Geographies of Brexit and its aftermath: voting in England at the 2016 referendum and the 2017 general election

Ron Johnston*, David Manley, Charles Pattie, Kelvyn Jones

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticle (Academic Journal)peer-review

46 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Much has been written since the 2016 Brexit referendum regarding the divides within British society that the vote illustrated – including geographical divides – and their influence on the outcome of the 2017 general election. Focusing on England, this paper explores the extent and significance of those geographical divides at the 2016 referendum, at a variety of spatial scales – concluding that apart from a major difference between parts of inner London and the rest of England these were largely insignificant. Turning to the 2017 general election, analyses show that this return to a predominantly two-party system within England largely involved a replication of the geography of the 2015 general election outcome. A new electoral map of England did not emerge from the divisions that Brexit stimulated: the country is divided along class lines, with London standing out as different from all other regions.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)162-187
Number of pages26
JournalSpace and Polity
Volume22
Issue number2
Early online date28 Jun 2018
DOIs
Publication statusE-pub ahead of print - 28 Jun 2018

Keywords

  • 2017 election
  • Brexit
  • England
  • geography

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