Funds boost for project seeking Brexit views of young

Generation Brexit (generationbrexit.org), a project of the London School of Economics (LSE), has been canvassing views of young people from across the EU, ‘shadowing’ the official talks. It has now finished discussing the UK’s ‘divorce’ from the EU and is moving on to consider the ‘future relationship’.

Ultimately a key aim is to draw up, by October, a ‘youth agreement on Brexit’ to give to the UK and European parliaments before they debate the final exit deal. The project was originally going to conclude this month, but will now continue until Brexit day.

LSE researcher Dr Roch Dunin-Wąsowicz said over 400 ideas have been posted – and voted on – by participants so far. He said he hopes the new topic of ‘our common future’ will encourage more people to take part in weeks and months to come.

He said: “What is unique about our project is it is pan-European. We offer the site in English, Polish, French, Spanish, Italian, German and Greek – and are trying to capture the mood of young people across the continent.”

So far the largest group of participants is from the UK, with the others from an equal spread across the countries represented by the site’s languages as well as some from the USA and Australia. Participants should self-describe as European and millennial.

Findings so far show those from the UK are more liberal and pro-European than average – even more so than was reflected in the referendum when around 70% of young people voted Remain – however that is not necessarily the case across the EU.

“What we’re noticing is that even among the Leavers, none wants a hard Brexit and to sever ties with Europe. They want a liberal Britain, an open Britain, a global Britain that is close to Europe because that’s its neighbourhood but that also looks into the world.

“There are also a few people with strong views about the CAP or the EU’s fisheries policy, whether from a libertarian point of view, or an ecological one.

“People who endorse Brexit are probably more strongly attached to their national identities, but we haven’t seen xenophobic or jingoistic views or a ‘Little England’ approach; our participants are generally cosmopolitan.”

Dr Dunin-Wąsowicz added that a lot of participants are hoping for a ‘having the cake and eating it’ approach – that if the UK is to leave we should retain freedom to live and study elsewhere and that scientific and educational cooperation should continue between the UK and EU.

“Obviously there are legal and structural obstacles that will probably appear, but they seem to be unfazed by that,” he said.

However he added that many comments show “irritation with the political class” and “people feel let down”, including the Leavers who feel “it was supposed to be quicker” and “wasn’t supposed to be this hard”.

“I’m not seeing schadenfreude about that, but people are generally anxious and disappointed – that’s the pervasive mood.”