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Do Voters Care About Controls on EU Imports?

31 August 2023

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

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

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 […]


Chasing Shadows From The Sea? The Electoral Politics of ‘Illegal’ Immigration

28 April 2023

The UK government has concerned itself with addressing what it terms ‘illegal’ migration, in particular those who cross the English Channel with the aim of claiming asylum in the UK. Last year, it introduced a policy of transferring asylum seekers to Rwanda for their claim to be settled there, though as yet that policy is […]


Is The Brexit Debate Really Over? Perhaps Not

10 March 2023

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

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

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 […]


A Brexit Compromise? Attitudes towards a Closer Relationship with the EU

23 January 2023

In two blogs earlier this month (see here and here), we argued that (i) over the last year there has been a marked swing in favour of rejoining the EU, and  (ii) that the principal reason for this was a decline in the proportion of Leave voters who would now vote to stay out of […]


Two Years On: Why Have Some Leave Voters Lost Faith in Brexit?

6 January 2023

In our previous blog on attitudes towards Brexit since the UK left the EU single market, we noted that after oscillating up and down in 2021, the last twelve months witnessed a marked decline in support for being outside the EU. On average, the polls now suggest that 57% would vote to rejoin the EU, […]


Two Years On: A Decline in the Popularity of Brexit

5 January 2023

It is now two years since the UK left the EU single market and customs union following the conclusion of a Trade and Co-operation Agreement (TCA) between the UK and the EU at the very end of 2020. That agreement was the final stage of a Brexit process instigated by the majority vote to Leave […]


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