Europhiles or Eurosceptics? Comparing the European policies of the Labour Party and the Liberal Democrats

Hertner, Isabelle; Keith, Daniel

doi:10.1057/bp.2016.4

Cited by 17 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…In fact, Cameron's promise to hold a referendum on Europe may be understood as an attempt to end internal party conflict on the EU issue (Lynch and Whitaker, ). And, while the Labour party under Tony Blair initially sought to put forward a pro‐EU stance, the party's EU position has been characterized as an attempt to contain the salience of the EU issue (Hertner and Keith, ; Oppermann, ). Given that their messages have been contradictory and often ambiguous, they are also unlikely to influence their voters in a coherent manner.…”

Section: A Model For Explaining Public Attitudes Towards Eu Renegotiamentioning

confidence: 99%

Renegotiation Versus Brexit: The Question of the UK's Constitutional Relationship with the EU

Vasilopoulou

Keith

2019

J of Common Market Studies

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This article examines how the British public perceived UK Prime Minister David Cameron's plan to renegotiate his country's relationship with the EU. It asks whether attitudes towards renegotiation followed a similar pattern to attitudes towards Brexit. It asks: are preferences towards renegotiation and Brexit related, and did British citizens perceive them as conflicting or complementary? We modelled the similarities and differences between these two types of preferences, which allowed us to classify the attitudes into four patterns: unconditional europhiles, rejectionist eurosceptics, risk‐averse eurosceptics and power‐seeking eurosceptics. Using a large‐N cross‐sectional survey conducted in the UK in April 2015 (n = 3000), our findings suggest that similar utilitarian concerns underpinned both types of preferences; but education and partisan cues differentiated them. Our findings have implications for understanding the result of the UK referendum. They also highlight the complex considerations that drive citizens’ attitudes towards the EU and help us predict the scope of public acceptance of EU reform initiatives by other governments.

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Section: A Model For Explaining Public Attitudes Towards Eu Renegotiamentioning

confidence: 99%

Renegotiation Versus Brexit: The Question of the UK's Constitutional Relationship with the EU

Vasilopoulou

Keith

2019

J of Common Market Studies

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“… 5 The existing literature on Euroscepticism in British political parties is of course rather extensive. For example, Heppell (2013) looks at Euroscepticism within the 2010 intake of Conservative MPs, Hertner and Keith (2017) examine the messaging of the Labour Party and the Liberal Democrats on Europe, and Tzelgov (2014) explores the voting behaviour of MPs on Europe between 1992 and 1997. This body of literature is invaluable in helping us understand the context that ultimately set the scene for the 2016 EU referendum, but it does not focus on how politicians ultimately voted in June 2016. …”

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confidence: 99%

The 2016 EU Referendum: Explaining Support for Brexit Among Would-Be British MPs

2020

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The outcome of the 2016 referendum on European Union membership took many by surprise and has continued to define the political discourse in Britain. Despite there being a growing body of research focused on explaining how voters cast their ballot, we still know little about what motivated our politicians to do the same. In this article, we draw on individual-level survey data from the British Representation Study to explore support for Brexit among parliamentary candidates who stood at the 2017 general election. We find that candidates’ political views on immigration and democracy were key determinants of their decision to vote Leave. In addition, more optimistic views of how Brexit was expected to impact British economy and democracy are associated with greater likelihood of voting Leave. These findings highlight that, while politicians were less likely than voters to support Brexit overall, their motivations for doing so were quite similar. Interestingly, however, we also find that candidates contesting constituencies with higher Leave support were no more likely to vote for Brexit themselves. Taken together, these findings have important implications for elite representation of voters’ policy preferences on the issue of Brexit.

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“…In the 1990s, the Labour Party under Tony Blair became more pro-European. Today’s Labour Party membership and its MPs are both pro-European [55]. However, the Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, influenced by Benn in the 1970s, is more Eurosceptic than his party, although he campaigned in the 2016 referendum to remain in the EU [56].…”

Section: Political Factorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Brexit and Animal Welfare Impact Assessment: Analysis of the Threats Brexit Poses to Animal Protection in the UK, EU and Internationally

McCulloch

2019

Animals

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The British people voted in a 2016 referendum to leave the European Union (EU). Brexit presents both threats and opportunities to animal protection in the United Kingdom (UK), EU and internationally. This paper discusses threats to animal protection in terms of five criteria. These are first, political context; second, regulatory changes; third, economic and trade factors; fourth, institutional and capacity-related factors; and fifth, EU and international considerations. The EU has the most progressive animal welfare laws in the world. The Conservative Government delivering Brexit has a mixed record on animal protection. Major time and resource constraints inherent in Brexit risk negatively impacting animal protection. Brexit is projected to have a negative economic impact, which is generally associated with lower animal welfare standards. The development of Brexit policy suggests there to be a substantial risk that the major threat of importing lower welfare products to the UK will materialise. Brexit will reduce the political influence of the progressive animal protection lobby in the EU. Post-Brexit, the politically and economically weakened EU and UK risks a detrimental impact on animal protection on an international scale. Brexit poses substantial threats to animal protection, with a high risk that many threats will materialise. Further research is needed to assess the opportunities presented by Brexit to judge whether Brexit will be overall positive or negative for animal protection.

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Europhiles or Eurosceptics? Comparing the European policies of the Labour Party and the Liberal Democrats

Cited by 17 publications

References 29 publications

Renegotiation Versus Brexit: The Question of the UK's Constitutional Relationship with the EU

Renegotiation Versus Brexit: The Question of the UK's Constitutional Relationship with the EU

The 2016 EU Referendum: Explaining Support for Brexit Among Would-Be British MPs

Brexit and Animal Welfare Impact Assessment: Analysis of the Threats Brexit Poses to Animal Protection in the UK, EU and Internationally

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