Brexit Engagement
| Author | Anand Menon,Jill Rutter |
| Date | 01 March 2021 |
| Published date | 01 March 2021 |
| DOI | 10.1177/20419058211001003 |
MARCH 2021 • POLITICAL INSIGHT 35
A
freezing cold art gallery in
Harrow on a Thursday night.
COVID restrictions mean no
food or warm drinks, just a
large room rigged as a studio, four well-
spaced out chairs and a massive screen,
with an array of faces on it. I am about to
appear on Question Time from Belfast, as
the Brexit talks reach yet another crunch
point.
A winter’s night on prime-time BBC
is a long way from the small meeting
room in Swindon where a few of us met
in January 2015 to come up with the
(less than inspired) name ‘the UK in a
Changing Europe’ (UKICE). The distance
is both temporal and metaphorical. Five
years is a long time, and UKICE has been
through many manifestations. The end of
the formal Brexit process closes another
chapter in its life.
This, then, is perhaps an appropriate
Michael Gove famously declared that Britain had ‘had enough of
experts’. But in the wake of the 2016 Brexit vote, political scientists
and other experts have often played a prominent role in British
debates. Two such experts, Anand Menon and Jill Rutter, reflect on
their involvement over the past five years.
The view from the UK in a Changing Europe – Anand Menon
moment to reflect on what we have
learned, what we have got right and what
we have got wrong, while also thinking
about how best to ensure that the findings
of the best social science can continue to
inform both public and political debate.
A think tank is born
Two years before UKICE was born, the
Economic and Social Science Research
Council (ESRC) launched the Future of the
UK and Scotland, an initiative intended to
provide research-based evidence to inform
the debate as the Scottish independence
referendum approached. Based on the
success of this and given David Cameron’s
promise of an in-out referendum on EU
membership, the decision was taken to
fund a similar project for UK-EU relations.
And so, to the fateful meeting room in
Brexit Engagement
A joint Institute for Government/the UK in a Changing Europe panel, with Jill Rutter (far left) and Anand Menon (centre). © Candice McKenzie/IfG.
Political Insight March 2021.indd 35Political Insight March 2021.indd 35 15/02/2021 14:2915/02/2021 14:29
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