John Barnes on the reason the UK voted for Brexit, but will never admit it

Everyone should listen to John Barnes.

Brexit has not dominated the news cycle in the same way it did in the first few months of 2019 as the deadline was pushed back, but with this week's European elections, it's a hot topic again in Britain. Nigel Farage's Brexit Party have led the opinion polls with traditional powerhouses the Tories and Labour suffering losses in the process. Although there is a growing lactose intolerant protest movement against Farage and other members of the Brexit Party and UKIP. Speaking on this week's Ireland Unfiltered with Dion Fanning, John Barnes outlined why the UK voted leave in the referendum despite all the polls saying the Remain side would win. According to Barnes, the referendum was won on immigration but nobody was willing to admit to it. They still aren't willing to admit today and they may never be willing to. "We know who voted for it, the people who remember the good old days, the empire days," Barnes said. "And that is why, that is why no one thought it would work. No one thought that they would vote to leave because no one was saying it. "Because if you asked people; no one would admit to it because they’d be accused of being racially biased and being against immigration. So everyone said, ‘Not a word.’ So that’s why when they did all the polls - they won’t win- because people - voted then when they won all of a sudden now they become emboldened and legitimised to then come out like America. "No one thought Donald Trump would win because they kept quiet because they knew the real reason why they were voting. They’ll never admit it. They’ll never admit it. And if you look at - I’ve got two kids in the NHS, two doctors. And the NHS can’t function without the foreign workers. So the whole idea of 350 million to the NHS, fine. It was won on immigration. It was won on immigration.

"But people were afraid to say that because then you’re going to accuse them of being racially biased. I’m racially biased. I can’t help it that’s how I’ve been brought up. I’m happy to say it. But they’re afraid to say it so they say no. So we gave them an excuse. We gave them an excuse. Because it’s not immigration. I speak to some of my friends who voted leave and I know them and I know why they voted but they say, “No no, it’s not because of that.” And they needed an excuse but they didn’t have one. And they quickly got one - sovereignty."

When questioned about whether he thinks it's all motivated by the same forces, Barnes said it was and it was as a result of what we've been told. People have been fed a false narrative of immigrants wanting to come over to Britain to simultaneously take people's jobs while also be a drain on the NHS. The public have been told that some of these highly qualified individuals and their families want to move to England to either get social housing and low paid jobs, or even go on the dole when the reality is far different. "A mother and her child," Barnes said, "Of course they want to get on a boat and take their lives in their hands to come across the Mediterranean whereby they can be killed, they can be sold as slaves - to come to England to get a council house and to get benefits, of course they want to do that. "Of course a doctor in Syria, who’s a doctor who’s got a PhD, wants to get on a boat with his family with just a handbag and just a bag with clothes in it to come to England to work as a porter. Of course he wants to do that.Why does he want to stay in Syria and be a doctor? "This is what people have been told that people want to come here to go on the dole and to get benefits. And I know people, I’ve watched documentaries on people who are intellectuals, who are engineers, who are scientists, who are doctors, who have left everything behind because they want to come and live in a council house in England and work as a kitchen porter. That’s what we’ve been feeding them." You can check out the full episode below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ua2PZd-DfKw Ireland Unfiltered, brought to you in partnership with Carlsberg Unfiltered, will be available everywhere you get your podcasts and on YouTube every Tuesday.