In this edition of Entre Nous, we take a look at how British people feel about Brexit, five years after the UK officially left the EU. We also discuss the challenges many Brits abroad now face, particularly those with second homes. Finally, we get to the bottom of the many reasons why Europeans are choosing not to make trips to the UK, but the Brits are still coming to Europe.
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NewsTranscript
00:00It's time now for our Entre-News segment with Solange Mougin.
00:03Hi, Solange.
00:04Hi.
00:05So, believe it or not, the five-year anniversary of Brexit is tomorrow, and so it's time for
00:08us to take stock of how the decision to leave the European Union is perceived on both sides
00:13of the channel.
00:14Solange, five years in, how did the Brits, first of all, feel about Brexit?
00:18Well, the majority of them are not too happy about it.
00:21The data firm YouGov released a poll yesterday that said 55% of Brits say that it was wrong
00:26to leave the European Union, which formally occurred on January 31st, 2020.
00:31Now, you could argue that figure is pretty close to the referendum vote back in 2016
00:36of 52% to leave and 48% to stay.
00:40But what's interesting and what has changed is how people who once believed that it was
00:44the right decision have now changed their minds.
00:46Just 30% of Brits now say that it was right to leave.
00:50And as we see in the lower line here, it has dropped since the transition period ended
00:57in 2021, which is right in the middle there.
01:01Now, this number continues to drop.
01:03Today, that 30% is the lowest it has ever been, and this shows, too, if you analyze
01:07the data on how people voted at the time.
01:11Among the leave voters, now one in six of them think that it was a mistake and 88% of
01:16the remain voters continue to feel that it was wrong to leave.
01:19So the overall feeling among Brits is that it was a bad move.
01:22And many economic statistics and models back this up.
01:26Even if it is too soon to determine the exact cost of Brexit to the UK economy, multiple
01:32reports say that it costs between 1% and 6% of GDP every year.
01:36Now, that seems like a small figure, but when you put monetary value on it, that's over
01:41£100 billion a year.
01:44Likewise, the mayor of London released a report last year that said that the gross added value
01:49to the UK was £140 billion less than if they had stayed.
01:54Right.
01:55So the numbers say the Brits, many Brits, are unhappy with the decision to leave.
01:58I mean, so what are they doing about it?
02:00Is anyone leaving the UK?
02:01Well, for the most part, no.
02:04But the same YouGov poll did show that 64% of them, of Brits, want a stronger relationship
02:09with the EU and 55% of them actually want to join back in.
02:14As for the brain drain, analysts argue that this is happening in some sectors of young
02:19Brits and professionals looking for opportunities abroad.
02:22According to the EU's statistical office, which tracks the first-time residency permits,
02:2842,000 British citizens moved to EU countries in 2023, with most for employment reasons
02:35followed by family reunions.
02:36Now, it was Spain that was the number one destination that these new expats moved to,
02:41followed by France.
02:43And this despite the fact that there are now more difficult hurdles of getting visas, of
02:47being naturalised.
02:48Things have become more difficult, and in particular for Brits with second homes in
02:52Europe who still reside in the UK.
02:55Last year, France's courts ruled that it was unconstitutional to create an exemption
03:00for the over 80,000 Brits who have second homes here.
03:06The idea was for them to let them stay longer than the current rules, which are no more
03:11than 90 days in a 180-day period.
03:14So today, those homeowners need to apply for a visa if they want to stay longer in France.
03:19Other hurdles are also arising.
03:21In Spain, for example, just this month, the President said he was looking to the idea
03:26of potentially barring British nationals who do not live there full-time from buying homes.
03:30The idea is an attempt to tackle Spain's housing crisis.
03:34So some Brits are coming to the EU and trying to invest and live here, but are EU nationals
03:39doing the same with the UK?
03:41Well, not as much.
03:42Since Brexit, there has been a negative net migration, so more Europeans are leaving than
03:47going there.
03:48So that imbalance is something we also see in the tourism industry as well, isn't it?
03:52Yeah, it really is.
03:54Last summer, a report by the CEBR found that while tourism has been recovering across Europe,
04:00since COVID it hasn't been doing as well in the UK.
04:02It found that there was a £2.8 billion shortfall on this.
04:06So why is the EU outperforming the UK in attracting tourists?
04:10Why are Brits still travelling to Europe, but fewer Europeans are taking trips there?
04:15Well, there are a number of reasons for this.
04:17There's the expense.
04:18The UK is ranked 113th out of 119 countries by the World Economic Forum when it comes
04:24to price competitiveness for travel and tourism.
04:27The cost of food and transport in particular are quite high, and they have gotten higher
04:33since Brexit and since COVID.
04:35Then there is bureaucracy.
04:36Many Europeans do not have passports, and since ID cards are no longer – they no longer
04:42work to get into the EU – into the UK rather, and the EU actually too, people choose to
04:48stay in the Schengen zone.
04:50And then – and actually these hurdles are going to get worse this year with the requirement
04:55of added online registration before arriving either in the EU or the UK.
05:04One of the things that I found most interesting is the role of perception here.
05:08Polls show that the effect of Brexit is having on many tourists.
05:14Many tourists do not feel that they're necessarily welcome in the UK since Brexit.
05:19There are constant efforts to reverse these perceptions and hurdles, such as the expansion
05:23of London's Heathrow Airport, which was just announced, that plus a slew of new flights
05:28between Europe and Great Britain that are coming this year.
05:31These are reminders that there are efforts to boost economic growth and air travel.
05:36Despite the worrisome environmental impact of that, these moves are also a reminder of
05:41demand, of how we all want to travel, and how even in this post-Brexit world, there
05:46is a desire to connect with other countries and with other people.
05:49All right, Solange, thank you for that look at life post-Brexit.
05:52I cannot believe it's been five years, tomorrow it officially happened.
05:55Thank you very much for that.
05:56That's our Solange Moujon.
05:58Let's come back to France now.