Introduction
The dispute over whether the UK should continue its 43-year membership in the European Union (EU) or leave and become sovereign was finally decided in the United Kingdom (UK) on June 23 2016. To determine whether Britain should remain or leave the European Union, a national vote known as the European Union Membership Referendum, commonly referred to as the Brexit referendum, was held. 48.1% of voters opted to stay in the EU, while 51.9% wanted to leave (Cassidy, 2020). There were two groups in the referendum campaign: Britain Stronger in Europe and Vote Leave.
Britain Stronger in Europe group sought to persuade voters that the country would be better and more successful if it remained in the European Union. In contrast, the Vote Leave group urged citizens to vote for their nation to leave the EU. The main reasons why the Leave campaign prevailed in the referendum were the cost of EU membership, immigration, and national identity, which compelled most voters to vote Leave, ultimately leading to the movement’s victory.
Reasons for Voting to Leave the EU
The purpose of the Brexit referendum is to ascertain the justifications for Britain leaving the European Union. It will be easier to comprehend the changes the majority wants to see in their economy and politics (Weaver, 2021). According to Weaver’s view on the referendum, most of the data has concentrated on the effects of the outcome and the voting patterns. The practical factors that led voters to support leaving the EU have yet to be extensively studied. The decision to Vote for Leave was made for three key reasons.
The first reason for voting to leave the EU was the belief that decisions about the UK should be made in the UK, not in the EU. According to the second argument, the UK can manage immigration and borders after leaving. The third reason for voting to leave the EU was that the UK did not influence how the EU expanded its membership and powers.
For both labor and conservative supporters, these three factors dominated their decisions. Therefore, it is evident that political membership did not significantly influence the explanations. The biggest reason was that Britons sought to retake control over decisions that would affect their nation. However, they went beyond this, employing equations and models to demonstrate the impact of variables such as predictor variables and explanatory powers; hence, the validity of their findings is supported by the combined use of statistical models and polling. Building on these two studies, it is crucial to investigate the underlying problems that led to a Vote Leave victory.
For many voters, national identification was a very important factor to consider. There has long been a claim that Britain’s participation in the EU weakens it. As a result, a campaign slogan was developed that stated that the only way to seize power was to vote to leave (Hawkins, 2021). UK citizens believed the country’s sovereignty was compromised by its participation in the EU. The primary motivation was to give the UK authority to decide on issues that would have a national impact.
The EU’s forerunner, the European Economic Community, was founded in 1957 to achieve economic interdependence and prevent the continent from experiencing another catastrophic conflict. However, it grew and diversified from a common currency to other sectors, such as policy, transportation, and agriculture, eventually becoming a political union. The UK national law was later superseded by European law.
The older generation, those who had grown up when the UK was outside the EU, were the most fervent proponents of the Vote Leave campaign due to this (Brito Bastos, 2020). Before joining the EU, Great Britain was a considerable world power. Its impact has diminished over time. Many individuals blame the EU for the UK’s declining prosperity.
Voters were significantly influenced by the campaign slogan “Vote Leave, Take Control” because it affected their sphere of influence (Hawkins, 2021). The slogan captures how people believe they have some degree of leverage over the events in their lives. A person with an internal locus of power controls the events around them.
On the other hand, an external locus of control causes the person to believe that external forces are in charge of them. This line of thinking explains the British attitude toward losing their national identity and sovereignty. In this case, voters who had an external locus of control blamed immigration and other third parties for the difficult circumstances the nation was in. As a result, those with an external locus of control were more likely to vote in favor of withdrawing from the European Union.
Immigration was also a significant issue since, according to a study, many people believe it undermines national identity. Immigration became a defining factor in the Brexit referendum, which led many individuals to vote “Leave.” Many people voted to leave the EU, hoping the UK would restore control over immigration and better secure its borders.
The free labor movement inside the EU raised concerns in the UK, particularly after Poland and Romania joined in 2007 and 2004, respectively. Numerous individuals were concerned that large numbers of immigrants from these nations were taking their jobs (de Mars, 2020). In addition, the 2008 financial crisis exacerbated these concerns, particularly in the wake of austerity policies implemented, which included cuts to public spending.
The 2011–2015 Eurozone crisis prompted further concern regarding immigration. It led to many people immigrating to the UK from southern nations like Greece and Italy. 1.2 million migrant employees have received National Insurance in the last five years (Melnychuk, 2022).
This topic was utilized by the Leave campaign to persuade many voters that leaving the EU was the only way for the country to maintain control over its borders (Schmidt, 2020). Calculations demonstrate that when the benefit-cost analysis changed from negative to positive, the possibility of voting leaves increased by 0.75 points. Thus, it may be inferred that immigration was the second most important reason people voted to favor Brexit.
The cost of joining the EU was another critical consideration. According to calculations made by the Vote Leave movement, the UK offers the EU about £350 million weekly, which was not an equivalent amount returned to the nation (Melnychuk, 2022). It was consequently found that the costs of membership far outweigh the advantages.
Thus, the Leave campaign claimed that leaving the European Union would free up billions of dollars that the UK could spend on essential services. Additionally, the government would have more control over using tax dollars. Forecasters, however, had stated that the United Kingdom would become poorer if it were to quit the European Union. This topic specifically has to do with national identity and independence. Individuals who value national identity think the government should control the nation’s resources more than an outside group.
Additionally, Brexit might be seen as a cultural civil war in the UK. Many people think that the nation’s cultural institutions should be preserved. Many people disagree with Britain’s new status as a medium-sized power that only influences decisions through intergovernmental institutions like the UN, EU, and NATO. The exiles believed the country had been let down by the left-liberal social establishment that rules the nation’s institutions (Soyer, 2022). It is because of this that Boris Johnson has prevailed over Theresa May. His speech to the legislature and public comments indicate that he views Brexit as the start of a cultural revolution in the nation.
It is crucial to consider other aspects of why Vote Leave was successful, in addition to knowing why voters wanted to leave the European Union. This investigation will examine various topics, including party differences and voter turnout, essential to the Leave campaign’s success. It will look at how the Vote Leave campaign’s clear theme and mainstream press support led to it being viewed as more successful than the Stronger in Europe campaign.
The issue of turnout was a key factor in Brexit’s victory. The Electoral Commission reported that on June 24, 2016, 72.2% of registered voters cast ballots (Hobolt, 2018). Thirty-three million five hundred sixty-eight thousand one hundred eighty-four votes were cast, just shy of the record number of voters in the 1992 General Election, when 33,614,074 persons cast ballots, making up 72.3% of the electorate (Hobolt, 2018).
54 % of individuals who did not vote in the 2015 general election participated in the EU vote, based on the NatCen Panel (Lamond & Reid, 2017). This explains why there were more new voters than in the recent general election, which saw a higher turnout. The number of voters in Britain was extremely high. However, it is asserted that the levels of participation from particular demographics significantly influenced the referendum outcome.
Some claim that rival initiatives like Leave supported the Vote Leave campaign. EU and Grassroots Out were far more successful than the Remain movement. First, they had a clearly powerful statement saying, “Take Back Control”(Hawkins, 2021). However, Remain could not develop a slogan to counter this popular Take Back Control slogan.
The economic insinuations of leaving the EU were their primary justification, but it was convoluted and frequently dismissed as scare tactics, failing to persuade most voters. The people seemed to remember the Leave campaign’s assertions, such as the assumption that Turkey was close to joining the European Union and that the UK contributed £350 million every week to the EU, which could be utilized for the NHS. Consequently, it was determined that Vote Leave had more success communicating with the people and had thus received more votes.
During the campaign, some politicians rose to prominence while others declined. Leaders of the Vote Leave movement, including Nigel Farage and Boris Johnson, inspired supporters. Although the Prime Minister and the majority of Parliament supported the Remain campaign, they could not reach voters, particularly those in the Labor Party. Many voters were inspired to cast ballots to leave the EU because of the enthusiasm within the Leave campaign and the lack thereof among the Remain campaign.
By contrast, there is less respect for mainstream, centrist leaders in contemporary politics. As previously mentioned, individuals are less inclined to pay attention to political leaders like the Prime Minister. A justification for why populist leaders like Boris Johnson were so influential in the campaign was that they connected with the standard working class, who comprised most of Vote Leave’s supporters.
Before, the main English political parties had already agreed that Britain should stay in the Community, and the press’s backing had only bolstered their position. Politicians are said to lack coherence and the ability to lead a nation significantly (Tomkins, 2020). Vote Leave took advantage of this and successfully obtained more support than the majority in the European campaign. It used its zeal and the media’s substantial support to encourage many people to cast their ballots and vote to leave the European Union.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the cost of EU membership, immigration, and national identity are the main factors influencing voters’ desire to leave the EU. Since they had lived in the UK before it entered the EU, older adults placed higher importance on national identity. During the campaign, the cost of EU membership significantly increased in popularity. It encouraged many voters to back the left-wing movement. However, besides the reasons people wanted to leave, the three main factors mentioned above helped the Leave movement win.
Reference List
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