A staggering number of people broke up with their partners over Brexit
You could say they voted leave on their relationship...
Do you remember the old days, when we obeyed the golden rules of good conversation and studiously avoided going anywhere near politics or religion? That was a good time, wasn’t it. The most you’d ever dare was a brief comment about whatever jape Boris had been up to, or a quick quip that interest rates were bound to go up, but they might go down too. Great days, great days.
Not anymore.
Not since 23 June 2016 when you were forced to pitch your stake in the ground and then loudly and aggressively defend your choice until the death, preferably by broadcasting it constantly on social media and calling people Brexiteer idiots or sore loser Remoaners, depending on your point of view.
And it seems that this confrontation was simply too much for a whole load of relationships to survive.
Research from ICM, conducted in March, using data from eHarmony, found that disagreements over Brexit led to the end of an astonishing 1.6 million people’s relationships.
They found that opposing political views led to nearly 2.7 million people in the UK ending a relationship last year (the figure including people in the early stages of dating), with 1.6 million saying that Brexit, specifically, was a major factor in choosing to end their sponsored_longform.
However, it wasn’t all bad – apparently people who mentioned Brexit, whether in a positive or negative sense, in their profile received up to 90% more messages than the average member (women received an 84% bump, men 90%). So maybe Brexit is sexy after all?
Meanwhile, another study by the charity Relate, who talked to 300 relationship counsellors, found that a fifth had worked with clients who argued over Brexit last year.
So not only is the UK breaking up with Europe, we’re all breaking up with each other too.
Still, at least one guy got a new partner out of it.
(Image: iStock/Rex)
