A Briton on Brexit: We are tired of paying for the past, this open-ended reparation must stop

Brexit, or United Kingdom’s decision to sever ties with the European Union via the historic referendum, has been interpreted as an endorsement of right-wing populist politics. Campaigners for ‘Leave’, like Nigel Farage’s UK Independence Party (UKIP), have focused on containing the number of immigrants — especially from the EU — entering UK and ridding British workers of their jobs. According to Oxford researchers Cinzia Rienzo and Carlos Vargas-Silva, “Between 1993 and 2014, the foreign-born population in the UK more than doubled from 3.8 million to around 8.3 million. During the same period, the number of foreign citizens increased from nearly 2 million to more than 5 million.” I have a British friend. And this is what he says. Much of it is satirical. However, much of it is also a possible reflection of how the average English man or woman privately feels.  Here goes: British Airways is being co-opted to book special flights to India so that 500,000 Brits can return to the former jewel in the crown of the empire and set up shop again. Surely, no one in Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata and Mumbai will mind this first wave of a much larger planned invasion. [caption id=“attachment_2847952” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Nigel Farage campaigning for Brexit. AP[/caption] We hope that by 2025 bangers and mash will replace rice and curry and ‘balti’ will render space to steak and kidney pie and hot, buttered scones. You guys won’t mind us becoming bosses of your corporations and having our own ghettos or renaming places so we can pronounce them. I would stand for elections and become the sheriff of Mumbai and soon the Chief Minister of Delhi could be called Reginald Cholmondeley. Has it ever struck you that we are tired of paying for the past. Tired to the bone. Yes, I know you have written often enough about we Brits asking for it by sailing around the world and mucking it up but I didn’t do it, I wasn’t there and we cannot carry this guilt forever. All colonisers should have stayed at home. But they did not. But it cannot be an open-ended reparation which is what it has become now. Even the Europeans are tumbling in. Every day more of them pour in. Imagine if you will, shiploads of Brits or Africans or Chinese coming into Delhi or Mumbai, twisting the demographics and then showing disrespect for the system. Would your people grin and bear it? Do you know people from Poland have taken our handyman jobs. The Greeks come on over and don’t go back. The whole world comes and then goes on the dole and sucks the marrow out of our system. That is why the Brexit predictions have gone wrong. People feel lost. We just want our nation back. Is it a racist thing? I don’t know, I cannot say but I do get tired of the outsiders who seem to be more comfortable and very successful in making us feel strangers in our own home. The irony is that we are so trained to be politically correct and say the right thing and not offend that we have lost our identity. The EU only made the immigration issue worse and we are not the global policemen. Our bobbies are not even armed. One last thing. It is not about colour or strange languages and odd fragrances and different rituals. In fact, at this moment it is about Brits trying to hold back other white people. Our traditions are collapsing and that frightens us. Like all of you we just want our nation for ourselves. Is that difficult to appreciate? Disclaimer: The opinion expressed in this article is that of the author’s friend. It does not reflect the views of the author or Firstpost. Firstpost does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.