Brexit, Populism and Business: The Business Elite loses Control

Brexit has become emblematic of the rise of populism across much of the world in recent years. Although Brexit was widely perceived to run counter to dominant business interests, business played a surprisingly limited role during the referendum campaign (Feldmann and Morgan, 2021). This chapter draws on our research extending Hirschman’s (1970) framework of exit, voice, and loyalty (see Chapter 1) to analyse the strategies adopted by business associations and individual businesses in response to the Brexit process during and after the referendum. We consider a range of factors, including the nature of the Brexit process itself, notably its noisiness (Culpepper, 2011) and the high level of uncertainty associated with it, and also economic interests, such as strategic considerations related to sectoral characteristics, collective representation, and non-economic motivations. By drawing on our analysis of the business responses to Brexit, we also reflect on the broader implications of these developments for understanding business influence in the British political economy.