Over a German lager at the outdoor Christmas market in central Basildon, Essex, Sean Brannigan tweaked the brim of his West Ham cap and took a moment to contemplate the “mess” he held Theresa May responsible for as five days of debate on Brexit kicked off at Westminster.
“She needs to start speaking in language that people can relate to, whether they’re a leaver or a remainer, like me, because at the moment people’s eyes are just glazing over,” said the 45-year-old bricklayer, whose childhood memories of growing up in 1970s Belfast influenced his choice during the 2016 poll.
While Brannigan fully recognised he was in a minority in part of the country that recorded a 68.8% leave vote, his view that voters were generally fed up with Brexit’s media omnipresence was echoed by many going about their business around him.
But there were also dark warnings – not least about what could happen in the event of a second referendum.
“I think you would literally have trouble on the streets,” said Tim Alvis, a retired engineer and ardent advocate of a no-deal Brexit. He lambasted the prime minister for failing to “get on with it” and nodded as his friend, Michael Waterman, 83, recalled May’s original support for remain.
“It’s hard to forget that. She’s a lot cleverer than I think people make out, and you have to wonder if this is the situation she wanted to get to all along.”
In Essex, a weary fear about impending betrayal might not be hard to find among leave voters. While Ukip has been in meltdown here, with just two councillors left from a total of 15 earlier this year, one of those remaining, Hazel Green, claimed recruits were once again flocking to the party amid anger over May’s Brexit “shambles”.
Yet in the ranks of the prime minister’s party locally, there was some enduring faith that the promised sunny uplands of Brexit would make a difference locally.
“The thing about Basildon is that we tend to do ourselves down, but if you look at the key sectors of technology, engineering and manufacturing, it does very well. It’s not only the bread basket of Essex, but also the most entrepreneurial borough, and I think we voted very heavily for Brexit because people could see the opportunities,” said Andrew Schrader, a leave supporter and chair of the Basildon council’s economic development and growth committee.
Flush with a sense of optimism from the second Basildon business expo at a local Holiday Inn two weeks ago, he also sounded a warning about what might happen in the event of second referendum. “I think cynicism about politics is at a fever pitch, and it really would do some serious damage,” he said.
Mirroring the Conservative party’s Westminster divisions over Brexit, a different sense of shifting mood was voiced by Schrader’s boss at the council, the mayor of Basildon, David Dadds.
“I think those who were out are still for out, while those who were remain are still that way, but those who were in the middle I think are now shifting towards a position more of embracing certainty. In other words, by supporting remain,” said Dadds, who argued from a personal position that a new referendum was justifiable because the electorate at last knew what the stakes were.
He said: “As I go around speaking to people, I also get a sense from a lot of businesses in Basildon – which accounts for about 22% of the GDP of the Essex economy – that they are particularly concerned about the supply chain and what would happen with no deal.”
On Basildon’s market square – itself not immune to the high-street closures of recent years, but where economic hopes for the future are pinned on a multibillion-pound regeneration scheme – the debate on Brexit was not always about economics.
“It’s not going to be easy, but at least we’ll be making decisions ourselves again,” said Tony Lane, 27, who was making his way home with some early Christmas shopping.
Jennifer Pugh, 81, laughed about being part of a Basildon minority in voting for remain. “I was a history teacher, so I know only too well what happened over the centuries and decades before the European Union. It’s about preventing those sorts of problems breaking out again,” she said.
A few yards down the street, Christiana Sakyi shook her head at the thought of further weeks of debate about Brexit. Originally from Ghana, she supported remain but said she understood why the demographics of the area had led to such an overwhelming vote to leave the EU.
Her priority, she said, was healing any divisions and lowering temperatures: “Whatever the decision about it now, the politicians have to get on with it and come to some sort of choice – and then we have to come together.”