75%

According to YouGov polling, 75% of young voters in the UK voted to remain in the EU. These are their voices, as well as those who were too young to vote, but wanted to have their say. A Guardian project.

[the75percent]

I feel overwhelmingly disheartened and embarrassed to be British. Our vote as young people has been completely ignored, and once again our future is being decided by the older generation. It's completely unfair. I worry for the future of our country. As I live in Wales, we benefit from a huge amount of EU funding which will never be subsidised by the UK government. With Scotland and Northern Ireland likely to leave the UK in order to rejoin the EU, what does it leave behind?

[the75percent]

I am distraught about the result

“I'm 23 and I'm just graduating with a Spanish degree from the university of Chester. I can tell you that I am distraught about the result and feel like it's just one more hurdle and our generation has to jump over. We already have extortionate tuition fees, it's near impossible to get onto the property ladder and getting a graduate job is a increasing more difficult. And now this! We are a generation that has benefited from mobility and multiculturalism and the older generations have just made our lives harder.

All of the campaigns were a disgrace, from scaremongering to name calling and the whole thing has made me ashamed to be British.

I'm glad that this has made people engage in politics, but I am now extremely worried about my future.”

- Hannah Colder

[the75percent]

I watched the results come out until about 3.30 and whilst it kept fluctuating with who was in the lead, I was genuinely hopeful that Remain had won. Waking up on 24th June, I never expected Leave to have won and I'm utterly disappointed, mainly because the majority of those who voted Leave are 60+ year olds, who are unhappy with the establishment and would rather walk away from all the opportunities and prefer to have our seat at the table empty and mess up our futures! These are only a few words I can think of but im mainly utterly devasted and angry

Zeena, 18

[the75percent]

My future has been decided by people it doesn't concern. This decision will not effect them in the long term, however it will change my life dramatically, all I can say is that it is selfish and narrow-minded. I no longer feel safe I this country.

[the75percent]

I'm incredibly disappointed at the results of the referendum, for what it means for the UK  on the global stage and for what it means for me personally.

I recently emigrated to Sweden, and as a 23-year old Scot at the start of my career in an international, incredibly competitive industry (game development) I have no idea what the implications of the Leave vote will be. Losing freedom of movement across the EU will hamper my job opportunities for the future.

We didn't vote for this- my generation nor my part of the country. It's clear from the demographics that the majority voting leave will not have to face the long term implications of the referendum. For people graduating university and starting their careers, lack of freedom of movement combined with uncertainly over pensions etc is a disaster.

- Caitlin Goodale

[the75percent]

[the75percent]

Angered. The economy will fall apart ruining the futures of many young people. Without the EU the country will be helpless. We will lose Scotland, Ireland and Wales to this as they believe to become their own separate country. The majority of this country are not even English, so to vote out ruins our multi-cultural background. Something that majority of citizens loved about the country. To vote out was the worst thing to do. This country will be in distress and potentially riots or something of the sort could start again. It honestly seems that 52% of the country wanted in rather that out by the way people have reacted and been speaking.

[the75percent]

Absolutely horrified and disgusted at our country. I had more faith in this country, waking up to seeing people write hello Great Britain is insulting and just shows what small minded deluded people surround us. Older generations think they have done this for us all they have done is let us have an uncertain future picking up pieces whilst they are in the ground. Lies upon lies from the leave campaign will start to unravel and what will be left is the hardworking people picking up the pieces

Philippa Huddersfield

[the75percent]

I'm 17 and I'm appalled by the fact that we as a country have taken this stupid risk in leaving the EU. Not just that, but I think the fact that people aged 17 should be aloud to vote as this has affected us the most and has completely changed how the future of my life will play out.

[the75percent]

I am genuinely shocked and in despair of the result, with forever increasing rental costs and inability to get on the housing ladder, i believe this is one of the most challenging times to be young in Britain. Britain is becoming increasingly unequal, with younger generations taking the greatest hit and I think leaving the EU will only make this situation worse.

Josh Capstick

[the75percent]

Vote With Your Feet, The Ballots Don't Listen

I was born in what is lauded by progressives as the multicultural hub of Bradford. I’ve grown up alongside these so-called “immigrants”; they’ve been my friends, my classmates, my adversaries and a hugely valuable part of my life.

On the last day of my final A-level exam in 2012, having witnessed the beginnings of austerity ideology, I packed my rucksack and moved to Scotland.

Bradford has been neglected by the government for decades, which I know from my mother’s position within the local council, and the Tories certainly weren’t about to do a 180 on funding allocations, so I followed my socialist leanings and make the leap.

In 2015, I voted Yes to Scottish independence, because I believed that continued union with England would lead to a world of grief; isolationism, class war, racism rinsed with half-truths and outright lies.

Yesterday’s referendum result vindicates that opinion.

If the Ukippers want “Britain for the British” (ie white) then I shall gladly be a traitor and use every scrap of democracy available to me to stay as far away from their ilk as possible.

Those thousands who are wailing on Twitter about their regret about voting Leave have my sympathies, as they were sold a pack of lies.

It does, however, especially when taken into account with the most popular EU-related Google search queries, call into question the mental capacity of those voters.

Demographically, the elderly (65+) were the biggest boost for the Leave result. These people are also statistically the least likely to be computer literate, which would have given them access to information outside the British propaganda machine. 

The whole situation is ugly. I’m glad Europe got shot of England, they deserve better. 

If one believes in socialist values, collaboration, unity and fellow-feeling, all I can advise is get yourselves north of the border, sharpish.

[the75percent]

Thanks Dad, I am now legitimately scared for my future...

Exactly what it says on the tin. I'm a resident of the North West, currently in a gap year following my fifth year in college, and voted to Remain. I wanted this situation to be avoided. I hoped that the baby boomers would vote with the younger generation in mind. My heart goes out to all those too young to vote on our market and futures.

The part that personally sickens me is that my own dad voted to leave, even after I made it explicitly clear that I wanted to remain within the EU. Even though I can take heart in the fact that I went in as my own man with my own dreams and wishes, I still feel betrayed. Someone please help, I really don't know what to think of this...

-Michael, 21

#euref #eu referendum #eu remain #the 75% #submission

[the75percent]

I don’t know how to feel really, I’ve gone through shock and anger to now just defeat.

As someone who narrowly couldn’t vote, if anything this shows that my opinion, my future doesn’t matter. The benefits that the EU offers for a young person will gone, will I want to go onto science if there’s no research? Will my friend be able to get into their dream uni abroad.

I’m afraid of the rise of right wing nationalism, I’m afraid of what it means to be European and part of a global community will be lost to fear and xenophobia. I’m afraid for my friends and the futures which we were promised which may be taken away from us.

Ultimately I’m ashamed of Britain, of both campaigns, of fear mongering and lying to the electorate and using emotional manipulation rather than rational arguments. I don’t feel British any more, nor believing the British values of tolerance, perseverance and acceptance that we as a nation have held and pride ourselves in.

My future, and those of our peers feels in the dark, done so by something we didn’t even vote for.

[the75percent]

I woke up this morning to read the news that the United Kingdom had decided to go it alone, voting by a slim majority to leave the European Union. To say I was disappointed is an understatement. With this vote comes a level of uncertainty that my generation has never before experienced. Our entire lives we have been EU citizens, but as of today we begin the two-year long journey in the BrExit lane.

First and foremost, I am a Historian. I am currently working on my Master’s degree, having spent the past four years studying the past, and doing my best to learn from it what I can. Today’s historic decision has firstly disappointed me. We spent around a decade attempting to gain membership to the organisation which would one day become the EU, each time being rebuffed by the French. When we eventually entered into the EEC, it was in a decade where Britain was mired in both economic and social turmoil. In the decades after, things got better. I’m not stating that correlation is causation here, but conditions did improve, at least in part due to our membership of the EEC. Since that point, there has always been opposition to our membership of the European initiative. Yet as a collection of nations we have stuck with it. We fought hard for concessions. I believe we should have remained, and continued to fight for change from within. Sadly, that is no longer possible and I feel those decades of effort have gone to waste.

Today’s result has also left me worried. I am worried about the future of our nations, as individual countries and as the United Kingdom. Independence debates have resurfaced in the wake of the result, most notably in Scotland. I am worried about my future. The EU provides a large amount of money for research purposes; as an academic I am rightly concerned about what will become of this funding as we slowly drift from our continental cousins. I am worried about the future of my 3-year-old niece, and all those younger than myself. They could have opportunities stripped away from them; the opportunity to study in mainland Europe via the Erasmus scheme; the opportunity to explore one of the most culturally rich areas of the world freely without much hindrance. I also fear for social mobility, in a country that is seeing its people priced out of the housing market and seeing a rising cost of education.

But most importantly I fear what has become of us now as a people. We are a nation divided. The campaigns on either side, though well fought, preyed on people’s fears, in some cases their prejudices. Goebbels believed that propaganda could only reinforce the opinions that people already held. Today’s result makes me question what some of the pro-Exit voters already believed.

Amongst all the heartfelt outpourings of triumph and commiseration there is the inevitable vitriol. On social media I have seen various people attacked because of their political beliefs, on either side of the fence. Magnanimous in victory, gracious in defeat we are not. Whether In or Out, is this the Britain we want? I for one, want a Britain that is strong, not divided, whether independent or an EU member state. What will emerge from what most of us feel to be an air of intolerance and pessimism, I do not know.

The road that lies ahead of us will be full of hardships and we will not weather them as a nation divided. I hope that we can accept the referendum’s outcome, put aside our differences and suffer them together, whether we asked for them or not. And with that in mind I look to the future with trepidation, but with that British stiff upper lip in the hope that we will make a better future for those who come after us as is our duty. I stand resolute, an Englishman, a Briton, but most importantly, a European.

[the75percent]

I’m 17, I turn 18 at the end if the year. I’m half French, a product of the eu. I could not vote in this referendum despite the massive impact it will have on my life. Yesterday I was full of anxiety as I waited for people I don’t know to decide my fate for me and hoped that they would be kind, they were not. I stayed up until 3 in the morning following the results and when I went to sleep remain were in the lead as predicted. But then I woke up three hours later and everything had changed, leave had won. I have never cried as much as I did this morning, or had a panic attack as bad, but that’s what the result lead me to. 

I don’t know where this leaves me or my French mother who’s been here for over 20 years. I am honestly scared for my future that has been thrown into uncertainty by the votes of the 65+ in a way that I have never been before. My plans for the future scattered in the wind. The prospect of an unelected prime minister just over the horizon. An economic catastrophe brewing. Xenophobia and racism on the rise. All on the bases of politicians outright lying to the general public (but to be honest what’s new) spreading fear and panic through propaganda. 

I no longer feel like I belong in this country even though I was born and raised here, I no longer feel like I am wanted in this country. Today I am ashamed to be British.

-Melissa, 17

[the75percent]

There should be no place for this xenophobic rhetoric in Britain today

As a young person from Liverpool, such a diverse and multicultural city, I’m so disappointed that Britain has voted out, and even more disappointed that it appears out votes have been cast due to misled perceptions on EU migration.

EU migration has made a significant economic and cultural contribution to Britain, and I’m proud to be from a city which has welcomed migrants with open arms. The reports of EU migrants feeling unwelcome in the country following the result, which have been emerging on social media, are devastating.

If Britain is a truly liberal and tolerant society, as numerous politicians have stated this morning, then we need to recognise that scapegoating EU migrants for the impact of austerity is fundamentally wrong. If Britain wants to continue to present itself as a country which is inclusive and supports social mobility, the plans to leave the EU must allow migrants to continue to make the UK their home, and must allow them to continue to contribute to our way of life and our culture.

I hope that, going forward, people recognise that the vote for out is a vote for closing ourselves off to the rest of the world, and we do what we can to challenge this while the changes are occurring over the next few years.

- Alex, 21 (Liverpool)

[the75percent]

This result definitely feels like the baby boomers are pulling up the drawbridge behind them. They all got to vote even though they don’t have to live with it as long but I’ve got friends who were months, weeks or even days to young to vote. It jusy seems pretty unfair we’re being forced into a future we don’t want. 

With the dropping of the pound we’re gonna be the ones paying AGAIN for something we don’t want. 

I keep getting absolutely furious and then bursting into tears. Part of me feels like (and hopes) it’s all a dream