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UK Euroscepticism and the Brexit Referendum
Author(s) -
Vasilopoulou Sofia
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
the political quarterly
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.373
H-Index - 37
eISSN - 1467-923X
pISSN - 0032-3179
DOI - 10.1111/1467-923x.12258
Subject(s) - referendum , brexit , opposition (politics) , mainstream , political science , freedom of movement , political economy , government (linguistics) , public opinion , politics , economics , law and economics , public economics , european union , law , international economics , linguistics , philosophy
This article shows that key to understanding the referendum outcome are factors such as a profoundly eurosceptic public, high levels of citizen uncertainty, divided mainstream political parties on the EU and lack of unity within the ‘Leave’ campaign. The Brexit referendum is more than just about domestic issues and government approval. Utilitarian concerns related to economic evaluations of EU integration coupled with support of or opposition to EU freedom of movement are very likely to influence vote choice. Those campaigns that focus on rational utilitarian arguments about the costs and benefits related to EU membership as a whole but also to EU freedom of movement are expected to swing voters.