But as the campaign intensified and more information came to light about the economic impact leaving the EU would have on the country she’s called home for 28 years, the Green’s Harbour, Trinity Bay native changed her mind.
With the referendum promised by Prime Minister David Cameron in last year’s election set for Thursday, Simmons worries her country is destined to turn its back on the EU on the basis of prejudice.
“We feel anxious not only about the referendum, but about the state of the world at the moment,” she explained to The Compass Wednesday, noting it’s been a hot topic with friends in her community of Chudleigh, Devonshire.
But as the campaign intensified and more information came to light about the economic impact leaving the EU would have on the country she’s called home for 28 years, the Green’s Harbour, Trinity Bay native changed her mind.
With the referendum promised by Prime Minister David Cameron in last year’s election set for Thursday, Simmons worries her country is destined to turn its back on the EU on the basis of prejudice.
“We feel anxious not only about the referendum, but about the state of the world at the moment,” she explained to The Compass Wednesday, noting it’s been a hot topic with friends in her community of Chudleigh, Devonshire.
“What’s going on in the U.S. with Donald Trump, what’s going on here with (former London mayor and leave-movement campaigner) Boris Johnson, with our MP (Jo Cox) who was murdered in cold blood a few days ago, again for political reasons, and now this referendum … It suddenly looks like we could very well leave the EU because people are xenophobic, afraid of immigration, inherently racist and leaving for the wrong reasons — for some idealized notion of taking our country back.
“Nobody can say back from what, back from where, back from who.”
The two campaigns battling it out in the months leading up to Thursday’s vote have done so with great intensity. In Simmons's view, both sides are at fault for failing to engage in reasoned arguments for-and-against leaving the 28-member EU.
“Both sides have been campaigning using exaggerations and scare tactics and (are) appealing to people’s fear instead of their intellects,” she said. “It’s only in the last two weeks that anybody has been publishing actual facts, and those are not government representatives. Those are independent people writing blogs and things.”
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In a media landscape dominated by tabloid headlines about the issue, Simmons finds the public by-and-large has failed to recognize the long-term implications of leaving the EU on public services and trade. She also gives credit to Johnson for boosting the leave movement, admitting the former London mayor is a charismatic speaker. Simmons fears if the leave campaign is successful, the country could eventually find itself with Johnson as a Conservative prime minister.
“Lots of us feel very anxious, but not only about the referendum. The referendum is actually the teetering on the brink. I think it’s just another symptom of the way the world is at the moment.”
