My hometown is a political football – we deserve better than condescension and Brexit lies

Brexit voters in Clacton were promised a brighter future, a way out of deprivation and a return to the glories of the past, writes John Hyde

Nigel Farage made regular visits to Clacton (usually stopping for a photo op with an ice cream and dashing straight off), while Douglas Carswell was the first Ukip MP (Getty)

Thursday night’s BBC Question Time from Clacton was a difficult watch for those with affection for anyone from my hometown. The audience, hand-picked as Brexit voters and no doubt encouraged to air their views fervently, offered some bizarre views – one gentleman claimed to have followed immigrants from the boat to the benefits office, while another lady suggested that French and Germans going on their roofs had swayed her vote. Panellist Alastair Campbell telling them they had been lied to was met with a wall of silence.

The reaction on social media was predictable: these were ignorant bigots, refusing to see the error of their ways and showing their true, xenophobic colours. Such flag-wavers deserved the harsh economic realities they had voted for.

Yet to sneer and ridicule is to miss the point. While there is no excuse for intolerance, there are explanations for why so many in Clacton feel this way. This is a town subjected to years of decline, left to rot and exploited by snake oil salesmen promising they had the answers. What use is it telling people they stand to lose from Brexit when they have little to lose in the first place?