The UK’s “silent majority” of young voters are being attacked online for voting ‘leave’ in last week’s EU referendum.
75 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds voted to remain in the EU, and the young voters who supported the Leave campaign are being attacked as racist and xenophobic when they express their political views on social media.
19-year-old Thomas Proudfoot told BBC Newsbeat he received a lot of abuse and accusations of racism after he tweeted about his satisfaction with the results last Friday.
Proudfoot said he voted ‘leave’ because he supports stricter immigration laws and believes the money Britain sent to the EU could be better spent at home, however he did not condone racist attacks and threats towards foreign-born citizens, and attributed these incidents to the most extreme UKIP supporters.
“They believed that voting ‘out’ would completely stop immigration and that everyone who is not a UK national should leave the country,” he said. “In this country there are a lot of people from other countries within the EU who come and work here. Compared to most people in the UK they are willing to work and earn money, not just sitting and claiming as much benefits as possible.”
33-year-old actress Jenna Sharpe told BBC’s World Service radio she has been called racist, xenophobic, and even a Nazi after she came out in favor of Brexit.
“I voted to leave so my vote and those of future generations would actually count for something,” Sharpe said. “I felt we didn’t have the influence or the respect that people think we do have in the EU.”
20-year-old Brandon Torrie of Scotland said he has received similar criticism both online and in-person, but the “shy voters” were on team ‘leave.’
“You get called a racist xenophobe but obviously the silent majority of this country didn’t want to remain,” he told BBC.
“There is an adjustment period taking place and that is being overblown by the media,” Torrie said. “We all knew it was going to happen.”
