Post-Brexit British Politics: A Reunited Kingdom?
| Author | Paula Surridge |
| Published date | 01 March 2021 |
| Date | 01 March 2021 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/20419058211000995 |
8 POLITICAL INSIGHT • MARCH 2021
The divide between the Leave
and Remain sides in the 2016 EU
referendum has become central
to our understanding of British
politics. The last two general elections saw a
movement of voters, or rather a realignment
of the electorate, along these lines. At the
2019 General Election around four in ve of
those who had voted to leave the European
Union voted for parties with a clear pro-
Brexit stance, while three in four of those
who had voted to remain opted for parties
which either wanted to remain or had
promised a second referendum.
Post-Brexit British
Politics: A Reunited
Kingdom?
Brexit has fundamentally divided the British electorate into Leavers
and Remainers. Or has it? Paula Surridge reports on new analysis
that suggests that British voters are increasingly fragmented, but in
unpredictable ways.
Despite formally leaving on 31 January
2020, the nal Brexit deal did not come
into eect until the start of 2021, and much
uncertainty remained, right up until the
eleventh hour, around the shape of a deal
or even if one would be struck. With the
Brexit deal now done, is British politics and
the British electorate ready to move on
from Brexit or are the divides laid bare, the
identities formed, and the new coalitions
of voters forged through the Brexit process
here to stay? In more theoretical terms, is the
realignment temporary, partial or ‘critical’?
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