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Posted: 2017-03-29 12:21:10

Posted March 29, 2017 23:21:10

Nine months after Britain delivered one of the biggest electoral shockwaves of 2016, many of the diehard Brexiteers are just as excited today as they were back in June.

There are no regrets in the coastal town of Leigh-on-Sea in Essex.

Leigh-on-Sea is one of those places that makes a mockery of Brexit generalisations.

It's a pretty town and in summer the tourists flock here for fish and chips by the water.

The shops are all buzzing, even at the tail end of months of wintery weather.

Unemployment is slightly higher than the average, but not by much.

It was named one of the happiest places in Britain, but even here they were unhappy about being part of the EU, with 60 per cent voting to get out.

Fisherman Paul Gilson was one of the most vocal campaigners.

"One word — devastating. There was mismanagement from the minute we signed up [to the EU]," he said.

"It has been for the UK a disaster."

Fishermen lost out joining common market

The tide was out and the wind was blowing hard the day we visited Leigh-on-Sea.

A couple of kilometres to the east is the open ocean where Richard Eves has been fishing for 15 years.

"I don't think anyone has regretted the decision," he said.

"Even the people who were 50-50 have decided it was the right thing to do."

He says it's taken longer than expected to have the Brexit trigger pulled but it's worth waiting for.

"I want us to manage our own fish stocks, we'll have to keep some quotas but we need to manage it properly," Mr Eves said.

Paul Gilson says it's taken too long to get to this stage, although he understands why negotiators haven't wanted to rush into it.

"Some of the people who actually voted to remain are now saying, come on, let's get on with it," he said.

"It's blatantly obvious that Europe needs a shake-up."

When Britain joined the common market the fishermen lost their 300 kilometres protected zone.

And there were scores of new laws and quotas.

Mr Gilson says around here no one is regretting their vote to get out.

'I want Italy to follow'

Pamela Di-Benedetto, who runs the Cappuccino Bakery, is married to an Italian and lived in Spain for a decade.

Despite her European connections she voted for Britain to leave the EU.

"I want Britain to stay British," she said.

Italian Mariana Bosi said if she'd been allowed to vote she would have voted out.

"I'm very very happy that England will leave. I want Italy as well to do the same," she said.

"Because actually the Euro is a mess in Italy, no jobs, a lot of taxation.

"We pay taxes for Italy and for Europe and I'm very happy that England is so proud to have the courage to leave Europe and hope my country will have the courage to do the same."

But hairdresser Lorraine Fowler, who is visiting the cafe for lunch, says people are having regrets.

"Personally I think we're absolutely nuts here in England," she said.

"There's a lot of uncertainty at the moment. No one has a definitive path of where we're going and how we'll get there."

The British Prime Minister has said no deal is better than a bad deal, so the divorce with the EU could happen with no one agreeing on a package.

But here at least in this pocket of England they're mostly happy it's finally happening.

Topics: fishing-aquaculture, world-politics, government-and-politics, united-kingdom

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