The Birmingham MP who led the campaign to leave the says she is 鈥渆normously optimistic鈥 about the United Kingdom鈥檚 future outside the EU.
Gisela Stuart (Lab Birmingham ) warned that politicians and the pro-EU media must accept that the public chose to leave - and stop imagining voters were either tricked into it or were motivated by racism.
The campaign and result had exposed a 鈥渂ig divide鈥 in British society, she said. Many "remain" voters lived comfortable lives and didn鈥檛 want to rock the boat while many "leave" voters, often less wealthy and struggling with poor public services, felt they had little to lose by change.
Mrs Stuart admitted she hadn鈥檛 expected the leave side to win the referendum.
And the German-born MP said that despite the anger some people feel about the result, she had received little criticism from constituents in Birmingham or from fellow MPs - but there had been complaints from Germany.
鈥淎 bunch of hate letters from Germany in German about 鈥榟ow could you take the Brits out of the EU鈥,鈥 she said.
Mrs Stuart was the chair of the official Vote Leave campaign, and spent much of it travelling around the country in a bus with Conservative MP and fellow leave campaigner Boris Johnson.
Politicians are "in denial" about Brexit result
Speaking to the Birmingham Mail at Westminster, she said her fellow politicians should ask themselves why the Leave campaign won despite having far fewer resources.
鈥淲e had a group of 20-30 people, the paid staff, who essentially fought against the entire establishment.鈥
She pointed out that the Leave campaign was allowed to raise 拢7 million for its campaign while the Government spent more than 拢9 million on one pro-EU leaflet - officially not part of the Remain campaign - delivered to homes.
鈥淎nd we won. What does that tell you?
鈥淚t tells you the entire commentariat, including this place [Parliament], were utterly out of touch with what was going on out there.
鈥淚t鈥檚 the same now when you go into the [Commons] Chamber. There鈥檚 still utter denial that anything鈥檚 happened out there.鈥
The success of the Leave campaign reflected the failure of the political establishment to respond to the fears of voters, she said.
鈥淚f you live in a neighbourhood where the housing stock鈥檚 declining, the potholes aren鈥檛 filled, you can鈥檛 get your kid into the school of your choice, and then someone who doesn鈥檛 live in your kind of neighbourhood, who doesn鈥檛 have to rely on public services, just wags a finger at you and threatens you, you reach a point where you say 鈥榶ou know what, anything鈥檚 better than what I鈥檝e got at the moment鈥.鈥
We can't ignore concern about immigration
And politicians still didn鈥檛 realise there was a problem, she said.
鈥淎 lot of the politicians, they heard the words but they weren鈥檛 listening.
鈥淎nd the clearest one is the failure to allow people to express concerns about immigration.
鈥淛ust branding them as racist simply doesn鈥檛 do anybody any service because it means we鈥檙e not dealing with racism when it occurs.鈥
She continued: 鈥淭here are a lot of people either trying to pretend it didn鈥檛 happen.
鈥淥r they say, oh the electorate have been lied to.
鈥淣ow that鈥檚 very very dangerous because the electorate does make up its mind.鈥
Britain has a bright future outside the EU
Watch: Flashback to the morning the referendum result was announced, as Gisela Stuart delivered a speech insisting this was the 海角视频's chance to take back control
Mrs Stuart said she was 鈥渆normously optimistic鈥 about the country鈥檚 future outside the EU.
The FTSE 100 index, which measures the share prices of the country鈥檚 biggest firms, had fallen but had now bounced back, she said. Sterling remains weak but this would actually benefit 海角视频 manufacturers by making British goods cheaper on overseas markets, she added.
And the 海角视频 would have been forced to change its relationship with the EU eventually - because the Eurozone will one day collapse, she predicted.
鈥淲e either do that in a planned way now or if we鈥檇 stayed in the EU and waited for the inevitable, I think, collapse of part of the Eurozone or that structure, [we] would have had to do it under conditions of panic.
鈥淭his allows us to be resilient and plan.鈥
