Nissan Blow Leads to Regret and Defiance in a Brexit Heartland

Lisa Roley has worked at Nissan Motor Co.’s car plant in Sunderland, U.K., for the past two decades. Like the majority of people in the city, she also voted to leave the European Union in 2016.

A day after the Japanese manufacturing giant pointed a finger at Brexit as it abandoned plans to build a new model at the factory in northeast England, the 47-year-old cleaner was questioning her decision. The warnings from some local politicians and executives of what might happen were no longer being dismissed as fantasy.