Cheers, fears and reaction in Merced as Britain votes to exit EU

On its face, Britain looked the same Friday: The White Cliffs of Dover gleamed, the clamor of construction rumbled across London and bathers in the Hampstead Heath park took a dip in a murky pond while the rare sun lasted.

Yet Britons woke up to a different country after a historic referendum that is set to upend the island’s relationship with Europe. The question raised for this kingdom of 65 million with a long and proud history: Who are we, and who do we want to become now?

It was a question on the mind of Merced’s Stuart Rawling, a native Briton who was in London on Thursday and said he voted to “remain” in the European Union. Rawling, a 37-year-old international business developer for a Fresno company, spoke with the Sun-Star in a telephone interview Friday morning.

“The reaction here really is shock even, I think, from people who voted to leave,” Rawling said. “I don’t think they really believed it would pass. I was in London this morning and it’s a little surreal.”

Slightly more than half of the voters backed a call to leave the European Union, and their delight spilled onto the streets in a display of emotion usually reserved for football victories. Some waved Union Jack flags, while others sported more discreet badges and stickers signaling their pleasure.

Jessica Hertl, an internet marketer who moved from her native London to California nearly a decade ago, has been living in Merced for about three years.

“My feeling is that it really is a disaster for the U.K.,” Hertl told the Sun-Star. “I’m not surprised, but am deeply disappointed. I think the big shocker, really, is the resignation of (British Prime Minister David) Cameron. I don’t think anybody saw that coming.”

Back in London at Billingsgate market, Allen Laurence said the result was “absolutely wonderful. Best news ever.”

“We want England – or Great Britain – to come back how it was years ago,” the 65-year-old vendor said, between boxes of freshly caught seafood.

At the main train station in the well-heeled southwest London borough of Richmond, Olivia Sangster-Bullers, 24, called the result “absolutely disgusting.”

“I’ve just seen that the pound’s crashed, so good luck to all of us, I say, especially those trying to build a future with our children,” she said, before heading to catch a train to work.

While the momentous change seemed to happen overnight, in reality it has been creeping up on Britain for years. Issues of identity have bubbled under the surface even as Britain reveled in its image as a modern, multicultural society fizzing with aspiration and cool.

Years of austerity coupled with mass immigration have kindled resentment, particularly among the white working class, against elites in London – and by extension the EU’s headquarters in Brussels seen as responsible for an influx of Europeans to Britain. Despite a growing income gap, a Credit Suisse report found that the number of million-dollar-wealth households rose 30 percent from 2013 to 2014.

Hertl told the Sun-Star that anti-immigration sentiment has been “simmering for years.”

“I think the British people are pandering to a fear of immigration rather than looking at the big picture,” she said from her Merced home.

The outcome also was a somber reminder that the capital, where votes were strongly skewed toward remain, is at odds with much of the rest of the country. The city’s economy, strongly linked to international trade and banking, now is expected to take a hit as markets face years of uncertainty over Britain’s ties with Europe.

But that possibility wasn’t enough to deter English voters outside the capital from backing what has become known as “Brexit.”

The campaign was bitterly fought, with each side accusing the other of lying about the consequences of quitting the EU.

Nowhere was this more apparent than on social media, where Britain’s lively tradition of political debate frequently descended into vitriol. Commentators have blamed last week’s killing of Labour lawmaker Jo Cox – who had favored remaining in the EU – in part on the angry mood whipped up by the rhetoric of some in the “leave” camp.

On Friday, some “leave” voters urged their opponents to consider emigrating if they didn’t like the result. Others reveled in the promise that billions of pounds sent to Brussels each year would now be spent on bolstering Britain’s ailing health and education systems.

Time will tell whether the joy expressed by those who backed Britain’s exit was justified and what the nation’s new role in the world will be.

In the meantime, those despairing about the vote tweeted their frustration using the hashtag #WhatHaveWeDone. That mood was also summed up by two women embracing at the Richmond train station Friday morning.

As one fought back tears, the other opined: “It’s all gone a bit wrong today, hasn’t it?”

This story was originally published June 24, 2016 at 4:59 PM with the headline "Cheers, fears and reaction in Merced as Britain votes to exit EU."