Iceland, Brexit and the flip side of immigration

It’s strange being in the middle of the Brexit storm here in London and reading what people in Iceland are saying about the referendum result. The winner of yesterday’s presidential election said:

I think that for us Icelanders this is a change for good. We now see new opportunities to look to the future, to choose our path. Before Brexit we had the choice between where we are now [members of the EEA like Norway] or joining the European Union. Now we have more options. More opportunities. Lots of opportunities.

Note that this is a sensible, centrist candidate – not Iceland’s Marine le Pen.

A mum I met here in Highbury when picking my daughter up from nursery the day the result was announced summed up what my London friends think:

“What a depressing day, eh?”

Even if some Icelanders might be happy with the result, hardly anyone there contemplates doing what Britain has done: Leave the single market.

While I can understand why the Nigel Farage supporting anti-immigration crowd voted for Brexit, I cannot understand how the sovereignty enthusiasts were willing to give up the flip side of immigration: The freedom for them, their children and grandchildren to live and work in any other European country. Want to work for a year in France after studying fashion in Paris? Want to work at a bar in Barcelona during your gap year? That all has potentially become much more complicated.

Overnight, my Icelandic passport became more valuable than it was a few days ago. Hopefully the sovereignty wing of the Leave campaign will part ways with Farage and the xenophobes and do a deal with Europe that includes freedom of movement. That would at least prevent the British passport from losing its value as fast as the pound fell when Brexit became a reality.