>> The majority of people who voted for Brexit were not motivated by economic advantage, They
>> were driven by either a fear of the EU and foreigners in general, a need
>> for a scapegoat for their own failure or some belief that the UK could become
>> an empire and the world would worship us and beg to trade with us.
I accept the generality of that and the accuracy of the first and third cohorts. There is, I think another group; the left behind. Maybe you are including them in the 'scapegoat for own failure' set which I think is rather unfair.
I'd start with the swathes of the country where former big industries like coal, steel and textiles disappeared a generation ago. There's been little in the way of true replacement by inward investment. More min wage jobs in warehouses or precarious stuff on zero hours but less in terms of skilled, secure and well remunerated employment. Other areas have fallen on hard times more recently. While some can 'get on their bikes' and move to more prosperous parts of the country others cannot whether due to Housing, lack of skills, need to care for Mam & Dad etc cannot. The Labour Government from 97 to 2010 did little for them and the subsequent austerity compounded the issue.
A lot of others in various locations, even if remaining in employment have seen very little of the prosperity the 'boom years' pre 2007 brought. Stagnant wages and rising costs.
The North South divide in England was and is a massive thing.
For a lot of those people EU membership seemed at best an irrelevance. At worst they were susceptible to the myths of Messrs Farage etc but a lot of others saw it as an opportunity to give the establishment a kick in the balls at no cost to themselves. Cameron's Project Fear in the referendum did him no favours with this group; what relevance had the stock market etc to them?
For all the present government's talk of levelling up there's precious little evidence of it happening.
We risk, like America, becoming a nation divided.
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