatic consideration for jobs in the EU post-2020. ” The ambassador said he would feed the concerns raised back to the government and would hold more outreach events in future.

Millions of British people are unhappy with the political choices being offered to them by the two main parties over Brexit, the former chancellor, George Osborne, has said. Osborne, who now edits London’s Evening Standard, said some of his former Conservative colleagues had expressed their surprise that his newspaper, which has repeatedly criticised Theresa May, took such a tough stance. “People say to me, ‘hold on, that’s very unfair, you’re a Conservative and you used to be in the Conservative cabinet, you’re being a bit mean,’” Osborne told the Advertising Week Europe conference in central London. He said this gap existed more generally: “On Brexit, I’m actually socking it as much to the Corbynites as I am to the hard Brexiteers. And that’s because I think there are millions of people in this city and around Britain who are not happy with the choice they’re being presented with at the moment.” Saying that he was “essentially unbiddable” when it came to political pressure, Osborne said his former job allowed him to help the paper’s reporters uncover stories. “My role now is to get to things which, in my previous job, I would not have told you,” he said. “I have a little bit of an advantage because I know where to look. I can say to my political team, ‘you go and find out this; I bet if you spoke to this person, who’s not obvious, you might find something interesting’.” We don’t actually have to have either Jeremy Corbyn or Jacob Rees-Mogg in this country This had not always gone down very well with former colleagues, Osborne explained: “One of the things that has surprised people in my former profession, the Conservative party, is that I’m pretty tough on them. People might have expected that but they have not expected that critical line of mine on things the government is doing, for example in the Brexit space.” Osborne reiterated that while he remained a Conservative, there was no guarantee the paper would take the same view: “If you assume that we are just going to back some (London) mayoral candidate on 2020 just because they’re a Conservative, forget it.” He said the newspaper would make a judgment on behalf of the people of London on “whether Sadiq Khan should get our support for a second term, or whether the Conservative candidate gets that”. The former chancellor dismissed the idea that the editorship was merely a springboard for a return to politics: “I’m going to stick around, because I’m having a great time.”