Brexit gave me PTSD, says Lib Dem councillor

Britain’s departure from EU had ‘profound impact’ on Hampshire councillor who claims to be ‘European to the core’

A Liberal Democrat councillor has said she has post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) because of Brexit.
Antonia Harrison, who sits on Havant council in Hampshire, said she was “European to the core” and that Britain’s departure from the European Union (EU) had a “profound impact” on her.
The Liberal Democrats stood on a platform of cancelling Brexit at the 2019 general election. The party now calls for closer ties with Europe, including a return to the single market as a first step. It eventually intends to campaign to rejoin the EU.
Speaking at a fringe event for the annual Liberal Democrat conference in Brighton, Ms Harrison said: “I actually have, in my medical history, a diagnosis of PTSD over Brexit.”
Asked about the claim after the panel, she told the Independent: “It is just on my record. At some point, they just put it on my record.
“It has had so many effects on my physical body and things that have come out since. I have lost my voice many times and they put that down to trauma.”
Ms Harrison added that she was able to speak eight languages and had lived in Belgium while the UK was a member of the EU.
“The day after the election, I told my daughter: ‘This is the worst day of your life,’” she said.
“She has a masters in international law. She should be in Brussels like I was at her age, and instead she is stuck here.”
On Monday, Sir Ed Davey, the Liberal Democrat leader, said the Government would struggle to grow the economy after Sir Keir Starmer ruled out rejoining the single market.
He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I welcome the fact that Keir Starmer has gone to Europe and is trying to recover relationships… I just don’t think it’s going far enough.
“If you’re going to rebuild our economy and get growth, you have to go further than the Prime Minister is going.
“The fact he’s ruled out going back into the single market I think is a mistake for negotiations, for the vision, and more investment into our country.”
Layla Moran, the Liberal Democrats’ foreign affairs spokesman, said public support for rejoining the European Union was “getting more and more emphatic” over the weekend. 
At a separate Liberal Democrat fringe event on Monday, one of the party’s London Assembly members suggested employees should not be required to declare criminal convictions.
Ms Bokhari said there were “real issues” to address, adding: “I would like some courage really on this particular point. There’s a campaign called ‘Ban the Box’, which is about removing the box where you have to tick that they have any criminal convictions.
“That’s a bit out there, but it’s an interesting point to say is there a possibility for people to start doing that and then having simple conversations at the interview stage and going through that process. It’s a question to ask.”