The English ‘hate foreigners’? As an Irishman here I disagree
As an ethnically mixed family, we deliberately chose England for its diversity
Declan McSweeney: ‘For myself and my family, Britain has been a welcoming place.’
“The Brits, or actually the English, hate foreigners,” former leader of the Irish Labour Party Ruairi Quinn told a Tier One seminar on Brexit recently. “It didn’t stop them creating an empire, but they hate foreigners.”
As an Irishman in England who was a remain voter, I would have to say this oversimplifies a complex reality. Quinn makes valid points about the significance of Brexit for the Irish economy and the border between the two parts of Ireland, but the referendum results require a deeper analysis.