Views from Middlesbrough’s only remain-voting ward a decade on from EU referendum

One remain voter said: ‘We are still a sovereign nation, we have a monarch, we have our own government, we don’t have the euro, I don’t think [leaving] has made any difference, from that point of view’

It’s a subject that still divides the country, and more specifically, Middlesbrough’s Linthorpe ward. A referendum on the UK’s membership of the European Union took place on June 23, 2016, and saw a 52% majority of voters across the UK want out.

Middlesbrough was a staunchly leave voting area when voters across the town went to the polls 10 years ago. Amongst those who visited a polling station, nearly two in three voters across the borough backed the campaign to get the country out – 65.5% to be exact.

Out of 20 wards in the town, Linthorpe was the only one which saw a majority back remain, by a wafer thin majority – 1,568 votes compared to 1,564 votes for leave. On a visit to the marginally remain-backing ward, the Local Democracy Reporting Service spoke to residents on the corner of Oxford Road and Roman Road one decade on about the history-altering vote.

Phil Hornby, who said he had voted leave, said: “It hasn’t really worked.” If Brexit had worked, Mr Hornby said the UK would be an “independent country”, but he didn’t think this had occurred saying he believed that Sir Keir Starmer was trying to rejoin “by the back door”.

He thought that the country would rejoin the European Union eventually. “There’ll be a referendum, there will have to be,” he said adding that he doesn’t think it will happened under this government but the next. Mr Hornby said he anticipates voters would back a return to the bloc of European countries.

Mark Williams voted leave and when asked if it had been a success or failure, he said: “It depends what your reasons were for voting for Brexit – I voted for Brexit, because I didn’t want to be a part of a supranational institution that actively was opposed to democracy in terms of what happened in Greece and the Greek financial crisis.”

With a taxi to catch, Mr Williams had to make a dash, but said he would have loved to have chatted more – people being talkative was a common theme in this leafy part of Middlesbrough.

Strong leave voting majorities were visible in most Middlesbrough wards a decade ago, with Brambles and Thorntree the strongest leave voting ward in the country, according to BBC analysis from 2017. Data was, however, provided voluntarily by councils, meaning most local results weren’t included. Additionally, there were inconsistencies with some results provided including the postal votes, while others did not.

Outside Roman Road Tesco, retiree Ruth Ritchie, who voted remain, said Brexit hadn’t personally affected her a lot. She highlighted how much of the discourse around the referendum had been about immigration. She said: “I don’t think it’s made any difference and that never really worried me.”

Turning back the clock, the grandmother racked her brain about the other promises made by the leave campaign, including some of the financial commitments. In her view, in the post-Brexit world, “we still pay money, in a different manner”. On sovereignty, she added: “We are still a sovereign nation, we have a monarch, we have our own government, we don’t have the euro, I don’t think [leaving] has made any difference, from that point of view.”

Sandra Taylor-Warren was surprised that Linthorpe was the only remain-voting ward in Middlesbrough. A Brexit-voting Tollesby resident, Ms Taylor-Warren thought things were “a bit better” 10 years on, but not by much. She confirmed that if there was another referendum she’d ‘stick by her guns’ and vote leave again.

As for why she voted leave, Ms Taylor-Warren said: “We weren’t in it to start off with, then we were put in it, we didn’t get a choice and now we have a choice. Nobody wanted to stay in it really, because we wanted to be our own people, we want to make our own rules.”

Sweeta Abdulrahimzai, who is from Afghanistan and has indefinite leave to remain in the UK – which is how individuals settle in the country – said: “If I want to go to Germany and visit my family, I can’t, because I’m not British. I need to apply for the visa and it’s a long time to wait for the visa [and] lots of expenses.”

The mother of two, who works with a school, said that when it’s summer, her kids ask about visiting family, but she has not been able to do so for five years. She says she can’t pay the fee for the application, nor go to London for the biometrics as part of the process. At the end of it all, there is no guarantee of a visa, she says. She thought being in the EU would reduce such boundaries.

Britain entered the EU (then called the European Economic Community) without a referendum in 1973, with a referendum in 1975 confirming that people wanted to remain in it.

Turnout in Middlesbrough in the 2016 vote saw 64.9% of eligible voters casting a ballot. Middlesbrough also has a claim to fame for having the most Brexit-backing ward in the country. In Brambles and Thorntree, 82.5% of residents voted to leave, but the area was rife with apathy and frustration in early 2019, just before then PM Theresa May failed to get her Brexit deal through the House of Commons.

Back in Linthorpe, Alan Randall started by saying: “I don’t think you want my views mate!” However, he went on to say he thought the country would be in a better place now if it had remained in the European Union.

In the army at the time of the referendum, he himself did not vote on the matter, but said if there was another vote on membership of the EU, he would “100%” vote to be in. He thought the NHS had suffered in recent years and he thought remaining in the EU “would have helped”.

Originally from Preston, Mr Randall now lives in Linthorpe, having served in the army for 24 years. When told that the patch was the only remain-voting ward in the whole town, he laughed as he said: “I’m glad that I live in this area now then!”

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