By Bev Haigh-Jones
We have run two street stalls since our last newsletter, one in Penzance and one in St Austell, both towns which have been highly pro-Brexit in the past.
Penzance stall 27 October
In Penzance on 27 October we feared the worst on the weather, but we managed to totally avoid the rain showers. Thanks need to go to all our volunteers – at one stage there were seven of us, so not bad for a late October day.
Despite the disruption of the scaffolding erection taking place around Lloyds Bank, we had a good number of visitors and most answered our questions in a way which we would have done. Of those who did supply surprising answers, one person’s Brexit benefit was apparently that he felt better personally, because we now have control, and another had a very high opinion of Rishi Sunak as she thought him very moral and doing the best he could for us. However, overall the board speaks for itself and demonstrates yet again the general mood within the population – Brexit has failed, as has this government. Other people agreed and we signed up twelve additional CfE members on the day and added several people to the mailing list of the European Movement.
As we had included local MP Derek Thomas in our questions, we thought it only fair that we pass on the information that we had obtained from his constituents. We emailed a copy of the Opinionometer and, at the same time, issued an invitation to Mr Thomas to ask if he would consider joining us at one of our Zoom meetings, where he could make a statement on Tory policy and take part in a Q&A session with our committee, the transcript of which would then be published in our newsletter. Unfortunately, although we did get a reply, he was rather dismissive of the board results and declined our invitation, considering that it: “would not be the best use of either of our time.” However, he did say; “If constituents want to raise their personal view and discuss this with me, I can assure you I give plenty of opportunity.” So if you live in the St Ives constituency and have any questions, you know what to do!
St Austell stall 10 November
More recently, we ventured out onto the streets of St Austell – the first stall there for four years – as we wanted to see if opinions are changing. And it appears that they may be since, previously, the area was predominantly in support of Brexit and the Tories.
Luckily the rain stopped right on cue at 10.30, but many thanks nevertheless to my co-volunteers Sue, Gren, Anita and Peter, for coping with the bitterly cold wind that followed.
The stall itself went well and although the streets were relatively quiet (as is usually the case in St Austell given the decline in the number of shops), the majority of those who stopped to talk had a very low opinion of our current government, would favour an early election and had not found any Brexit benefits. Those who didn’t want an early election said that it was because there was no decent alternative to the Tories that they could vote for, and as for Brexit benefits, one of the dots saying “yes” was from our own, Anita, a Dutch citizen who now experiences a much better exchange rate when changing money for her regular trips to the UK – currently 1.14 euros to the pound as against around 1.42 pre-Brexit.
The question relating to the Covid inquiry was an interesting one. Most people said that the revelations had not changed their opinion, but that was because their opinion was so poor already. With those who said “yes”, their opinion had changed, it was now even worse than it had been before!
Sadly, we also encountered several people who have fallen foul of this government’s policies. There was an army veteran with his support dog, invalided out of the services after being blown up and who, two years later, is still fighting to get a pension and having to use lawyers and apply to the court to get what should be his entitlement. Then we spoke to a lady of German origin who has been married to a UK citizen, lived here for forty years, given birth to and raised her children here as British citizens, but who had to get involved in a long and difficult battle through the courts to achieve settled status in order to stay in the UK. Several years on, she was quite obviously still traumatised by the whole episode – and who can blame her! 
Next street stall event
Stalls are always more difficult at this time of year, but that doesn’t mean that they come to a halt. Inclement weather does occasionally result in a postponement, or cancellation, but we do avoid that if we can.
If all goes to plan and the weather is kind, we will be out on the streets again on Friday 1 December – this time in Truro and probably next to the library. The Christmas market will have started by then, so there should be plenty of people around for us to engage with, which should make for a respectable and interesting result on our Opinionometer. We will be there at our usual time of 10.30 am and we usually stay until at least 1.00 pm, so if you are free during those times and can be in Truro, we would love to see you at our stall. It would be great I you could join us for a while as a volunteer, but even if you just pop by for a chat and to answer our questions, that would be great. Full details will be posted on our Facebook Events page and on our website.
