IMHO, the opportunity was taken away by Merkel, not the older English population.
Merkel welcomed migrants/refugees into Germany which ultimately meant EU due to no border control. This opened the flood gate and increased the fear factor in older English people.
I'm not talking about if it was wrong/right. Just stating an event.
Those poor refugees from afghanistan, iraq, syria and libya. All countries recently bombed/invaded on the orders of the older english population. In a messianic quest for security as America's sidekick.
It is still an issue on a practical level. Last year of the 160K asylum seekers in Sweden less than 500 found a job. That's of a country which has a population of less than 10M. How is Sweden's benefit system supposed to cope?
Merkel welcomed migrants/refugees into Germany which ultimately meant EU due to no border control. This opened the flood gate and increased the fear factor in older English people.
I'm not talking about if it was wrong/right. Just stating an event.