British citizens leaving UK because of Brexit

LONDON - 28 August 2017: British citizens devastated by the EU referendum result are leaving the UK to seek a new life abroad as statistics reveal rising emigration, The Independent reported.

Following a report on the European citizens fleeing Britain in what is being dubbed a “Brexodus”, The Independent has been inundated with messages from Brits saying they are doing the same.

Cliff James, 44, describes himself as a “Brexile” after upping sticks in October last year and travelling to countries including India, Nepal, Australia, France, Israel and parts of South America.

“The EU referendum result was a huge shock, like a bereavement,” he said.

“Overnight, it felt like the country had returned to the Dark Ages of ignorance and hatred… I thought about staying and trying to fight this tide, but it felt overwhelming.”

Like several other Brits who contacted The Independent, he has applied for Irish citizenship in the hope or retaining a formal link to the EU and the rights it entails.

James plans to eventually settle in Spain and says that despite missing his friends and the UK landscape, he has no regrets.

Sheree-lea Fox, from Southampton, is preparing to move to Denmark with her partner next summer and “cannot wait” to leave.

The 27-year-old, who is expecting their first child, said she felt proud to be British but now believes people are “becoming far more racist, less tolerant and generally selfish”.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said 122,000 EU citizens left the UK in the year to March, while 134,000 British citizens emigrated in the same period – up 8,000 on the year before.