[Margaret Evans] The old seawall in Hartlepool
battered by the waves just like the town it protects along England's eastern coastline
feels battered by the march of time.
A place where in winter the middle of the day can feel just like the end of it.
Somewhere on the other side of the swells lies Denmark
and the rest of the continent
unseen and receding ever further in the minds of the men who fish here.
I feel angry at the EU.
The people that ruining it and telling us what we have to do.
And most of it is to suit them.
Nearly seventy percent of people here voted to leave the European Union back in 2016.
For many, the fact that Britain still hasn't left is a slap.
And they want this election to correct it.
For Ronnie Horn that means backing Boris Johnson.
I don't really want to vote for Conservative
but there's no way on this Earth I'll vote for Labor.
Labor candidate Mike Hill is knocking on doors and riding they've held for over half a century.
Behind the so-called red wall.
Working-class labour heartland.
He should feel safe,
But the relationship has frayed over Brexit.
And pro-leave parties see his seat as vulnerable
because of Labour's pledge to put a new Brexit deal to another referendum.
We understand that the people are frustrated about Brexit
but they've also got to remember that Hartlepool is in the situation it's in
because of ten years of Conservative Party austerity measures.
We've been battered.
[Evans] Hartlepool industrial landscape is said to have inspired the opening of the 1980s sci-fi film Blade Runner
set in a futuristic 2019.
In the real 2019, Hartlepool is coping with decades of decline.
The highest unemployment rate in the country.
A place where people feel left behind.
Preparing for battle.
Bingo night at a local social club.
Time for old friends to reminisce.
The mines they've all closed down.
And what else did we used to have here?
Oh, we used to have a matchbox factory.
[Evans] Many in town blame the EU's state aid policies for the loss of the steel industry.
Pat Abbey wants out.
We are putting the most money in and getting nothing out of it.
[Evans] Outlier Rita Kelly says people don't know enough about what Brexit will mean
but she still wants the referendum result honoured.
We are a democracy and you have to respect that
but having said that
It's the best of a bad job.
This port was re-developed into the marina it is today in part with European funding.
And in recent years the Northeast has received twice as much EU funding
as other parts of England.
But few seem to know it or feel it.
Sasha Bedding manages a charity called the Annex in one of Hartlepool's poorest neighborhoods.
I think it's more than just a very simple they don't like the EU.
It is more complicated that that.
And I just think they felt ignored and they had a chance to actually put a marker in the ground
and say actually I don't want to be ignored anymore.
[Evans] No man is an island or so the poem goes
but if ever there were a place that felt unmoored it is Hartlepool.
Not just from Europe
but from its own government in Westminster.
Margaret Evans, CBC News, Hartlepool.