Brits fear ‘world must be laughing at us’ as Brexit chaos rolls on

Brits have spoken of their embarrassment over the handling of Brexit as the UK crumbles under pressure and tensions erupt.

A specialty cheese shop in London’s Borough Market might seem an unlikely place for Brexit tensions to erupt.

But between shavings of smoked, blue and truffle-infused cheese, under pigeons roosting on railway arches, the topic can’t help but bubble up — such is the stench of disgust with the current state of politics which is either obstructing democracy or hurling Britain into the abyss, depending on your point of view.

Staffer Sarah Germishuizen, 26, can barely contain her contempt for Prime Minister Boris Johnson and the crop of Conservative politicians who have suspended Parliament and want to force Britain out of the European Union (EU) in a “do or die” moment on Halloween.

“He’s just useless,” she fumed about the blonde-haired Brexiteer, saying he could be “separated at birth” from US President Donald Trump, in between handing out wafer-thin slices of cheese.

“I think Theresa May did a better job but she’ll never be taken seriously because she’s a woman. We have a Boris. America has a Trump. They could be brothers.”

She voted Remain in the 2016 referendum and would do it again, saying the decision to leave was a “crazy” one from the older generation who would be insulated from the worst impact of Brexit.

Listen up kids. Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson visits a school in London and may be reflecting on his own place in British history. Picture: Toby Melville/AFP.

Opinion is divided in London’s Borough Market over Brexit, as it is everywhere else. Picture: Stock.

Two Brexit-voting customers profoundly disagreed, with 42-year-old Simon Bezurdenhout saying he voted against becoming part of a “United States of Europe”.

The South African citizen who has lived in London for 20 years said he “100 per cent agrees” with Mr Johnson and failure to get a Brexit deal so far has made a “mockery of democracy”.

He blamed Remainers for “spreading project fear” — the term Leave voters used to rubbish claims a Brexit vote would damage the economy — and said Britain should “drain the swamp” of politicians who won’t carry out what the country voted for.

His friend Trevor Sharples, 61, said he was never a fan of Mr Johnson before his recent stint in Number 10, but admires that he’s “the only one that said the country voted to leave”.

The friends were adamant their decision had “nothing to do with foreigners” and was not motivated by racism, but was against the “homogenisation” of European culture.

As for the impact it has had on Britain’s standing in the world, Mr Sharples said it’s “sad” the vote had “completely ruined the political system in this country”.

“The rest of the world must be laughing at us,” he said.

Britain's parliament on Tuesday began a controversial five-week suspension. Picture: Glyn Kirk/AFP.

Protesters outside the Houses of Parliament. Picture: Tolga Akmen / AFP.

The encounter illustrates just how deeply and evenly the country is divided over the Brexit question, which in three years since the referendum has morphed into a fault line that has driven the country and the political system down the middle.

Fallout from the vote has pitted young against old, north against south, family members against each other and torn the Conservative and Labour parties apart in their struggle to adopt a cohesive policy on the defining issue of a generation.

The Brexit question goes beyond party lines and economic inequality to question the cultural identity of the nation: What does modern Britain look like? Who belongs there? And where does it stand in the world order?

This week, Mr Johnson’s decision to prorogue Parliament was ruled unlawful by a group of Scottish judges who claimed the five-week shutdown was designed to “stymie” Parliament ahead of Brexit.

The government will take the decision to the Supreme Court and Parliament will resume on October 14 with a new Queen’s speech designed to reset the legislative agenda.

Whether Mr Johnson will get the general election he has been hoping for remains to be seen as opposition MPs remain opposed. At present, he is legally compelled to seek an extension to the Brexit deadline leaving him with a choice of breaking the law, breaking his word, or having no Brexit.

Like many of us, Kevin Lowdermilk admits he has ‘no f***ing idea’ what is going on with Brexit. Picture: Victoria Craw/News.com.au

Meanwhile, EU citizens in the UK and Brits in the EU remain unsure about what exactly will happen to their lives as the days to October 31 tick by.

Norwegian retail worker Kevin Lowdermilk, 26, has been living in London for seven years and had “no f***ing idea what’s going on”.

“They don’t even know if they’re going to leave or remain yet,” he said. “Everyone is ready to up and f***ing leave. The situation for me is a lot easier. If you have a family that’s a lot more complex.”

His situation is complicated by the fact Norway is a member of the European Economic Area rather than the EU, but he said he, along with his Italian girlfriend, would just wait and see what happens.

“Originally I was told I had nothing to worry about. All Norwegians would be safe and then they changed their mind,” he said, adding that he declined to put his name on a government list because “things that start with lists never end well”.

He said it seemed the political situation had “spiralled” to the point where people don’t even know if Brexit was positive or negative.

“It makes people look like racist, xenophobes, talking about sovereignty. What are we in the 1800s?” Mr Lowdermilk said.

“No one really knows what it’s about anymore. Why are we still pretending that this is about you and me because it’s not.”

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