Brexit in Context

Brexit in Context is an exploration of why the United Kingdom (UK) voted to leave the European Union (EU) on 23 June 2016. This Brexit (or British exit from the EU) is set within the contexts of wider political events (e.g., the Iraq War), cultural considerations (e.g., the importance of fish and chips), the distinctive features of the UK's nations (e.g., Cornwall or Scotland), aspects of the referendum campaigns (e.g., why it was held in 2016 rather than 2017), and the history of the relationship between the UK and what became the EU since European unity movements arose in response World War Two.

The target readership for Brexit in Context is anyone from anywhere in the world who wants help in understanding why the UK voted to leave the EU after 43 years of membership. This is not an academic book, although students and researchers could use it as a first step in researching aspects of Brexit. Although it covers an event that took place twelve months before this book was first published the book is best described as popular history. The purpose of the book is to explain the contexts that lay behind political decisions and public attitudes. It is not arguing for any political response to the vote, but deals in a primarily historical manner with the period up to the declaration of the referendum result on 24 June 2016. Limited reference will be made to events after that date, but only where it throws light on events in the timespan on which this book focuses.

Brexit in Context is organised into four sections: Campaigns, Nations, Issues, and Histories. Campaigns deals not only with the political campaigns of the 2016 referendum, but also the three year build up to that poll and the history of referendums in British politics. It also looks at the results as the interpretation of them was a continuation of the campaign. Nations addresses one aspect of the post-result interpretation: the claims about why three UK nations voted leave and two (plus Gibraltar) voted remain. The section is organised by dealing with the leave nations (England, Wales, and Cornwall) first and then the remain nations (Scotland, Northern Ireland, and Gibraltar). There are six nations to discuss as the non-UK nation of Gibraltar took part in the poll and Cornwall is not part of England. Issues is the key section for this book exploring why the UK voted overall to leave the EU. Its chapters deal with specific topics such as the economy or sovereignty that may have swung the decisions of individual voters. These issues are dealt with in alphabetical order so as not to pre-judge their relative weight in determining the final vote. Histories sets out the decade by decade history of the complicated relationship between the UK and the EU, as well as other historical contexts such as wars and economic crises. Each chapter is followed by a timeline to help the reader see the chronological order of the relevant events in that decade. The book closes with a Conclusion, which is the author's personal interpretation of why the UK voted leave, but that is merely an example of the personal conclusion that each reader can make after reading the evidence.