Many Remain canvassers have been surprised when their arguments about the economic benefits of European integration have fallen on deaf ears.
Indeed, they seem shocked when voters instead want to talk about immigration and taking on European bureaucracy. The problem is that in many working-class communities, the economic benefits lauded by Remain seem ethereal.
More and more, growth comes from London. For all George Osborne’s aspirations to build a ‘Northern Powerhouse’, what voters in the north are actually seeing is high profile collapses of local industry such as the steelworks in Redcar, and anaemic growth besides.
While overall, integration benefits everyone, the benefits are far from even.
Working class communities outside the south-east are less likely to benefit from the ability to set up a European facing management consultancy with ease.
Integration benefits people like me most. As an Oxford-educated political journalist, I get to enjoy passport free European travel, work opportunities across the continent, and a varied network of international friends, and I face few if any downsides.
Working communities do not see these benefits in the same sense. What they often see are less integrated communities due to higher immigration rates, problems keeping traditional industries afloat, and little of the economic growth that would weaken the prevalence of these concerns.
This indeed, has been why the Leave campaign has been so successful in the referendum.
The campaign tapped into the of the fears and concerns of communities that just don’t buy the idea that metropolitans are being totally honest about their motives for wanting integration, when it seems to benefit metropolitans most.
This lack of trust, allows post-fact politics to thrive. Leavers can suggest that Westminster bureaucrats have their noses in the trough, and are conspiring with their Brussels colleagues to deny ordinary people in Britain their democratic rights, without having to back it up with hard evidence.
While suggestions of corruption and bad intentions are largely fabricated, the fact that the south-east is better off is not, and that adds the veneer of credence to their arguments.
And even if, as the bookies suggest, we vote to stay, British politics will not return to normal. The United Kingdom Independence party will be given exactly the argument it needs to further this narrative after the vote. It will be able talk of a betrayal, of a lost victory, and even of a stab in the back. We saw an Scottish National party landslide in Scotland after its defeat at the independence referendum. At the next election, Douglas Carswell is unlikely to be Ukip’s sole MP.
For many in these working communities, Ukip seems to be the only party that is concerned with their views. Instead of making vague and theoretical arguments about the economy, Ukip can offer simple and direct answers to their fears.
Yes we will keep the steel mill open. Yes we will kick out the Poles and secure British jobs for British workers. Yes we will take your tax money exported to EU and spend it on your local hospital.
That these policies are incredibly short term does not detract from their effectiveness as rhetorical tools. At heart, they offer something tangible.
We are also going to have to offer something tangible if we are to heal the divide in trust this country now faces.
The dividends of integration will need to be spread more widely, to give those communities currently missing out a stake. But moreover, we are going to have to deal with these communities’ deeper fears, especially on immigration, head on.
If we keep patronising socially conservative voters, by giving the impression that we know better, and we don’t think their concerns are really a problem, they will be driven deeper into the embrace of Ukip.
Alternatively, we can deal with these concerns in a positive way, and offer practical and pragmatic solutions to their concerns, while not giving in to a politics of fear.
But it’s going to take a rejection of hands off multiculturalism and an embrace of muscular liberalism. We need to nudge minority communities to integrate more, and we need to demonstrate, not just tell socially conservative largely white communities, that immigrants are just like them in every way.
We have to provide direct responses to their worries.
Worried about people not speaking English around you?
Fine, let’s up the English requirements required for employment in the UK, but let’s also offer free English lessons to those who are not meeting the standard. That would make language standards a reasonable requirement and not a punitive attack on already poor and ostracised parts of the minority community, as well as further community unity by allowing better communication.
Worried about migrants coming in and taking low paid work, undercutting wages?
Fine, let’s crack down on employers that pay people less than the minimum wage. Hit employers like Sports Direct, who flout these laws to exploit cash poor immigrants, in the pocket. We can level the playing field for British workers, without having to resort to crude stereotyping and nationalism, while keeping the labour market open and flexible.
Worried about communities not integrating?
Fine, let’s change the school intake boundaries to disrupt the mono-racial intake some schools face, dividing communities by race. When their children are bringing Muslim friends home to play, even the most social conservative people are unlikely to continue to fear them, when they realise young Muslims are far more likely to spend their time talking about the latest episode of the X Factor than the intricacies of the Koran.
To regain the trust of socially conservative working communities, we cannot just ignore their fears. We have to work to allay them, rather than allowing those fears to turn into hatred, something which sadly took Jo Cox from us last week.
The Brexit campaign has badly divided Britain. Unless we start listening to those voting for the other side, it will remain that way.
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George Greenwood is a political columnist at CapX. He tweets @GeorgeGreenwood
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