Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-7cvxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T23:32:59.696Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

1 - Introduction: How Britain Became Brexitland

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 September 2020

Maria Sobolewska
Affiliation:
University of Manchester
Robert Ford
Affiliation:
University of Manchester
Get access

Summary

This chapter sets out the plan of the book and our main arguments. We introduce identity conservatives and identity liberals, the new demographic groups whose conflicts are at the heart of identity politics in Brexitland. Identity conflicts in Britain did not begin with Brexit though the EU Referendum brought these conflicts to the fore and made the groups themselves more aware what divides them. The identity conflicts laid bare by Brexit are instead the result of a collection of long-running social trends: demographic changes that have been underway for decades; the political legacies of Enoch Powell and Margaret Thatcher, on the one side, and the anti-racism legislation and mobilisation around Stephen Lawrence’s murder, on the other; the changes wrought to party competition and voters’ perceptions of the parties by Tony Blair and New Labour; and the long-term consequences of liberal immigration policies introduced by the first two New Labour governments. These trends all set the scene for the developments of 2016, and the Brexitland politics that unfolded post-referendum.

Type
Chapter
Information
Brexitland
Identity, Diversity and the Reshaping of British Politics
, pp. 1 - 18
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×