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It’s more complicated than that!: Unpacking ‘Left Behind Britain’ and some other spatial tropes following the UK’s 2016 EU referendum

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  • Alexander Nurse
  • Olivier Sykes

Abstract

In the aftermath of the UK’s vote to leave the European Union, a number of dominant narratives and spatial imaginaries of ‘Brexit’ have come to the fore including the notion of a revolt of a ‘Left Behind Britain’, and of a generational splintering manifested in different political attitudes. Informed by this context, this paper considers some of these issues at the micro-scale, using voting data from two contiguous local authority districts within the same city region. It presents data from wards that have similar socio-economic conditions and which are highly ranked in the Index of Multiple Deprivation but which voted differently in the referendum. The data reinforce the arguments of those who have claimed that the phenomenon of Brexit is powerfully contextual and that general socio-economic analyses of its causes do not fully explain why some areas and populations voted to leave the EU and others with comparable profiles voted to remain. With poorer regions predicted to be the biggest economic losers of ‘Brexit’, an understanding of such issues is of material consequence and might inform progressive responses to such populist phenomena.

Suggested Citation

  • Alexander Nurse & Olivier Sykes, 2019. "It’s more complicated than that!: Unpacking ‘Left Behind Britain’ and some other spatial tropes following the UK’s 2016 EU referendum," Local Economy, London South Bank University, vol. 34(6), pages 589-606, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:loceco:v:34:y:2019:i:6:p:589-606
    DOI: 10.1177/0269094219881356
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Vivien Lowndes & Alison Gardner, 2016. "Local governance under the Conservatives: super-austerity, devolution and the ‘smarter state’," Local Government Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 42(3), pages 357-375, May.
    2. David Manley & Kelvyn Jones & Ron Johnston, 2017. "The geography of Brexit – What geography? Modelling and predicting the outcome across 380 local authorities," Local Economy, London South Bank University, vol. 32(3), pages 183-203, May.
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    Cited by:

    1. Alexander Nurse & Olivier Sykes, 2020. "Place-based vs. place blind? – Where do England’s new local industrial strategies fit in the ‘levelling up’ agenda?," Local Economy, London South Bank University, vol. 35(4), pages 277-296, June.
    2. Annie Tubadji & Thomas Colwill & Don Webber, 2021. "Voting with your feet or voting for Brexit: The tale of those stuck behind," Regional Science Policy & Practice, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 13(2), pages 247-277, April.

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