A Tale of Two Countries - Why I’m Still Campaigning for a ‘Brex-in’ Vote

Stefano Petrullo, founder of Renaissance PR and supporter for Games4EU, explains why he built his life in Britain, how Brexit has undermined it and why his life goal is to stop Brexit in its tracks.
It was still summer in Milan as, almost 12 years ago to the day, I packed up my belongings and switched on the engine of my Audi A3. Today was the day I headed to the glorious United Kingdom.
Looking back, it was almost a non-stop trip, broken up only by one night of rest in France before. At the turn of September, I settled in my new home, Basingstoke in the scenic county of Hampshire. My new home played host to only one Italian restaurant at the time (how times change), and I soon started work running the British PR department of a German company.
An Italian, working for Germans, based in the UK. How amazing is that? If the EU had been after a prime example of freedom of movement in action, I could have been the poster boy.
Fast forward two years, and a French giant — a certain Ubisoft — had picked me up to work in their PR department, enabling me to gain the experience and foster the connections that, today, have enabled me to run my own boutique agency out of London for the past three years.
As a result, I’ve made friends from across almost every mile of the UK; journalists, fellow PR professionals, industry peers. My first decade in this country was an almost entirely happy one, where I was genuinely taken aback by the welcoming culture and amazingly meritocratic society laid before me.
Then the referendum happened.
My story
Like many others who moved from Europe to UK to, Brexit instilled a number of doubts in my previously settled mind. I genuinely felt unwanted and started wondering what the hell I was doing here. What exactly was happening to my new home?
The changes to the UK since that Brexit vote are not just based on feelings, however. The decision taken that day has already had a very real impact on the UK and its standing in the world.
Renowned once as one of the world’s great economies, the country now finds itself struggling even to feature as one of Europe’s top five. What’s even more scary is, this has all happened before the UK has even left the European Union. What happens next is genuinely anybody’s guess.
For me, speaking purely personally, Brexit puts me in a very difficult position. I have an Italian passport, an amazing British/Turkish wife, and a UK-based business to run.
It’s so incredibly disheartening to consider that I’ve spent the last 12 months working to secure a permanent residency, all to start working towards earning a British passport, only to see some of my friends and peers — thankfully the minority — label themselves as hard Brexiteers.
It’s especially disheartening because I’ve I learned to love Britain, its culture and its people.
I’m not too proud to admit I’ve binged through the drink in pretty much every single pub in Basingstoke, Woking, and in a whole host of establishments in London, Birmingham and Manchester. I’ve felt the famous warmth of the Northerners, had a Taco Bell in Nottingham, and even flown from London to Leeds for a meeting.
It has all helped me to realise what an amazing country this is and why it’s a place I can call home. And though I’ve left somewhere that I’ve called home once before, I don’t want to do it again — even with Brexit hanging over me.
My mission
My mission is to become a British Citizen and make my contribution to the Brexit debate. I want to stay here in UK and prove that us ‘immigrants’ can bring value to the society and work alongside Brits to make the country better.
The practical way of I’m doing this is by joining Games4EU, telling this story and helping people refuting the lies we have been told.
The European Union is not perfect — far from it. Indeed, I’m personally aware of the problems Italy has within it at the moment.
But the United Kingdom can contribute to make it better from the inside rather than slamming the door and isolating itself from the rest of the world. We’ve driven regulations from within the EU, London has become the world’s financial powerhouse, and English remains one of the most spoken languages in the world.
And knowing about Italy’s problems means I can’t stop thinking about how lucky the UK has been since joining: how it was able to exercise its veto on issues, avoided joining the Euro and, in short, be a key member at the heart of the EU without being dominated by it. This made it feel like the UK was holding all the cards.
But as it stands, we are at real risk at hurling them into the fire due to the misinformation of leading Leavers.
As well as peddling lies about funding the NHS and getting the same benefits from the EU even after we leave, the official Leave campaign has also been found guilty of breaking electoral law.This is not democracy. This is a scandal.
And it’s why we must offer the people of Britain the chance to have the final say on Brexit before it takes the country over the cliff edge.
On my side, my agency and my team we will continue support Games4EU and every other initiative based on facts to achieve this end. But we need you to make remaining in the EU part of your life goals too.
So join us in Games4EU, ask questions, share this post and do everything you can to help us preserve the UK’s position within Europe while we still can. This is the fight of our generation, but it’s also a fight for the next one too.
Join Games4EU here.
