Virendra Sharma has been the Member of Parliament for the London constituency of Ealing Southall since 2007, and has been a vocal campaigner for remaining in the European Union.
Last week he was one of 47 Labour MPs who rebelled against the party line to oppose the legislation giving the government the authority to trigger Brexit. He spoke to BusinessLine about his stance on Brexit and the impact that the referendum has had on his constituency, which is 30 per cent of Indian origin (around half the population is Asian). Sixty five per cent of his constituents voted to remain in Europe in last year’s referendum.
It is very interesting when you look at the voting pattern, we can assume large numbers voted for Brexit. In the wards where a very high percentage of the population was white, the gap between “remain” and “Brexit” was huge, but if you go towards Southall the gap is much smaller so my assumption is there are many who voted for Brexit. I didn’t come across many on the doorstep, though.
What was the impact of the promise made by some in the leave campaign that leaving the EU would give the government flexibility to ease up on rules for Commonwealth countries such as India?
This was wrong information provided by the leave campaign. Ordinary people did get the sense (from them) that stopping immigration from Europe, would result in an easier immigration regime for South Asia — and because we are a big diaspora here we will have influence. That is the picture that was portrayed to them but it was not true and since then there has been no move to relax it. We can argue from some of the changes they’ve brought in are going to be more harsh. The way Prime Minister Theresa May responded to questions in India indicates very clearly that she is not prepared to give any flexibility to people from the Indian subcontinent, in fact things could get tougher.
Why do you think those who voted to remain chose to do so?
The most important reason is that the majority don’t see India as their destination any more —as was the case when I came here. For the third or fourth generation, their best opportunities lie in Europe, the languages, the culture, the environment, the connections. The Asian youth voted to remain for the economic and social opportunities Europe provided.
Has it resulted in any divisions within the local community?
You don’t get the “active” divisions — on the streets — that you might get elsewhere. It depends on the profession: if you are a builder working on a building site, Indians are competing with eastern Europeans for work, and even in other areas, waiters and waitresses. So there are no very obvious divisions, but tensions exist, though they were there even before Brexit.
What will Brexit mean for the constituents of Southall?
To start with prices will go up, household budgets will suffer — it’s already happening — even setting aside the larger picture. My constituency is mainly a working class community and it will make a huge difference even if prices go up by a small amount, it will make a huge dent in their income.
What in your view will the impact on India-UK relations be?
While India will want to help, the way development is taking place there, the way they want to open up the country for business and investment, I think they will bypass Britain to deal with Europe. The relationship we have had is historical but now it’s more about business, we are not talking about the emotional link.
You opposed Brexit from the start, and you were one of the few MPs to oppose, and continue to oppose the Brexit legislation. Why?
I feel that in the political field you shouldn’t always have to compromise. David Cameron should never have held a referendum in the first place: it was overconfidence that led him to. The Brexit leadership never believed they would win, we never believed we would lose. That is why no one talked about what would happen if they did win: there was no plan.
Now Europe has gone against us and we don’t have allies in Europe. If they gave us even a small amount of flexibility now — never mind a free hand — other countries will start demanding it too: if that works why not us? Leaving will entail penalties, it will be an expensive business. I was convinced before this began and no one has convinced me there is another way.
The government needs to accept that opposition is not there to destroy the government and that working with the opposition and with Parliament will make the policies better, less one- sided, and working for everyone.
‘I am still convinced the end product is not the right one: I believe Parliament has the power to reject (the legislation) and should have rejected it.