The question of Europe in British politics and the Brexit referendum

Abstract

Following the Brexit referendum held in June 2016, this study aims to probe the Europe question, which is a recurrent topic in British politics and which has till now never been solved. In addition, the origins of this issue will be scrutinized, as well as the historical background which is the main element leading to the present rocky relationship between the UK and the EU. Another purpose of the study is to explore the reasons for which the Europe question came to dominate UK-EU relations. Subsequently, an account of important post-war events in British politics shall be examined, as well as the factors leading to the 1975 in-out British referendum. Furthermore, Euroscepticism is a major element in this study due to its rise in Britain, thus in understanding the extent of how Euroscepticism affected the Brexit vote, the correlation between this concept and four dimensions, namely; the general public, the media, the political parties and the Scottish dimensions will be explored. These sections will help to explain that the rise of Euroscepticism within the Conservative party and the popular support for the far right party UKIP was the element leading to the 2016 Brexit referendum. Furthermore, the 2014 Scottish independence referendum is also addressed since its result is largely linked to the UK's membership of the EU, which was then questioned two years later. The last goal of the study was to determine the referendum's impact so far on the Europe question, and this was answered through the investigation of the immediate fallout of the referendum, and by looking at its impact from four dimensions; the general public, the media, the Scottish dimension and the political parties. The general public is now in majority supporting a British exit, with the exception of Scotland and Northern Ireland, and this influence might be related to the media's negative outlook of the EU. On the other hand, the Scottish have now been considering requesting a second independence referendum now that the UK might leave the EU. Ultimately results show that the conflict within the Conservative party and this Europe question, which was thought to have been resolved through an in-out referendum, is till now unresolved, leaving more questions than answers. The results also highlight that the dispute within the party is still present whilst Eurosceptics are increasingly taking over a party which is supposed to advocate a pro-Europe stance.