Smoke and Mirrors: Why did the People of Britain Vote to Leave the European Union?

Abstract

January 1st, 1973 marked the start of Britain’s relationship with Europe and its single market. The decision to join the European Economic Community (as it was then known), was taken by Edward Heath and his Conservative government and marked the end of an arduous process to gain membership. But on June 5th, 1975 the then Labor government called Britain’s first referendum over the country’s membership of the European project in order to affirm that this was what the people of Britain wanted. The people of Britain voted to remain a part of the community in a landslide victory, with 67.3% of those who voted, voting in favor of the status quo.3 On June 23rd, 2016, 41 years after the first referendum, Britain held another referendum regarding the European Union. This time Britain voted to leave. This thesis will answer the question of why the people of the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union? Ultimately concluding that Although the issues of immigration, sovereignty and cost influenced voters, the issues that ultimately convinced the electorate to vote to leave the European Union were issues not caused by the European Union, but that the Leave campaign successfully assimilated to the European Union. The 2016 referendum was on the European Union, but not about European Union. To get to this conclusion I will examine the historical relationship between Britain and Europe, the campaigns that were run by the Remain and Leave campaigns. In my final chapter, I will examine the way that Britain voted to illustrate how the sociological and political climates within Britain and the European Union influenced the vote.