“It’s not going to be amicable, we’ve upset Europe and all the relatives; it’s like a proper divorce.”
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In the days following the shock Brexit vote, former Londoner Liam Butcher has described Britain’s decision to leave the European Union as a marriage turned sour.
“Originally, we (Britian) married into Europe and perhaps we shouldn’t have. We were a very strong economy, we had good trade routes and we didn’t need the backing of Europe,” the Nowra resident said.
“But now we’ve had a couple of kids, it’s all gotten too hard and we’ve left.
“We’ve deeply offended most of our neighbours and it’s hard to live on the street when neighbours hate us.”
While he believes the decision to leave the EU was driven primarily out of fear of immigration, Mr Butcher said the difference in English politics compared to Australian politics played a role.
“In England the people who are in politics went to the highest schools, come from old money, very silver spoon,” he said.
“We’ve deeply offended most of our neighbours and it’s hard to live on the street when neighbours hate us.
- - Liam Butcher
“The older generation of people in particular were remembering the ‘good old days of immigration free England’ and they looked to people like Nigel Ferage and saw him as perhaps more on their level.
“The middle class, standard people related more closely to someone like Nigel rather than David Cameron.
“He (Nigel Ferage, UKIP leader) basically scare mongered the people of England with the problem with immigration, they were told it was the reason we need to get out but it’s certainly not that simple,” he said.
Mr Butcher swapped his former life as a nightclub manager in Leicester Square eight years ago for a coastal life but said his family and friends are left shocked by Brexit.
“I work with a guy from Dorset who is just outraged and I know it’s caused a lot of conflict between friends,” he said.
“It’s been an absolute storm; for it to make the front page of Australian newspapers is just amazing.”
While he said some potential positives to arise out of Brexit could be new trade routes not previously utilised, Mr Butcher said there won’t be any advantages for a long time.
“I think it’s (Brexit) something people thought would happen but the actual full impact has only been realised after and even then, we’re still not sure what will happen,” he said.
And for the record, how would he have voted?
“I would have voted in – it’s the same as a marriage, you have to make it work.”
