Warrington was a divided town when it came to the Brexit vote – 54.3% of the town voted to leave, versus 45.7% to remain.
And it seems the northern town was just as split on Tuesday, as Jeremy Corbyn revealed he would commit Labour to a second Brexit referendum by supporting a fresh Commons move to allow the UK to stay in the European Union.
HuffPost UK stopped off in Warrington as part of our travels across the north of England, along the M62 as part of our HuffPost Listens series.
We discovered mixed feelings when it comes to a so-called ‘People’s Vote’.
‘We Need To Get Our Britishness Back’
Taxi driver Mohammed Rafiq Khalil is a Jeremy Corbyn fan and believes he is the man to transform the nation.
But he says he feels that there are more important things to worry about than a second referendum.
“We need to have Jeremy Corbyn because he is the most genuine and sincere guy” he told HuffPost UK. “He gives a damn about every British person and that’s what it needs to be.
“No one is superior, no one is inferior; we are all equal. He is all about equality.
“We need to bring the real Britishness back into the country. Religious identity, that’s secondary; colour, secondary – what is most important is that we are British and we need to stick together, simple as that.
“I think this referendum and everything else needs to be secondary. We need to get authentic people, we need to get good people and we need to deal with the real issues.”
‘May Has Been Handed A Poisoned Chalice’
Julie Fildes voted to remain and feels everything related to Brexit has turned into “a bit of a shambles.”
However, even though she is a strong Remainer, she has torn feelings about a second referendum.
“I voted to remain but I also appreciate other people’s point of view that they wanted to leave and I think as a democracy, you have to respect that decision.”
She has sympathy for Theresa May as she feels she has been “handed a poisoned chalice” when she voted to remain herself.
“I think there is a lot of uncertainty in the country at the moment and it is a worrying time.
“I think Jeremy Corbyn is playing a game. He is basically seeing it is not working for Theresa May so he is actually doing the opposite to what she feels is the best for the country.”
‘People Didn’t Really Know What They Were Doing’
Taxi driver Fahine Sabir hears lots of people discussing Brexit in the back of his cab. He himself feels it would be better to remain in Europe.
He said: “I think Britain should remain in Europe because I have loads of friends from Europe and they are quite hardworking and they pay their taxes.
“I think we should have a second referendum because loads of people did not really know what they were doing.
“It is going to be a costly event but I think it would be better because people know more about Brexit than they knew before so a second referendum would be a good idea.”
‘Bad Things Could Happen If We Don’t Remain’
Charlotte Lowe, 20, says her parents voted to leave Europe but she wants to stay, as she fears the change would lead to bad things for her generation.
“I think we should stay because I don’t see a problem with us staying. But because we have not witnessed what it will be like when we leave, it could be like a dramatic change and a lot of bad things could happen.
“Just leave it like it is now and just work on what we have got to do now rather than in the future more problems happening and having to fix them then.”
She added that she thinks there should be another chance for people to vote as she thinks many will have changed their minds and will want to stay now they have heard about the problems with leaving.
“I don’t see the point of leaving. Don’t change anything. I don’t like change.”
‘People Can Change Their Mind To Do The Right Thing’
Cornelius Chucks has newly moved to Warrington from Italy and says he doesn’t believe Brexit is a good idea, and another vote would be welcome.
“I believe that Britain would be more progressive in Europe.
“Most of the time, when people do something, they have to re-think. They can change their mind to do the right thing or do something better.
“People should be allowed to vote again.
“If people vote again, a final decision will be taken because we are human beings and we can think something and then retreat back.”
‘We Are Not All Flat Caps And Whippets’
Mike Nolan feels people in London hold stereotypes of people living in the north of England, and think they are are all Brexiteers.
“We are not all flat caps and whippets up here; we have got our own opinions.
“I voted remain and I think when people were initially asked the question to leave or remain, a lot of lies were peddled on both sides.
“But I think now the full economic impact is being realised with job losses.
“I think if there is an opportunity to go back to the public and say ‘what you are voting for has changed, this is the reality’, I think it would be interesting.”
Nolan believes the defections of Labour MPs have been a wake-up call for Jeremy Corbyn. “It took those resignations for him to wake up and see that there is a huge majority of Labour voters and Labour members who don’t want Brexit who think it will be damaging for the economy and damaging for the working classes across the UK.”
‘I Would Still Vote To Leave Again’
Peter Leigh voted to leave and is infuriated and disappointed with the way things have gone with Brexit.
“It is as though we are being manipulated by somebody for their own purpose. Now they are talking about another vote.
“What happens if we do have another vote? You ask do you want to stay or go? You say go, what’s the next question? Do we have another vote after this if it’s not right? Quite frankly, it’s frustrating.”
Leigh says he voted leave as does not agree with a lot of Europe’s policies and says he doesn’t see why “we should be steered into doing things we don’t really want to do.”
He is adamant he would vote leave again and thinks Britain would do better on its own.
“I would not back Jeremy Corbyn one iota,” he told HuffPost UK. “I am a Labour man but they have drifted off and left the common man behind.”
‘We Voted Remain – But Now We’d Want To Leave’
While many people are calling for a second referendum as they feel a lot of people would now vote to stay, Pauline and Neil Delaney are in the opposite situation.
The couple voted to remain – but don’t want the second referendum that’s now being backed by Jeremy Corbyn, and say if there was they would actually now vote to leave.
Neil said: “The decision has been made so what’s the point of having a second referendum. We have had the results of that and whether you like it or not, you have to stick to it.”
Pauline added: “It’s like saying: ‘Oh we don’t like that prime minister, let’s do it again and see if we get a better one’. That’s not democracy.”
Pauline says they would actually vote to leave now as they feel the Brexit wrangling has shown Europe in its true colours.
“I think they are quite a bigoted, bullying organisation and I don’t really think I want to be part of anything like that for our country. I think Britain is better than that.
“I don’t think we should be pushed around by a load of unelected bureaucrats bullying us.”
Neil added: “I think the EU have made it extremely difficult for the UK. They won’t want any other countries leaving the European Union so they are not going to make it easy.”