Noel Gallagher says Brexit is a 'disaster' and young people are not being offered hope

Noel Gallagher has raged against the current state of the UK in a brand new interview, revealing his concerns for a younger generation growing up in the shadow of Brexit and years of Tory government.

Speaking exclusively to The Big Issue‘s Jane Graham for the iconic Letter to my Younger Self feature, the Oasis and High Flying Birds singer-songwriter reflected on his childhood in Manchester – and argued that his pioneering Britpop band wouldn’t exist in the current social and political climate.

“In the outskirts of Manchester, where I was born, everything is boarded up,” said Gallagher. “I feel sorry for young people growing up in this country now, Brexit has been a fucking absolute unmitigated disaster.

“And it will be a living nightmare until some politician has the balls to put a referendum in a manifesto and run on it and go back into the EU. Nothing works in this country anymore. Politics doesn’t work. Social Services doesn’t work. 

“Politics has come to a fucking dead end. I don’t understand what any of them stand for any more. The Tories are going to run this country into the ground and then pass it over to Labour and say fucking good luck with that.”

There is another big issue Noel Gallagher is concerned with: “There’s no fucking eggs in the supermarket,” he said.

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Although he’s flattered by the continuing popularity of Oasis among teenagers, Gallagher ascribed this to the dearth of new working class musicians in a country where more and more young people struggle to meet their basic needs, never mind afford instruments or rehearsal rooms.

“No one’s come along to speak for them about their lives and their culture and where they’re going next,” he lamented.

In a detailed reminiscence – available to read in full in The Big Issue magazine from Monday May 15 – Gallagher also talked about “laying the groundwork for what I would become – an artist, a romantic” as a teenager in 1980s Manchester, enamoured with the Irish folk music of his extended family, local heroes The Smiths, and his beloved Man City. 

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Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds’ new album Council Skies is released on June 2 via Sour Mash Records. UK headline tour dates are on sale at noelgallagher. com/live