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Abused, shunned but unfazed: What it’s like being a Brexit-supporting Brit in France

Brits living in France who backed Brexit say they have no regrets about their vote and appear unconcerned about their futures in their adopted country, but they do say they are more worried about being abused and ostracized by fellow British citizens.

Published: 6 December 2017 17:13 CET

Abused, shunned but unfazed: What it's like being a Brexit-supporting Brit in France

Photo: AFP

There are an estimated 150,000 Brits living in France, and though the lives of each one will inevitably be affected by Brexit, it is certainly not the case that all of them were for staying in the EU, as many might have imagined.

While happily choosing to live in France and within the EU but voting for Britain to be independent might seem like a contradiction to many, things are a little more complicated than that.

Many Brits in France voted to leave the EU.

While there is no sign of regret, the problem these expat-leavers face is that the issue of Brexit among Brits living abroad appears to have become even more divisive and poisonous than it was in Britain before the referendum.

There is still much anger among many Remain-voting Brits in France over the referendum result and indeed over the way the British government is leading the country towards a so-called “hard Brexit”, because of what that could mean for their rights.

Brits in France who voted leave or who have expressed anti-EU sentiment say they have felt the wrath of remainers.

Adopted Parisian Christopher said he and others who might hold a similar position have been “silenced by the mob”.

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(AFP)

“I used to belong to various British immigrant Facebook groups, groups in which things like gardening and cheap ferry deals were discussed,” he told The Local.

“While I understood the concerns, any attempt to talk about [Brexit] let loose a rabid mob of Brits who were personally insulting, vicious and derogatory towards me, even down to rummaging through my Facebook profile to try and dig up any dirt on me.”

“I have since left those groups and made my profile private: lesson learnt.”

'I was given the cold shoulder'

One female retiree we spoke to, who lives in the south of France and preferred to remain anonymous for fear of recriminations, told a similar story.

“I am reluctant to expose myself to further abuse,” she told us.

“Since I announced I’d voted out, a couple of people have quietly said that they also voted the same way but publicly say they voted Remain, because they were worried about the social consequences,” she told The Local.

“They had seen or heard some of the flack I’ve received and witnessed the cold shoulder I was given in the following months.

“The passion which has been displayed by remainers has been surprisingly fierce,” she adds.

For many Brits in France, the subject of Brexit is now something not to be talked about at the dinner table, for the sake of keeping the peace.

“Despite all that’s happened since, I still think I made the right choice, as do my Remain friends — but we agree not to discuss it between us generally,” said the female retiree.

But one simple question many want to ask leave voters living in France them is “why”?

'Referendum was about what was best for UK, not individuals'

Robert Hodge, a former UK local government employee turned retiree in the Vendee department of western France, can vouch for that. Hodge backs Brexit despite the UK’s eventual split from the EU potentially making his life more difficult.

He came to France with his then-wife in 2003, originally thinking he would stay only 18 months, but when they divorced, he decided to stay, attracted in part by cheaper living costs.

“I suppose that the reason I took advantage of the EU’s rules about freedom of movement was simply because I could do so, and that it was convenient for me at the time,” he told The Local.

However, he felt strongly that his referendum vote should reflect what he thought best for his country of origin, rather than him personally.

(Eymet, in Dordogne, where many Brits live, including some who voted leave. AFP)

“My personal view has always been that the referendum was about asking the people what they wanted and thought would be best for the future of the UK as a whole, rather than what they thought would be best for themselves,” Hodge told The Local.

“I put matters of personal well-being to one side and considered matters such as sovereignty and independence of the UK, as well as the future overall economic prosperity of the UK — I have two children and one grandchild who are resident in the UK.

“Many leave voters are a bit concerned about the personal impact that Brexit may have on themselves”, he told The Local, “but overall, especially when they consider the future of their younger relatives in the UK, they feel that Brexit is a good thing.”

“I know a number of Brits here who would have voted ‘Leave’ had they been resident in the UK, but who admit that they voted ‘Remain’ for purely personal and selfish reasons invariably revolving around finance and health care,” he added.

'I've earned the right to criticize the EU'

Christopher, aged 55, who works in the travel industry in Paris, voted out because he believes after the treaties of Maastricht and Lisbon the current European Union is “entirely against what us Brits voted for in 1975”.

“My opinion was not formed by any fuss or nonsense about Turkey joining or even too much about unchecked immigration, but was formed many years before,” he said.

He said that people he meets are surprised by his position. “They assume that once you live in Europe you somehow must love all that goes with it,” he said

“France has been my home for 17 years and I've been with my French better half for 16 of those. I think that I've earned the right to be able to critique the EU and France from the inside, as well as from outside.”

And Dr Michaela Benson, a sociologist based at Goldsmiths University of London, who is currently leading a research project examining what Brexit means for UK citizens living in the EU27, said we really shouldn't be shocked by Brits living abroad voting to leave.

“Some people are very surprised when you say there are Britons living in the EU27 who have seemingly voted or have opinions more orientated towards Leave,” she said

“There’s absolutely no reason why the British population who live in the EU would not hold diverse opinions — just like their compatriots in the UK — on whether the United Kingdom should leave the European Union.”

“Political attitudes and behaviour are far more complicated than people voting on their self-interest would suggest,” she said.

Jealousy among French friends?

None of the Brits in France with whom we spoke reported a particularly hostile reaction from French friends and acquaintances, in fact some reported the opposite.

Angela Mackay, a 68-year-old retiree who lives in the Dordogne half the year and in Dorset the other six months, actually voted to remain, but since the referendum her position has solidified into a pro- Brexit one.

“At a recent lunch with eight French friends, all professionals, all eight backed Britain leaving the EU and were hoping for Frexit, stating the EU and the strong euro had done nothing to help the French economy,” she told The Local.

Robert Hodge in the Vendee department also describes French friends expressing “a certain jealousy”.

“There are indeed those who regard our stance as Brexiteers as being somewhat admirable in view of the fact that we admit that we may be shooting ourselves in the foot financially in order to do what we see as being best for our country in the long-term.”

Surveys have shown support in France for the EU has actually grown since the Brexit vote. In June it stood at 56 percent, a jump of 18 percentage points, according to a study by Pew Research Centre.

Are leave voters simply not concerned about their rights?

While many remain-voting Brits are worried about their futures and campaigning hard on the issue of citizens rights from Brits living in France, those who voted leave appear far more at ease with the limbo everyone is in.

One Leave-voting Brit living in France caused uproar on LBC radio recently when he told listeners he had no fear about his future in France.

“I don't believe anything is going to change…I am an independent Brit, living abroad and I'm happy to be that. I can come home any time I like with my British passport, if I so desire,” said the man named Steve, before admitting he had no desire to return to the UK.

Retired Robert Hodge is also confident his established status in France means he is unlikely to have to consider moving after Britain leaves.

“I still feel as secure as I ever did…I’ve always been ‘occupationally retired’ here, and so I really don’t see the French authorities doing anything to cause people such as myself to leave France post Brexit: we don’t take any jobs from the French, we pay our taxes, and we contribute considerable amounts of foreign exchange cash into the French economy,” said Hodge.

“Causing the Brits to leave France would be very economically damaging for France and so I don’t see that happening. I’m sort of quietly confident that things will turn out OK in the end.”

by Hannah Meltzer

INTERVIEW: 'A lot of people think Brexit is done, but it's not for Brits in Europe'

In the early days of 2021, after the United Kingdom had left the EU and completed the final stage of Brexit, many British citizens returned to their home countries in Europe only to face a grilling at the border.

Though the Withdrawal Agreement (WA) technically guaranteed their right to live and work in the countries they’d settled in before Brexit, there was widespread confusion about these fundamental rights and many were treated like new arrivals.

Over time, the chaos at the airports subsided as border officials and airlines were given clearer guidance on the treatment of Brits. But three years later, a number of Brits who live on the continent still face problems when it comes to proving their post-Brexit rights.

This was the reason campaign group British in Europe decided to set up their new EU-funded ICE project. Starting this year in March, it aims to build valuable connections between UK citizens abroad and mentor the next generation of civil rights advocates around the continent. The acronym stands for ‘Inform, Empower, Connect’ and the project’s organisers describe it as “the first project of its kind”.

“It’s a completely innovative project – especially the fact that it’s across so many countries,” Jane Golding, chair of British in Europe and one of the project’s founders, told The Local.

Bringing together groups from 11 EU member states, the project aims to train up volunteers to understand both the Withdrawal Agreement and EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, as well as learning skills like advocacy and communication, using real-life civil rights cases that are referred to British in Europe.

“The ultimate goal is to amplify the messages across the wider group,” said Golding. “You start with the volunteers, they go back to their groups, then the people that we train, they go back and train people. Then they pass on that knowledge to the wider groups, on their Facebook accounts and through social media, and hopefully it all snowballs, not just in their countries but across the EU.”

‘Far-reaching repercussions’

So many years after Brexit, it’s hard to believe that there’s still a need for a project like ICE that empowers Brits to protect their rights. Indeed, the future of groups like British in Europe and regional groups like British in Germany and Spain-based group EuroCitizens felt uncertain just a year or two ago.

But Golding says there are still serious issues cropping up for Brits in several countries around Europe – they just have a different quality to the problems that arose at the start.

“In some ways it’s needed even more because as we predicted right at the beginning, at the first stage of implementation, you’ve got the more routine cases,” she explained.

“What we’re seeing now is not as many cases, but when the cases come up, they’re complex. They can have such far-reaching repercussions on people’s lives. And of course, memories start to fade. A lot of people think Brexit is already done, but it’s not.”

Volunteers in British in Europe ICE project

The volunteers of the British in Europe ICE project pose for a photo at the kick-off meeting in Brussels on May 21st, 2024. Photo courtesy of British In Europe

Though the rights set out in the Withdrawal Agreement apply across the continent, different countries have taken different approaches to implementing them.

That means that while in Germany, for example, UK citizens simply had to declare that they lived in the country, people in neighbouring Denmark had to apply for their rights.

This led to a notorious situation in Denmark in which as many as 2,000 Brits were threatened with deportation after not applying in time or completing the right application process. According to Golding, this had a lot to do with the fact that people who arrived in 2020 weren’t given the same information as other UK migrants who arrived before.

In Sweden, meanwhile, the situation is still difficult for many Brits who lived there prior to Brexit.

“There have been issues with an anomalously high numbers of refusals compared to other countries, and they seem to be taking a very strict approach on late applications,” Golding explained.

Portugal has been another difficult case. Although the country opted for a declaratory system where Brits could simply exchange old residence documents for a new ID card after Brexit, reports suggest that the authorities have taken years to issue these cards, leaving many of the some 34,000 Brits in the country in limbo.

“While people are still waiting to have their status confirmed and have their card in their hand, it’s difficult to access a whole range of services, like health services, or applying for jobs or dealing with the authorities, or even going to the bank,” Golding said. “All of these problems just affect people’s lives.”

A French border guard checks a passport at the border

A French border guard checks a passport at the border. Photo by DENIS CHARLET / AFP

There are also concerns about the EU’s new exit and entry system (EES), due to come into force in October, which is based on biometric documentation.

“We still do not have clear data on how many people in declaratory countries like Germany, where it wasn’t compulsory to apply for the card, don’t actually have a card,” Golding said. “How is that going to play out if it’s a document-based digitalised system?”

A lack of support

In the immediate aftermath of Brexit, funding from the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) was still available to support NGOs in Europe helping Brits with their migration and civil rights issues. But that temporary funding soon expired, leaving groups like British in Europe largely on their own.

“The whole point is people’s lives change at very different paces,” Golding said. “And now this project is really going to start to pick up some of those cases and report on those issues, which is really crucial and exciting for the precedent that it sets, and it’s very clearly necessary still, because people don’t just sort their lives in the 18 months that the FCDO chose to supply that funding.”

This feeling of being left alone and increasingly isolated from the UK is one that many Brits in Europe have felt in the aftermath of Brexit. But the upcoming UK election on July 4th could be a game-changer.

This time, following a change in the law, Brits who have lived abroad for more than 15 years will be able to vote for the first time.

Polling station in the UK

A polling station in the UK. Photo by Elliott Stallion on Unsplash

When it comes to the election, the message from British in Europe is clear: “Make your voice count now, make your vote count, make sure you use it,” Golding said.

With the June 18th registration deadline fast approaching, BiE is advising UK citizens abroad to apply for a proxy vote as soon as possible, rather than relying on a postal vote from abroad. Since the 15-year rule was abolished on January 16th, more than 100,000 British citizens have registered to vote, according to official statistics. It is unclear how many were registered before the change in the law.

With an estimated 4.7 million Brits currently living abroad – 1.3 million of whom are in the EU – this could have a significant impact on the electoral landscape, Golding says. But most significantly, the change is creating a feeling of connection and belonging that wasn’t there before.

Nurturing this sense of belonging is one of the main goals of ICE.

With these bridges being built, British in Europe hopes to create a network of support that spans across borders.

“Now we’ve met. We’re going to meet,” said Golding. “We know we’re going to meet again in Berlin in October and then we’ll meet again in the new year in 2025 as well. It means a huge amount because even British in Europe, our steering team, we’ve only met physically three times.”

This opens up the possibility of people sharing their knowledge from country to country, Golding explained.

“There is crossover and the reassurance of having that EU wide view and knowing that you’re not alone and knowing that in this country, we managed to get this solution,” she said. “And then you can go back and say to the authorities in your country, well, in that country they did that – all of that helps. It’s really good.”

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