How would you describe Boston as a place to live or to work?
Sometimes I feel it's a good city, sometimes I think it's the worst place in the world.
I don't know.
It's a good little town, isn't it?
Let me guess, would it be foreigners, immigration, Brexit?
With Brexit devouring British politics,
we've come to a place where over three-quarters of voters backed it:
Boston.
This is becoming part of the national condition now.
Isn't it? Sort of bubbling away underneath everything else.
All the money's running out.
... Mr Johnson said Theresa May's blueprint would leave the UK in limbo
and called on her to change her negotiating strategy.
I feel nervous.
Because media-wise the world and his wife have been here asking these people,
about Brexit and it doesn't mean
it's not quite important.
But also, you know, what sat under Brexit was not
just the fact the people didn't like mainstream politicians, you know?
And a lot lower than the mistrust of the media.
What is it all about mate?
What is it all about?
Can you guess why we are here?
We are journalists and we work for the Guardian newspaper.
Do you, by golly?
The general consensus view here is that get on with it,
we voted, we've done it, get on with it.
We want it done and dusted
that's the end of it.
The vote in Boston has nothing to do with the EU as such or the economics of it,
it was about immigration.
Beneath the usual Brexit talk though,
there's the same feeling we've encountered in very different places,
it's about control again.
The powers that be, don't want to come out anyway,
we are in their hands.
They want to be able to let the multinational companies
carry on as normal.
Because it's the multinational companies that run this world.
You sound quite left-wing.
No, not left-wing.
No, I am not left-wing.
But the idea, you know, that capitalist corporations run the show.
Well.
I agree.
So, it's a participation sport.
We're just not going to leave, they're not going to
allow it to happen, are they?
It's like going back to the banking crisis 10 years ago.
When the banks were too big to fail and they got bailed out.
What sort of capitalism is that?
If I win, I keep the winnings, if I lose you have to pay.
It just seems nothing fair about anything.
Housing, the job markets.
Tell us, tell us, tell us.
If you live here, it's totally different, you'd realise why this is the biggest place for Brexit.
There's no schools, they're cutting the hospital down,
the children's ward in the …
I know, I've seen the banner.
And look, but why?
Look, there are a lot of foreigners here, I thought that was all meant to be at work.
There's a lot of foreigners walking around here.
Thank you sir.
When leave won, around that time, two years ago
how did you feel?
I felt quite optimistic, I felt quite hopeful.
I thought we'd get … I thought we stood a chance of
getting nearer to how we were,
where we were a strong economy and we had a bit of pride in ourselves.
Sorry, I am trying to find my husband.
He dropped me off at the other end of town …
The way we'll use it is we do a sort of moving away shot, so feel free …
Damn it.
It's a mobility scooter, they'll say, ' there's nothing wrong with her!'
Going to a PIP appeal tomorrow …
Your claim for PIP was turned down?
Yeah, so I'm going to court tomorrow
to take them to tribunal so I go tomorrow.
I am so nervous, I don't think I'm going to get it.
Do you blame anyone for that?
I think I blame a lot of people
who apply for it who don't deserve it.
There's people in Whitehall making these decisions
cutting back the funding for these benefits.
It's them, isn't it?
It's not other people claiming PIP,
it's the people running the Department for Work and Pensions.
It is but I think the reason that they don't believe anybody is
because they assume everybody's lying.
God, what hope if we're all fighting each other?
Aren't there people pulling the strings though?
It was lovely to meet you, good luck tomorrow.
She's not the only one fighting.
This is a business which gives advice and translation services to Polish people
in Boston.
It's sort of like a Polish citizen advice bureau.
And as you can see, it's in pretty high demand.
Well basically the lady had been let off from the company
because she became pregnant.
If you don't know your rights, you cannot fight if you
don't have ammunition.
Everyone we meet is fighting, really?
Well, we have to fight.
There's nothing happening by itself.
How has Brexit affected people's day-to-day lives?
The amount of bureaucracy we have to deal with
is significantly bigger.
Even if you're going to go to the hospital, they're going to ask you,
'do you have your pay slips with you?'
'I don't, I don't, I broke a leg, I would like to get a treatment.
I didn't pack a payslip.' That's how it is now.
You must hear some people locally say,
'oh the reason that the NHS locally is in a mess or schools are overcrowded
or whatever, that's because of people from Europe.'
Try to imagine our position, when we've been invited,
basically invited to this country,
saying we had people on the street saying, 'oh, if you're looking for work,
come to Britain, come to Britain.' OK?
And we're coming here and there is no schools, no NHS support,
nothing prepared for that amount of people
coming over and I'm blaming government
I'm blaming government.
People are buying homes here, they have a job …
Cut us everything, kids are getting from the school.
We don't know what's next.
If it is Brexit then maybe the boss will say,
so we close the factory for you and you need to go back home.
We don't know.
Iga came here with her son eight years ago.
And for them the uncertainty is also personal.
Basically I've been working overtime like crazy during the summers.
What were you doing?
Oh I was working on Subway, working 80 to 90 hours a week.
It was mental …
To save up to pay for your citizenship application?
Yeah, the application was around £1,000.
Then we finally got an answer.
I've been declined.
I was shocked.
You've been here since you were about 10?
Yeah.
And you're 19 now?
Yeah.
And you've got GCSEs?
Yeah …
And A-levels?
The thing I wanted from the citizenship was a secured future.
It felt more like I wasn't really welcome.
It made me always think before any action like I would say paranoid
about what actually people think about me.
'You don't belong here.'
Shortly after we leave Boston, a man who symbolises all the nastiness
and division of 2018 arrives in Britain.
Another day, some more noise in London.
People are protesting because they're angry about a lot of things
Like what?
Brexit, Theresa May, cuts…
I feel that we're going the wrong way and that Trump is the kind of face of that.
And is there a British dimension of that?
Yeah, I think Brexit is.
What happens when everyone goes home after today?
That's the sad thing, isn't it?
That's the sad thing, it's just part of the 24-hour news cycle – it's gone.
I'm now part of the 24-hour news cycle.
The reason we've been travelling between towns like
Walsall and Boston and London isn't just
about how much the country is divided.
The two sides of modern Britain might
also have something important in common.
A sense that there are powerful forces
at work and that ordinary people have lost control.
And there's a silver lining to this cloud.
If that feeling now cuts
across places, classes and ages
there surely should be some chance of bringing
people together to do something about it.
Start small, work within their communities, talk to people, communicate with people.
Something's happening …
Something is happening, but it's in a reaction to something,
so all of this is in a reaction to what's going down.
How do you feel standing here, being part of this?
I feel British.
Explain … that's interesting. Explain what you mean by that.
We promote love, equality, multiculturalism, the community,
coming together, putting your ego to the side
for the better good of other people
and that's what today …
It's not really about a job for me, you know what I mean?
It's about Britain and it's about us becoming
better people for ourselves, like this is just a tool.
How do you feel about the future?
I feel like it is bright I think
like in order for good things to happen
you've got to hit rock bottom first.
Outside cities, I go to sort of, towns in England in particular,
where people are very sort of disconnected
and they are aware things have gone wrong
but it's like the weather … Do you know what I mean?
They just think that's the way it is.
Yeah, yeah, but then I think I was speaking to
my friend the other day, I was like, sometimes in life I think the worst thing you can do,
is sit on the fence.
We put a lot of pressure on ourselves because of the
state that the world is in, like we just
want to change the world now.
The mentality we need to adopt is do what you can
and that's going to change someone else
and that person gets … it's a chain effect, you know what I mean?
That's going to take a long time.
It will not happen over night.
Yeah, definitely but now it's about how bad do you want it?
Do you know what I mean?
This is the great political and social challenge of our time.
Whatever happens with Brexit, how do we take this sense that we can't go on like this
and do something constructive with it?
That's coming by the end of the year.
The campaign to win Walsall North back.
Tory politics (…) but the Labour party has not been allowed to challenge them.