There's a mountain of unanswered questions surrounding the EU Referendum that will probably never be answered, including:
1. Was it mass immigration that resulted not only in the Leave vote but in the referendum itself? Some argue that back in the late 1990s and early 2000s that other EU issues didn't sufficiently resonate with the public to have any large affect on the political system but mass immigration was the straw that broke the camel's back.
2. If eastern European countries had not joined the EU but we still had the referendum then would it have resulted in a decisive Remain victory?
3. If eastern European countries had not joined the EU would we even have had the referendum to start with?
4. Was the referendum actually a war between London; affluent parts of the south; and trendy cities full of young graduates and well-off intellectual types with a liberal disposition like Oxford, Cambridge, Brighton, Bristol, and Manchester, versus the rest of England? A Metropolitan Elite versus the common folk from the provinces. A concrete display of the way that London and other affluent or trendy areas are out of sync and out of tune with the majority of the rest of England.
5. Was the referendum an old fashioned class war more than anything else? The true Remain and Leave split in England determined by whether one has or doesn't have much money, or feels that they financially benefit or does not benefit from the EU. There was an article in the Guardian about this. If there is much truth to this then the campaign would have been immaterial to deciding which way one votes because their bank account has decided it for them.
6. Did house prices and the housing market have much of a bearing on the way that people voted?
7. Was the late James Goldsmith with his Referendum Party ultimately responsible for the EU Referendum? He was the man responsible for shining the limelight onto the issue of EU membership, and the political scene after 1997 was never the same as it was before 1997 because EU membership was now an issue that the establishment politicians had to face.
8. Will Brexit ultimately break up the Union? The majority of Scotland voted Remain (although Scottish Leave voters do exist and they haven't IMO received sufficient attention) but Northern Ireland is the complicated province especially as there is a strong Protestant / Unionist and Catholic / Republican split to the vote.
There's a mountain of unanswered questions surrounding the EU Referendum that will probably never be answered, including:
1. Was it mass immigration that resulted not only in the Leave vote but in the referendum itself? Some argue that back in the late 1990s and early 2000s that other EU issues didn't sufficiently resonate with the public to have any large affect on the political system but mass immigration was the straw that broke the camel's back.
2. If eastern European countries had not joined the EU but we still had the referendum then would it have resulted in a decisive Remain victory?
3. If eastern European countries had not joined the EU would we even have had the referendum to start with?
4. Was the referendum actually a war between London; affluent parts of the south; and trendy cities full of young graduates and well-off intellectual types with a liberal disposition like Oxford, Cambridge, Brighton, Bristol, and Manchester, versus the rest of England? A Metropolitan Elite versus the common folk from the provinces. A concrete display of the way that London and other affluent or trendy areas are out of sync and out of tune with the majority of the rest of England.
5. Was the referendum an old fashioned class war more than anything else? The true Remain and Leave split in England determined by whether one has or doesn't have much money, or feels that they financially benefit or does not benefit from the EU. There was an article in the Guardian about this. If there is much truth to this then the campaign would have been immaterial to deciding which way one votes because their bank account has decided it for them.
6. Did house prices and the housing market have much of a bearing on the way that people voted?
7. Was the late James Goldsmith with his Referendum Party ultimately responsible for the EU Referendum? He was the man responsible for shining the limelight onto the issue of EU membership, and the political scene after 1997 was never the same as it was before 1997 because EU membership was now an issue that the establishment politicians had to face.
8. Will Brexit ultimately break up the Union? The majority of Scotland voted Remain (although Scottish Leave voters do exist and they haven't IMO received sufficient attention) but Northern Ireland is the complicated province especially as there is a strong Protestant / Unionist and Catholic / Republican split to the vote.
