The missing link: Religion and British politics

Abstract

Brexit and the years of tumult that followed were the political consequences of how these changes manifested in the British electorate and the context of British politics. From the late 1990s, both Labour and the Conservatives focused their electoral strategies on middle class, socially liberal voters who were becoming more numerous in light of the massification of higher education, technological development and the decline of heavy industry. The strongest effects are found among national church Protestants: Anglicans and Presbyterians are both more likely to be socially conservative and economically right-wing, and to reject the notion of transnational European identities. The result is that Anglicans and Presbyterians are more likely to be critical of the consequences of European Union (EU) membership – particularly migration – and to perceive that the costs of EU membership for the United Kingdom (UK) outweigh the benefits.