Should we be optimistic about post-Brexit Britain?

London – When trying to imagine what life will be like in 2022, opinions range from confident optimism to hesitant hopefulness.

Part three of An Uncertain Future asked our participants to think about their lives in five years, when, in theory, Brexit negotiations should be complete, we will be out of the European Union and another general election is on the horizon. Dairy farmer Nigel is the most pessimistic about the future, perhaps because he also has the most at stake when it comes to his farm. With the current government unwilling to make any promises about replacing EU subsidies with their own government programmes, Nigel feels abandoned.

The Conservative voters that we met on our travels had a decidedly more optimistic outlook on the future, with Harsimrat hoping that repealing the EU laws will make Britain great again. Although inflation may rise to up to 3% in that time, she is unconcerned and does not believe it will affect her spending. Their optimism may not reflect the views of the country as a whole, however, with a recent consumer confidence survey by Nielsen revealing that Leave voters’ confidence fell from 109 in January to 106 after Article 50 was triggered. The survey uses 100 as a baseline for degrees of optimism and pessimism. The confidence of Remain voters is at 97.

Watch parts one and two of our series to hear views on the current political landscape and why immigration is a key issue for each of them.