London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Tuesday, Jul 29, 2025

On a London high street, Brexit fatigue sets in

For Bill Elliott, who has sold flowers on the streets of London since he was 13, the promise of Brexit is fading.

"I've given up on it slightly, to be honest. It's gone on so long," the 56-year-old street vendor, a Leave supporter, said as he removed a bouquet from its plastic wrapping. "It looks like we'd take any deal now just to get it done."

He relies on flowers shipped to Britain from growers in the Netherlands to sell to his customers on a corner of Streatham High Road, which people in the South London neighbourhood claim is Europe's longest high street.

A no-deal Brexit, under which Britain would leave the European Union without a transition deal to soften the economic shock, might cause short-term disruption to the capital's wholesale flower markets.

But he says that might now be worth the risk. "Sometimes I think we should just have a clean break and see how things lie in five years' time with our economy," Elliott said.

"My opinion is that the EU has run its course. There are too many countries taking from it and not enough putting in. If we did make a success of Brexit, I don't think the EU would last."

Three years and four months after British voters shocked the world by deciding to become the first country to leave the EU, the nation remains divided on how, or even whether, to do it.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson once said he would rather be "dead in a ditch" than ask for a delay to the Oct. 31 Brexit deadline, which is already the third such cut-off date.

But now it looks like he will need more time.

For many voters in Streatham, leaving the EU is just as worrying a prospect as it was when the referendum was held in June 2016.

Much of the area lies within the borough of Lambeth where nearly four in five voters backed staying in the bloc, the strongest pro-Remain vote in Britain which reflected Streatham's diverse, multi-cultural population.

Judith Perez, who was born in Spain but has lived in Britain since she was a child, worried that Brexit would diminish the opportunities for younger British people who might want to study and work in other European countries.

She said several of her friends had left the city for Berlin, Barcelona and Spain since the referendum.

"It's not perfect, the euro (zone), of course. There is high unemployment," Perez said as she worked in a charity shop selling used clothes, books and compact discs.

"But you're part of something. I remember how things were here when I first came here. It wasn't great. It's much better now. We are going backwards, not forwards."

For Kafele Fairman, 54, who moved to London aged 16 from Jamaica, Brexit comes with a different worry - the fear of racist discrimination on the back of tougher border controls.

"As black people travelling, we have enough problems as it is," she said while enjoying a glass of Prosecco on an outside table of a bar in the sunshine on the high street.

In one of Streatham's churches, rector Anna Norman-Walker said people in her congregation held different political views but their Christian belief in a shared humanity had remained undimmed by the Brexit upheaval.

"Living in Streatham, we have a lovely, ecumenical, diverse community and people feel sad that the world seems to be scurrying back to individual little corners and pulling up the drawbridge," she said.

Brian Watkins, 58, who works in ADS One, a building supplies shop piled high with paint brushes, drills and saws, said he voted to leave the EU but now believed that he had been lied to about how much money Britain would save as a result, one of the main claims of the Leave campaign in 2016.

He, like most people in Britain, said he had no idea what the outcome of Brexit would be, with members of parliament (MPs) as deadlocked as ever over the way forward.

"It looks like it will be going on for another three months and who knows, perhaps another six or seven after that," Watkins said. "We might as well stay in. The MPs aren't going to let us out, are they?"

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
France Opens Criminal Investigation into X Over Algorithm Manipulation Allegations
A family has been arrested in the UK for displaying the British flag
Mel Gibson refuses to work with Robert De Niro, saying, "Keep that woke clown away from me."
Trump Steamrolls EU in Landmark Trade Win: US–EU Trade Deal Imposes 15% Tariff on European Imports
ChatGPT CEO Sam Altman says people share personal info with ChatGPT but don’t know chats can be used as court evidence in legal cases.
The British propaganda channel BBC News lies again.
Deputy attorney general's second day of meeting with Ghislaine Maxwell has concluded
Controversial March in Switzerland Features Men Dressed in Nazi Uniforms
Politics is a good business: Barack Obama’s Reported Net Worth Growth, 1990–2025
Thai Civilian Death Toll Rises to 12 in Cambodian Cross-Border Attacks
TSUNAMI: Trump Just Crossed the Rubicon—And There’s No Turning Back
Over 120 Criminal Cases Dismissed in Boston Amid Public Defender Shortage
UN's Top Court Declares Environmental Protection a Legal Obligation Under International Law
"Crazy Thing": OpenAI's Sam Altman Warns Of AI Voice Fraud Crisis In Banking
The Podcaster Who Accidentally Revealed He Earns Over $10 Million a Year
Trump Announces $550 Billion Japanese Investment and New Trade Agreements with Indonesia and the Philippines
US Treasury Secretary Calls for Institutional Review of Federal Reserve Amid AI‑Driven Growth Expectations
UK Government Considers Dropping Demand for Apple Encryption Backdoor
Severe Flooding in South Korea Claims Lives Amid Ongoing Rescue Operations
Japanese Man Discovers Family Connection Through DNA Testing After Decades of Separation
Russia Signals Openness to Ukraine Peace Talks Amid Escalating Drone Warfare
Switzerland Implements Ban on Mammography Screening
Japanese Prime Minister Vows to Stay After Coalition Loses Upper House Majority
Pogacar Extends Dominance with Stage Fifteen Triumph at Tour de France
CEO Resigns Amid Controversy Over Relationship with HR Executive
Man Dies After Being Pulled Into MRI Machine Due to Metal Chain in New York Clinic
NVIDIA Achieves $4 Trillion Valuation Amid AI Demand
US Revokes Visas of Brazilian Corrupted Judges Amid Fake Bolsonaro Investigation
U.S. Congress Approves Rescissions Act Cutting Federal Funding for NPR and PBS
North Korea Restricts Foreign Tourist Access to New Seaside Resort
Brazil's Supreme Court Imposes Radical Restrictions on Former President Bolsonaro
Centrist Criticism of von der Leyen Resurfaces as she Survives EU Confidence Vote
Judge Criticizes DOJ Over Secrecy in Dropping Charges Against Gang Leader
Apple Closes $16.5 Billion Tax Dispute With Ireland
Von der Leyen Faces Setback Over €2 Trillion EU Budget Proposal
UK and Germany Collaborate on Global Military Equipment Sales
Trump Plans Over 10% Tariffs on African and Caribbean Nations
Flying Taxi CEO Reclaims Billionaire Status After Stock Surge
Epstein Files Deepen Republican Party Divide
Zuckerberg Faces $8 Billion Privacy Lawsuit From Meta Shareholders
FIFA Pressured to Rethink World Cup Calendar Due to Climate Change
SpaceX Nears $400 Billion Valuation With New Share Sale
Microsoft, US Lab to Use AI for Faster Nuclear Plant Licensing
Trump Walks Back Talk of Firing Fed Chair Jerome Powell
Zelensky Reshuffles Cabinet to Win Support at Home and in Washington
"Can You Hit Moscow?" Trump Asked Zelensky To Make Putin "Feel The Pain"
Irish Tech Worker Detained 100 days by US Authorities for Overstaying Visa
Dimon Warns on Fed Independence as Trump Administration Eyes Powell’s Succession
Church of England Removes 1991 Sexuality Guidelines from Clergy Selection
Superman Franchise Achieves Success with Latest Release
×