Jane, a Northerner living in Oxford, voted Leave in 2016. As her life started to improve, she realised she had fallen for Vote Leaveโ€™s tricks. She has since decided to speak up and has become a Remainer Now who is campaigning for a Peopleโ€™s Vote.


First published in December 2019.


I voted Leave but I now feel lied to and conned. I deeply regret this decision. I now believe that a Peopleโ€™s Vote is the only sensible route with ALL the facts presented to the electorate!

Why did I vote Leave? Why do I advocate for a Peopleโ€™s Vote?

I am a Northerner who has been living in Oxford for the last 19 years. I am very lucky to live here notwithstanding the cost of high rents, etc.

I found myself homeless twice. Once was when my daughter was only 3 years old. We slept on my friends living room floor for 6 weeks, before Social Services felt obliged to step in and help with locating an amenable landlord. The Council would not help. I got lucky... I could see how private landlords were profiting from buying their previous social housing.

I could see how my friends from back home (Accrington, Blackburn, Burnley) were forgotten. Their towns feel like ghost towns from shop closures, underinvestment, unemployment and dare I say it but whole areas were being โ€œghettoisedโ€ by immigration and refugees.

These small towns became a dumping ground because of cheap rents. It was a protest vote against capitalists and the Tories.

I did not buy into the Boris bus by the way. Unfortunately, I realise I bought into the rhetoric that these problems were because of immigration rather than austerity politics and blaming the โ€˜otherโ€™.

I have since educated myself and feel deeply ashamed about my decision. I am also debating with other people and friends to change their minds. I fell for the oldest trick in the book: to divide people based on their differences.

Life is hopeful these days. I have returned to university and I am an undergraduate student in Sociology and Politics. My daughter is also studying A-Level Sociology and intends to do this as a degree in a couple of years time. I intend to retrain as a teacher and make right the wrongs I have been a part of.

It is interesting to note that Social Sciences, particularly Politics, has had a remarkable uptake. No coincidence.

I have noticed that those I know personally, who are still very much for Brexit, have some common threads:

โ—ฆ refusal to look at the facts explained to them;
โ—ฆ benefited from austerity;
โ—ฆ benefited from asset stripping (former council houses).

There is a real sense of the โ€œIโ€™m alright Jackโ€, and no thought for inequalities and social justice.

AND, I have not felt so encouraged and passionate about Labour since the John Smith days!


I NEVER forget who I am, or where I am from. I am proud to be a Northerner. I ask the question all the time about what it is to be a Northerner: to speak out, to say it how it is, big gob and big heart. AND to say itโ€™s โ€œcowd out hereโ€.

My story is only one part of many others who feel ignored and disregarded.๐Ÿ”ท



Written by Jane.



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[This piece was first published as a Twitter thread and turned into the above article on 10 December 2019, with the authorโ€™s consent, with the purpose of reaching a larger audience. It has been minorly edited and corrected. | The author of the tweets writes in a personal capacity.]

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(Cover: Flickr/penjelly. - Manchester Depression. / Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.)