Meet the people of the UK town divided down the middle by Brexit
Andrew Wilson
Europe;UK
02:32

Gary Hickman has been selling fruit and vegetables in Watford, just north of London, for 22 years. But he's had enough now and next year he'll retire to live in Spain.

"It's a good thing to have this general election," he says. "Get Boris in, let the reins loose, and let him get on with it. Get Brexit done."

If you're looking for a snapshot of a neatly divided British electorate, the town of Watford in Hertfordshire is as good a place as any.

As in so many relatively affluent British towns, commerce in the centre has been heavy going. The big chains are flourishing but local businesses have suffered, crippled by business rates, and in many cases forced to consider their futures.

Watford voted Leave in the EU Referendum in 2016 - but by a wafer-thin margin of just 252 votes. Research conducted by the local paper, the Watford Observer, suggests that today the result would be Remain.

The constituency is currently Conservative, but the local MP Richard Harrington is one of the Tories who resigned over Brexit and is standing down. But it's not the competing ideologies weighing on people's minds, it's the political deadlock itself.

Mick Chapman sells meat across from Gary Hickman. His business is also struggling, he says. 

His reserves his anger for Parliament. "They're not listening to anyone, are they?" he says. "They just want to do their own things, they're just fighting among themselves. It's ludicrous really."

Boris Johnson's chosen message of Get Brexit Done is resonating here. With the politics so excruciatingly complicated over Brexit, some voters are responding to the idea that slamming all the doors is the only way to end the pain: the lure of the fresh start. Just what Downing Street wants to hear.