Do Voters Care About Controls on EU Imports?

31 August 2023 Comment What should Brexit mean?

The defining slogan of the Leave campaign in the 2016 EU referendum was, of course, ‘Take back control’. The slogan not only referenced how Brexit would facilitate control of immigration, but also of goods and services entering the UK. For some advocates of Leave at least, that latter prospect was a crucial part of their […]


Seven Years On: Why Has Brexit Become Less Popular?

23 June 2023 Comment The Brexit Vote: Right or Wrong?

Much has happened in the year that has elapsed between today’s seventh anniversary of the 2016 EU referendum and the sixth anniversary a year ago. Two Prime Ministers have come and gone, one of whom is not even an MP anymore. Nicola Sturgeon has stepped down as First Minister of Scotland after as much as […]


Is Brexit Over? Lessons from the Electoral Geography of the Local Elections

12 May 2023 Comment The Brexit process

Previously we have examined the extent to which the relationship between attitudes towards Brexit and party support has changed since 2019, when most Leave voters backed the Conservatives and most Remain supporters did not. We noted that support for the Conservatives has collapsed among those who voted Leave in 2016, while support for Labour has […]



Is The Brexit Debate Really Over? Perhaps Not

10 March 2023 Comment The Brexit process

For the most part, politicians on both sides of the Brexit debate have decided that the decision made seven years ago is not for turning. Not only do the Conservatives, who implemented Brexit, take that view but Labour spokespersons also state that the decision to leave has been taken and should not be revisited. Meanwhile, […]


Soft or Hard Brexit? Depends on How You Ask Us

10 March 2023 Comment What should Brexit mean?

The conclusion of a new agreement between the UK and the EU on how the movement of goods between Great Britain (outside the single market) and Northern Ireland (inside) has fuelled speculation that it might pave the way for some softening of the UK’s relationship with the EU. Public attitudes towards some of the steps […]


Brexit and Party Support: Looking Through a Different Lens

3 February 2023 Comment The Brexit process

In recent blogs we have chartered how public opinion has swung away from backing Brexit, thanks not least to greater pessimism among Leave voters about the economic consequences of being outside the EU. Meanwhile, most Remain voters, though only a minority of Leave supporters, would like a closer relationship with the EU than that provided […]