Abstract
This chapter considers how the EU Referendum 2016 shaped British Politics between 2015–2020. The chapter begins by outlining the relationship between Britain and Europe in the twentieth century, followed by the key events leading up to the referendum. From there, it discusses the referendum campaign and the vote, offering various explanations in the academic literature as to why Britain voted ‘Leave’. The final section analyses the EU Referendum’s impact in five areas—identity, the Labour Party, the Conservative Party, territorial integrity and culture. The chapter concludes that the referendum gave full expression to the fault lines that had been brewing for decades under the surface. However, in the period assessed, the two major parties have withstood and contained, with varying degrees of success, the changes brought about by the referendum.
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Miles, J. (2023). The EU Referendum and British Politics. In: Beech, M., Lee, S. (eds) Conservative Governments in the Age of Brexit. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-21464-6_5
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