Annual BPS Conference Presentation under the "Brexit and Me: Psychological Consequences of the UK leaving the European Union". 2019, Harrogate

1. “Should We Exit Before Brexit?”
Ivett Ayodele
Sustainable Housing & Urban Studies Unit
Salford University
Annual BPS Conference
Harrogate
2019

2. February 2006…
 Initial Plans & Myth of Return
 3.3 million EU citizens chose the UK
to be their HOME
 Brexit- threatens basic rights of EU
citizens
 Voice of EU Citizens has not been
loud enough during the Referendum
Campaign (Jackson, Thorsen &
Wring, 2016) & in academia in
relation to Brexit
 Aim: To give voice EU citizens
themselves, through sharing their
stories

3. “Brexit means what?”
…Uncertainty…

4. Research Objectives
1. To explore Hungarian Workers’ Experiences within the
paid labour market (PLM) prior to the EU Referendum
2. To highlight the perceived impacts of the Referendum on
their PLM experiences
3. To understand how Brexit shapes their future plans in the
United Kingdom

5. Source: McCollum et al. (2012); Analysing Annual Population Survey Data, ONS (2010
Why Hungarians?
Hungary Poland Slovakia Czech Republic Lithuania Latvia
-40
-20
0
20
40
60
80
100
% Change in A8 nationals
Percentage change in nationals of A8 in the UK between
July 2007 and June 2008 & July 2008 and June 2009

6. Methodology
• Qualitative Design
• Targeted and Snowball Sampling
• Hungarian by nationality
• Living and working in the UK at least for 5 years
• Presently living and working in Manchester
 10 semi-structured (20-30 mins) interviews
 Fieldwork: October 2017- January 2018
 Thematic analysis (Brown & Clarke, 2006) was used to analyse
the transcripts
• NVivo was used during the analytic process

7. Mindmap of the Results

8. Result I.
Hungarian Workers’ Experiences prior to the Brexit
Vote
Master Themes Subthemes
Motivations to
migrate
Economic
Reasons
Seeking
Adventure
Other Reasons
Upward Mobility
within the Labour
Market
Barriers to
gaining
employment
De-Skilling &
Exploitation
Moving on to
better jobs

9. Motivations to Migrate
“The political climate in
Hungary was part of my
reasons…on the other
hand, I wanted to learn the
language and part of it was
love and economic
reasons as well.”
(Júlia, 27)

10. Upward Mobility within the Labour Market
Domestic Workers
Factory worker
Pizza delivery guy
Shop assistant
Nanny
Music Teacher
IT
Technician
Lorry Driver
Graphic
Designer
Barista
Property
Administrator
Occupational
skidding
Bad work
conditions
Exploitation
Low-waged
jobs
Secondary
job market
Lack of
Language
Skills
Non-
Transferable
Qualification
False
Information
Domestic Workers
Barriers to gaining employment De-Skilling
Moving on to better jobs

11. Result II.
Hungarian Workers’ Experiences after the Brexit Vote
Master Themes Subthemes
Making sense of the
result
Feeling shocked Sense of mistrust Rationalisation of the
result
Impacts and Future
Intentions
Feeling uncertain Perceived impact Future intentions

12. It was a shock for us, personally
it had a physical impact on me
too, because I had a stomach
ache when I heard a news at
work (Angéla, 36)
“I felt as if they punched me in
my stomach…somehow I felt,
that this country does not want
me anymore.” (Pál,48)
I think, although I have not been
interested in British Politics, they
deceived English people when
they announced this
Referendum. I think the nation
was misinformed and they will
see the effects now. (Tibor, 40)
Feeling Shocked Sense of Mistrust Rationalisation of the Result
I. Making sense of the Results

13. II. Impacts and Future Intentions
“Well, I am waiting for some
information on that …because the
situation is so uncertain at the
minute…like no one knows what
will happen…and when I say no
one…I really mean no one…so not
sure what will happen” (János, 33)
“I wanted to change my job
actually…there was that period,
but I thought straight after the
Referendum, that maybe as I am a
foreigner, they would not employ
me.” (Attila, 39)
…we were in the middle of buying
our house and we asked a week
break from the agency, as we told
them we are not sure what does it
mean for us…” (Angéla, 36)
Feeling Uncertain

14. Perceived Impacts
“Well, we heard that at some
factories, employees or
cleaners…they did not get employed
because they did not have British
passport…so I though yes, maybe we
will be affected…” (Júlia, 27)
“…my husband experienced some
racist comments…but it was not too
bad, mostly like English
humour…which can be harsh
sometimes.” (Júlia, 27)
“Well, they were really nice after
that, they reassured me that surly I
can stay…and also my company, sent
a letter early on to each employee,
that if we are foreigners we should
feel reassured and safe, the
company will stand by us.”
(Angéla. 36)

15. Future Intentions
“… before we did not need it, I think we
would not need it even after Brexit as
we are here for more than 5 years, but
we want to do that, to get out
citizenship...yes. “(Attila, 39)
“…I think the political situation is more
stable here regardless Brexit.
Legislations do not happen overnight,
not in five minutes on the train, just
because someone think they will
overwrite the constitution and by the
time the train arrives, there is a new
constitution in Hungary.” (Júlia, 27)
“Since the Referendum I didn’t notice a
difference. People relate to me the
same way. I met a lot of people before
the Referendum, whom I believe do not
like immigrants at all…those still don’t
like them. I do not believe this changed
people’s attitude... (Ákos, 35)

16. Brexit: A
Psychological
Trauma?
“I used the bus to go to work…and I
remember there were 3 bus drivers who
had the “Leave” badge on them while
they were driving. And they said it many
times…well when I showed them the bus
pass, they pointed at their badge which
said “vote to leave”. And I think as a
worker of such company, they should not
do that…I got on as a foreigner and I was
even scared to say hello…you know
because of my accent.”
(Angéla, 36)

17. Conclusions
 Findings were in line (e.g. Currie, 2008) with
previous literature in relation to migrants’ PLM
experiences in the UK
• Diverse motivations
• De-skilling and exploitation
• Highly-mobile migrant workers
 In relation to post –Referendum Experiences:
• Initial shock & rationalisation of results and
rationalisation of why the UK needs migrant
workers
• Uncertainty remains
• Although most informant was sure that Brexit will
not affect them, they were all planning to legalise
their status “just in case”

18. Acknowledgements
This project was supervised by Professor Anya Ahmed &
Professor Lisa Scullion, under the Sustainable Housing and
Urban Unit, as part of an MRes Social Policy programme at
the University of Salford.

19. Thank You
Contact details:
Email: i.b.ayodele1@salford.ac.uk
Twitter: @ivettayo