In East London's Brexit Heartland, Few Regrets Over EU Vote

— -- In East London’s Romford, even residents originally from mainland Europe supported the Brexit campaign, revealing how anti-EU sentiment prevails in the traditionally working-class town.

“I voted to leave because it’s common sense,” said Iggy Rolesu, an Italian who has lived in the U.K. for 50 years. “Who is Brussels to tell me what to do in my own house?"

It is a common sentiment heard in the London borough of Havering, whose principal town is Romford.

Nearly 70 percent of residents in Havering voted for the United Kingdom to leave the European Union in a nationwide referendum held on June 23.

The vote was at odds with London as a whole — where 59.9 percent voted in favor of remaining in the EU and only a handful of boroughs aside from Havering voted to leave — but in line with much of the rest of England.

And as in other areas that returned a solid “leave” vote, the main cause of concern among Brexiters appears to be immigration.

“A lot of people are worried about the impact of immigration on schooling and the NHS [National Health Service],” Ashley Conlan told ABC News.

Larrain Gibson said that “unlimited migration is just not sustainable on a tiny island as we live on. We’re too crowded already.”

The other main concerns were sovereignty and the economy, according to those interviewed by ABC News.

“There are a lot of problems in the U.K. at the moment, and a lot of money goes to the EU every week," James Brown said. “They say we get a lot of it back, but I don’t think we do. There’s nothing.”

The official “leave” campaign claimed that 350 million pounds a week ($467 million) could be saved by leaving the EU — a number widely rejected by economists and politicians on both sides. Before the referendum, Brexiters suggested that the money could be pumped into the National Health Service, but what seemed like a promise has since been reframed as merely an aspiration by leaders of the “leave” campaign.

Now, a few days after the results of the vote were announced, not all in Romford are convinced that the country made the right choice.

“I have a few slight misgivings,” Paul Fay said. “I think a few politicians made promises that I don’t think are going to be kept,” he said, referring to additional funds for the NHS.

“I don’t think that we were advised very well by politicians,” he said. "I think, on reflection, I may have voted to stay."

Romford’s member of Parliament, Andrew Rosindell, was among those urging residents to vote “leave.”

Some in the town fear that pro-Brexit sentiment could turn into something nastier.

Lucas Vinicenko, a Lithuanian who has been living in England for 10 years and works in Romford, said he was worried about a backlash against Eastern Europeans in the country.

“It doesn’t feel like Britain is going to be Britain anymore,” he said. “It feels like 1930s Germany. My mom is integrated, but she feels scared. She feels she has a label on her. This is not just going to be a concern for a week or month, but it will be a decade of unhappiness and being scared.”