ANALYSIS: Brexit vote a sign U.K. ‘longing for a time and place that never was’
‘Free movement of people is a major point of European integration,’ says political scientist
European Union leaders said Friday that the U.K. should begin the process of leaving the EU as soon as possible. It’s expected that some countries will take a tough approach in negotiations over new trade deals, which will take at least two years to complete. (Neil Hall/Reuters)
If it’s difficult to understand why the United Kingdom would vote to leave the European Union, spawning deep uncertainty about what happens next on any number of fronts, look no further than immigration.
The Brexit result was, in large part, a reaction to growing anxieties over migration to the U.K., realistic or not.
Immigration was a top priority for voters in the Leave camp, according to pre-referendum polling, and Leave leaders like the U.K. Independence Party’s Nigel Farage and former London mayor and likely next prime minister Boris Johnson have been clear on their position that “taking back control” of the U.K.’s borders is critical to future economic health.
It was a deliberate strategy to target migrants and the nostalgic whims of Britons “longing for a time and place that never was,” said Geoff Smith, professor emeritus of history at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ont.
Part of that scapegoating has been to point the finger at migrants for the U.K.’s slow and disappointing recovery from the financial crisis of 2008, as well as for disappearing public services, especially in places outside of major urban centres.
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