The Tilting of Britain’s Political Axis?
| Author | Gerry Stoker,Will Jennings |
| Published date | 01 December 2017 |
| Date | 01 December 2017 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/2041905817744604 |
4 POLITICAL INSIGHT • DECEMBER 2017
Clacton-on-Sea has been a
destination for many touring
journalists and researchers in
search of ‘left behind’ Britain over
recent years. In June 2016, 69.5 per cent of
the population in Tendring, the local authority
of which Clacton-on-Sea is part, voted to
leave the EU. It was places like Clacton, it was
argued, populated by older, less educated,
white, working class voters, who had
inicted a bloody nose on the Westminster
establishment and the uncontainable forces of
globalisation.
Just 60 miles away, in the university town
of Cambridge – home to large numbers of
students, graduates and professionals – some
73.8 per cent voted against Brexit. Despite the
knife-edge nature of the referendum result,
many post mortems focused on culture and
identity. But while these issues were crucial
in delivering Brexit, the pattern of voting in
Clacton-on-Sea and Cambridge reects a
politics on two tracks – headed in dierent
directions.
A New Divide
A new cleavage is emerging that is
fundamentally changing politics in the early
decades of the twenty-rst century. The
divide is between citizens residing in locations
From Brexit to Donald Trump, white working class voters have been
central to recent political shifts. But in looking at the so-called ‘left
behind’ too much emphasis has been place d on culture and identity
and not enough on economics, argue Will Jennings and Gerry Stoker.
strongly connected to global growth and
those who are not. In geographical terms, it is
between those from the densely populated
urban centres of the emerging knowledge and
creative economy and those who live beyond
that world in suburban communities, post-
industrial towns, and coastal areas. Populations
of the former tend to be more socially liberal,
pluralistic in their identity and relaxed about
social change (in particular immigration),
whereas the latter are more prone to nostalgia,
are uneasy about immigration, tend to be
more authoritarian and socially conservative in
their views. These dynamics impacted on the
result of the EU referendum in June 2016, and
the 2017 general election as well.
The idea that the main challenge faced
by British politics is this ‘left behind’ group of
white working class voters was rst diagnosed
by academics (see Ford and Goodwin,
2014; 2017). In this analysis these voters’
The Tilting of
Britain’s Political Axis?
Political Insight December 2017.indd 4 03/11/2017 10:54
To continue reading
Request your trial