POST BREXIT PROJECT
From the end of the Second World War and the start of European integration with the European Coal and Steel Community in the early 1950’s, the UK’s relationship with the rest of Europe and our own internal discussions have been challenging and heated. With Michael Foot, Tony Benn and the Labour Party’s socialist traditions can be seen as strongly Eurosceptic or at odds with capitalist institutions. This has a marked contrast with today's younger members of the Labour Party who wanted to be part of the EU and the opportunities this could bring. The debate from within the Conservative Party was equally divided, from the nationalists who wanted to leave the EU to the opposing view of the free enterprise European stance of many others. In the early part of her political career, Margaret Thatcher was a proponent of the then EEC and the single market. But she then battled against what she saw as the excessive powers of Brussels.
From the six founding members of the EU: France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands, to the United Kingdom entering the European Union on 1st January 1973 and then leaving on 31st January 2020 and thereafter, we have quarrelled with the other member states and with ourselves.
During the Covid-19 outbreak of 2020, many foreign-born people have left these shores and, for the first time since the end of the second world war, the population of the UK went down significantly. Exports to mainland Continental Europe are currently incurring long delays because of lengthy customs checks for imported goods into Great Britain from counties that don’t have a favourable deal with the EU, as well as the inevitable tax complexities. But is this the complete story?
In response, I am finding individuals with troubles and worries, but also some with optimistic stories now that we have left the EU. During the interview, I don’t ask how they voted or even if they could. This new series of images is environmentally based, documenting the reality for members of Britain’s population post Brexit.