While the Cup in Catalonia supported the UK exit from the European Union (EU), the Abertzale Left stood against Brexit and supported the UK exit. Those who say that it is impossible to reform Spain repeat that the European Union can be reformed. Weird. If Spain is difficult to reform, it is much more difficult to reform the real EU. However, if the EU is thought to be able to change, the exit of CU is a necessary but not sufficient condition. The British have been hampering internal integration and democratisation of the EU for many years.

Independence has often repeated that the secessions of Catalonia and Euskal Herria can be good for the Spanish progressive sectors; the same logic can be said of the British secession for the EU. However, the Abertzale left used the leftist arguments to justify its anti-Brexit position, underlining the populist right that dominated among the exit supporters. Curious, because I do not remember the public opinion of the Abertzale Left in the secession referendums that have taken place in Europe supporting the no, although in most cases the leadership of the yes was in the hands of the neoliberal right and the extreme right.

Identifying Brexit on the right is a simplicity. Numerous trade unionists, political parties on the Abertzale left, Respect, socialists and communists have campaigned for EU exit. There are also those who defend the exit between the Labour and the Greens, such as the historic leader of the Greens, Jenny Jones. Tariq Ali, writer and filmmaker of left-wing Pakistani origin, has also defended the departure of the city of Toulouse. In any case, it cannot be denied that the situation was uncomfortable for the Left, only Jeremy Corbyn had to be seen: on the one hand, those who were flagging for historically outside the EU did not want to see it confused with the populist right, but, on the other hand, were not very happy with campaigning for the undemocratic and neoliberal EU’s paralysis.

The low classes used the Brexit vote to explain their anger and change things. In return, they have been called everything from the old regressors to the xenophobes. The data used for this purpose have been those from the survey conducted by the company YouGov, which did not match the results of the referendum. Although with a very small sample, 1,652 surveys did not have any statistical representativeness in terms of age, the media have insisted that support for EU stay predominated among young people. According to the survey, the participation of young people up to 24 years of age would be around 36 per cent. This is a classic of political science, getting higher and higher, more voted. When this behavior crosses with age, the difference increases even further. In other words, low-class youth vote very little, vote more as they come in, but always less than middle- and high-class youth.

Finally, it is easy to make accusations of xenophobia if you live on good wages and away from the homes of low-class immigrants. Marx explained that the unemployed are the army of the bourgeoisie, thereby reducing the cost of wages. Today, with the UK almost in technical unemployment, the army of the bourgeoisie is an immigrant. Since 2001, wages in the lower British classes have been significantly reduced and purchasing power has declined dramatically. The populist right has focused on this problem, provoking hatred among workers. On the contrary, the Left has not been able to assume and defend the interests of the lower classes, demonstrating that the immigrant is an ally in the fight against the interests of the richer and to better redistribute wealth.