News
Dina Rickman
Jun 25, 2016
On Thursday 52 per cent of the population voted to leave the United Kingdom.
Voters on both sides of the campaign had clear and rational reasons for choosing to stay in or to leave the EU but voters on both sides also had some less rational motives.
Among them was an unidentified man interviewed by Channel 4 News in Barnsley, north England, who voted to Leave the EU to stop Muslims coming in from "Africa, Syria, Iraq" - a problematic explanation for many reasons, chiefly because those are all areas that aren't in the EU so aren't covered by EU freedom of movement rules.
This is how the conversation went:
Man:
It's all about immigration. It’s not about trade or Europe or anything like that, it’s all about immigration. It's to stop the Muslims coming into this country, simple as that.
Channel 4 News' Ciaran Jenkins:
Do you think you voted to leave the EU to stop Muslims coming to the country?
Man:
To stop immigration. The movement of people in Europe, fair enough but not from Africa, Syria, Iraq, everywhere else. It's all wrong.
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