Have we reached a tipping point? The mainstreaming of Euroscepticism in the UK
| DOI | 10.1177/0192512115574126 |
| Date | 01 June 2015 |
| Published date | 01 June 2015 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
International Political Science Review
2015, Vol. 36(3) 311 –323
© The Author(s) 2015
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DOI: 10.1177/0192512115574126
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Have we reached a tipping
point? The mainstreaming of
Euroscepticism in the UK
Nicholas Startin
University of Bath, UK
Abstract
Stephen George, the eminent scholar of the European Union, famously labelled the UK as the ‘awkward
partner’ when analysing the country’s relationship with the EU. The ‘permissive consensus’ evident in most
EU nation states, at least prior to Maastricht and more recently the Eurozone crisis, was never ‘clear-cut’
in the UK. However, recent developments have propelled the issue of UK membership to the centre
stage of British politics. By analysing some of the key historic variables which have contributed to the UK’s
ambivalence and hostility towards the EU as well as more recent factors such as Conservative Party splits
over ‘Europe’ and the rise of UKIP, the article focuses on the role and influence of the tabloid press, and
in particular the Daily Express, to demonstrate how the debate surrounding UK membership of the EU has
completed its journey from the margins to the mainstream of British politics. It concludes that the lack of
a ‘level playing-field’ in terms of EU coverage among the UK tabloid press has led to a situation where its
citizens, in the context of an ‘in-out’ referendum, are unable to ‘weigh up’ the ‘costs’ and ‘benefits’ of EU
membership in a rational and informed fashion.
Keywords
Euroscepticism, British politics, EU referendum, UKIP, tabloid press
Introduction
In 1990, the eminent scholar of European Union politics, Stephen George, famously labelled Britain
as ‘the awkward partner’ in its relationship with the European community. Fifteen years on, under
pressure from his own backbenchers and the growing influence of the UK Independence Party
(UKIP),1 Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron announced that the Conservatives would
hold a referendum on UK membership of the European Union (EU) if his party were to win a major-
ity in the 2015 general election. This watershed in the evolution of the British Eurosceptic debate
was followed by UKIP’s success in the 2014 European election, polling 27.5 per cent of the vote and
Corresponding author:
Nicholas Startin, Department of Politics, Languages and International Studies (POLIS), University of Bath, Bath, BA2
7AY, UK.
Email: n.j.startin@bath.ac.uk
574126IPS0010.1177/0192512115574126International Political Science ReviewStartin
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