Populism in the Age of Brexit

The conflictual politics of Brexit – characterized by entrenched divisions between Leavers and Remainers – can be traced back to long-standing and more recent features of the British constitution that encourage discord over dialogue; tribal loyalty rather than broad consensus. This is the case both of the traditional system of ‘strong’ party government through parliamentary executive, and of the recent turn to binary-choice plebiscites – in referendums on Scottish independence and membership of the European Union. This kind of divisiveness has also contributed to the turn to populism – to claims by those with very particular agendas to represent ‘the People’ as a whole, with no allowance made to the views of those others, often castigated as ‘elites’, who do not share their particular agenda.