Brexit Diaries #4: Islington (February 1, 2020)

Angel, Islington South and Finsbury - Two days ago, waiting for 11pm, when UK would be finally out of the EU, thousands of people gathered in Parliament Square, few yards away from PM Boris Johnson’s residence in Downing Street. If this was the place of partying for Brexit, Islington is the place for protesting against it, for supporting EU citizens’ rights, for being inclusive. Islington is not in fact just a borough of the capital, it’s a community.

Islington, from a demographic point of view, is composed for the majority of non-British people, creating a multicultural environment, but at the same time, poverty and deprivation affect this area. When it comes to this latter problem of economic nature, the Labour Party, which has been ruling here for decades, seems fit for the job; indeed, Jeremy Corbyn has served as MP for Islington North for the last 37 years. But Corbyn, with his left-wing Euroscepticism, failed to interpret the internationalist essence of Islington, which very largely voted Remain in the 2016 Referendum.

Follow a European Generation member Gioele Giussani as he travels to London in the first days after the United Kingdom exited the European Union. What are his impressions of post-Brexit London? How do Londoners and other Europeans feel about entering this new era? Read more from this series to find out.