We recently got in touch again with the EU parents (120) we had interviewed earlier on in the Brexit negotiation process to ask some follow up questions. When we first spoke many people mentioned plans, in some cases vague aspirations, to leave Britain, others instead were worried about their legal status and were planning to apply for naturalisation or PR (now ‘settled status’). At the time, ‘no deal’ was not on the agenda, the political debate was all about ‘soft’ or ‘hard’ Brexit and end of March 2019 was a long way away. Now we are only days for the day of truth. ‘No deal’ has gained traction with the bookies and now seems a likely outcome of the Brexit negotiation process.

When we contacted them recently (Dec 2018 – Feb 2019), we asked if and how their plans changed since we last spoke and how they are feeling about the now imminent Brexit. At the end of the survey we asked for just three words to describe how they are feeling. The word cloud below captures what they told us.