TY - JOUR
T1 - Volatility, Realignment, and Electoral Shocks
T2 - Brexit and the UK General Election of 2019
AU - Fieldhouse, Edward
AU - Evans, Geoffrey
AU - Green, Jane
AU - Mellon, Jonathan
AU - Prosser, Christopher
AU - Bailey, Jack
PY - 2023/10
Y1 - 2023/10
N2 - The 2019 UK General Election had seismic consequences for British politics. After three years of political turmoil following the 2016 referendum on Britain’s membership of the European Union (EU), the 2019 election marked a victory for the Leave side of the Brexit debate, putting to rest questions of a second referendum and any chance of Parliament blocking the Withdrawal Bill. The United Kingdom left the EU on January 31, 2020. Although there were clear consequences for Britain’s EU membership, there is debate about whether 2019 was a “Brexit election” (Prosser 2020)—even a critical election (Green 2021)—or the continuation of long-term realignments in British politics (Cutts et al. 2020; Jennings and Stoker 2017). By most accounts, Brexit dominated the 2019 election as a political issue, but whether this represents a key moment in a process of realignment of voters in Britain remains to be seen.
AB - The 2019 UK General Election had seismic consequences for British politics. After three years of political turmoil following the 2016 referendum on Britain’s membership of the European Union (EU), the 2019 election marked a victory for the Leave side of the Brexit debate, putting to rest questions of a second referendum and any chance of Parliament blocking the Withdrawal Bill. The United Kingdom left the EU on January 31, 2020. Although there were clear consequences for Britain’s EU membership, there is debate about whether 2019 was a “Brexit election” (Prosser 2020)—even a critical election (Green 2021)—or the continuation of long-term realignments in British politics (Cutts et al. 2020; Jennings and Stoker 2017). By most accounts, Brexit dominated the 2019 election as a political issue, but whether this represents a key moment in a process of realignment of voters in Britain remains to be seen.
U2 - 10.1017/S1049096523000422
DO - 10.1017/S1049096523000422
M3 - Article
SN - 1049-0965
VL - 56
SP - 537
EP - 545
JO - PS: Political Science & Politics
JF - PS: Political Science & Politics
IS - 4
ER -