Panel begins on "What does Brexit mean for Black and Asian Britain?" @neemabegum starts with the issues that shaped BME attitudes towards Brexit. Highlights 3 key areas: concerns about racism, immigration & Britishness, each of which could be deployed by either side. #MEIBrexit
Concerns about racism, for example, could drive a Remain vote because of fear of the rhetoric of Nigel Farage and Ukip, but it could also encourage Leave voting, due to anger at the EU's treatment of refugees and fears of Islamophobia in Europe.
Next up: @MTrevorP recalls his last visit to @QMUL 40 years ago, and congratulates us on transforming "a shit-hole" into "a spankingly impressive university". Argues that Brexit is a *less* important challenge for Britain than automation and demographic change. #MEIBrexit
Argues that the Remain campaign focused too much on economics, when cultural concerns were more powerful. @MTrevorP says that "the Remain campaign lost because it looked like it had nothing to say about the thing that was most important to most people": immigration. #MEIBrexit
Trevor Phillips sees immigration as a key issue for minority Leave voters, who hoped for more generous immigration rules from outside Europe. "The key assumption of the Remain campaign" - the priority of economics - "was wrong". #MEIBrexit
Next: @sundersays "never underestimate the apathy" with which minority voters, like others, viewed the European question before the vote. Remain campaign a textbook example of "cosmopolitanism without diversity", whose attitude was "take me to your community leaders". #MEIBrexit
Argues that minority voters were "natural Eurosceptics", so Leave underperformed. Those who didn't vote also favoured Remain. Key effect of Brexit might be to make the EU less diverse and less concerned with diversity as an issue. #MEIBrexit
Two key dangers for the immigration debate, argues @sundersays: one is "no deal", the other is a second referendum, which would leave Britain "more divided and more polarised than we began it". #MEIBrexit
Brief hiatus as speakers decide to adjust the microphones, which were working perfectly before, and which protest with vigorous bursts of static.
Final panellist is @RupaHuq: low turnout suggests Remainers need to mobilise much more effectively in the event of a second referendum. Jeremy Corbyn's "7 out of 10" comment about the EU was "entirely sensible". #MEIBrexit
The Leave campaign's "save our British curry" campaign picked up on a real problem: @rupahuq raised problem of visas for curry chefs with George Osborne years ago. Changes to visa system, in pursuit of illusory immigration target, created real problems and anger. #MEIBrexit
Challenging @MTrevorP, @ayeshahazarika argues that Brexit has not created racism, but has given it permission to express itself more volubly. She herself has experienced more racism since the referendum. #MEIBrexit
Member of the audience: "I'm just not European". Born in Basildon, supports India at cricket ("proudly fails the Tebbit Test"). Unfair that his grandmother would have to jump through immigration hoops to come here, when Europeans can move freely. #MEIBrexit
Another audience member: unfair that his highly skilled Indian wife had to pay £1,600 to apply for a visa, then another £2,100. "It makes us feel we are not wanted here". @RupaHuq: that was the fault of "our racist immigration system", not the EU. #MEIBrexit
Trevor Phillips: understands anger at unfairness of immigration policy. His 89-year-old aunt could not get a visa to attend his wedding, when his wife's Irish family could come in at will. #MEIBrexit
Response from @sundersays: "we need to rebuild public confidence in our immigration system". The argument about immigration online is highly polarised and hostile; but possible to have a more nuanced and empathetic conversation in other ways. #MEIBrexit
Argues that attitudes to immigration have softened since 2016: there is a chance to have a serious conversation on immigration, though politicians shy away from it. "The government should involve the public in this, not think the public isn't grown up enough for it". #MEIBrexit
Will Brexit, by reducing EU immigration, reduce hostility to Commonwealth immigration? @NeemaBegum suspects not: Brexit has increased racialisation of immigration. @MTrevorP disagrees: "hostility tends to be towards the pace of change, rather than particular groups". #MEIBrexit
Audience member: the EU "is a peace movement. The economics is just the glue that holds us together". That's why it's so hard to leave - it's *meant* to be. #MEIBrexit
Neema Begum: a lot of BME voters see the EU as "a white men's club, that promotes freedom of movement for white people". The polling hasn't moved enough to suggest a radically different result in a second referendum. #MEIBrexit
Trevor Phillips; "what is unsettling is change": it's not the level of immigration, it's the speed with which the level changes. @ayeshahazarika responds: how explain areas with strong Leave votes & low levels of immigration? @MTrevorP: may have jobs in areas of change #MEIBrexit
Audience question: "as a woman with an Islamic name, will I find it harder to get a visa to go to France? Will I experience more difficulty at the border?" Will the end of freedom of movement in Europe harm BME voters more than predicted? #MEIBrexit
Trevor Phillips: Britain could learn much from Germany before 2015, which invested large sums of money in managing the process of change associated with immigration. "In Britain we have barely begun to think about this". #MEIBrexit
