Brexit Backlash: Brits Now Regret Their Populist Revolt
wsj.com
wsj.com
Which interestingly, is roughly the percentage of populist Conservatives in the US as well.
https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/populati...
> The Leave side led with 17.4 million votes, or 52 percent, versus the Remain side’s 16.1 million, or 48 percent, with a turnout of around 72 percent.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/06/24/world/europe/...
> The population of the UK at 30 June 2016 is estimated to be 65,648,000 people.
https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/populati...
There exists a universe in which we did it properly, probably one in which Covid wasn't essentially simultaneous with it, one in which we had a more competent government at the helm, one in which we didn't end up with 600k/1% net annual immigration and maybe one in which we actually built houses and infrastructure rather than just sort of moving money about in spreadsheets.
We just aren't in that universe. It was never in and of itself some sort of horrendously negative idea and I think it's grasping at straws to pretend that it was.
a) people died and got replaced by voters with a different opinion, two years ago this was accounting for about a third of the overall rate of change.
b) there's a hefty partisan split, with labour voters ever more sure that it was a bad idea, but Tory voters initially becoming more convinced, and then later becoming more disillusioned.
https://ukandeu.ac.uk/will-support-for-brexit-become-extinct...
The funny thing is, even at the time it was clear that immigration would not decrease as a result of Brexit. Farage repeatedly stressed that it would open the door to greater immigration from the Commonwealth. People projected their own desire for lowered immigration onto the vote because, as you said, it's the only lever they were given.
Farage is making it very clear in this election cycle that he stands for reduced immigration. Do you mean to say that he has changed his mind?
Very nearly 50% voted remain.