Regular readers will doubtless have noticed that the EU referendum has come and long since gone – yet we are still up and running! Discerning readers may have noticed too a few tweaks that have been made to the site in recent weeks. We are, for example, no longer featuring information on how people propose to vote in the referendum (though it is all still there if you want it!), while a number of new topics have been created, such as ‘The Brexit vote: right or wrong’ and ‘What should Brexit mean’.
As a result of the majority decision in the referendum to leave the EU, the UK has moved on from a debate about whether or not to stay in the EU to a deliberation about what its future relationship with the EU should be. This new discourse is clearly as important as the former one – and just as contentious too. Meanwhile how the public respond and react as the process of withdrawal takes shape over the next two and a half years will matter – even if there are no plans (as yet at least) to put the eventual outcome of the negotiations with the EU to a popular vote. The UK government will not want to end up with an outcome that is greeted with widespread public opposition, especially given that some of the Brexit process at least will eventually require parliamentary approval.
Consequently, in the hours immediately after the referendum we decided that the site should be kept going – but with a new focus on public attitudes towards Brexit. You may well have already noticed that this issue has been the subject of most of the commentary we have posted since June 23rd – and that we have not done much raking over the coals as to why people voted as they did. (However, do not be surprised if occasionally we do revisit that subject, especially when doing so might help illuminate what voters hope for and expect from Brexit.) As in the referendum, our aim is to provide dispassionate analysis of the evidence provided by polls and surveys, and to be a place where all the relevant evidence can easily be found and interrogated. The new topics we have introduced (and our ‘Guide to Brexit’) also reflect this new orientation. Meanwhile, we are working with our web designers, Helpful Technology, to introduce a new facility that will enable us to highlight and display the headline trends in public attitudes towards Brexit as they emerge.
We are pleased to say that some weeks back our funders, the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) (under the aegis of its ‘The UK in a Changing Europe’ initiative), agreed to back our new vision for the site for the initial period of the Brexit process at least, and we will be endeavouring to raise further funds so that we can monitor public opinion throughout the Brexit process. We are deeply grateful to the Council for its continued support.
Readers will also be aware that the UK-wide decision to Leave together with the majority vote in Scotland to Remain has had particular implications for public debate north of the border, including not least raising the possibility that the Scottish Government might decide it wants to hold a second independence referendum in order to secure Scotland’s continued membership of the EU. So those interested in that topic will be interested to hear that our sister site, whatscotlandthinks.org, is now monitoring the evolution of attitudes towards how Scotland should be governed in the wake of the Brexit debate – again with further, much appreciated support from the ESRC.
However you voted in the referendum (if indeed you voted at all) we hope you find our service a useful source of information during what those on all sides of the argument agree is going to be a crucial time for the UK.
By John Curtice
John Curtice is Senior Research Fellow at NatCen and at 'UK in a Changing Europe', Professor of Politics at Strathclyde University, and Chief Commentator on the What UK Thinks: EU website.