This volume examines the impact of Brexit on political traditions such as nationalism, liberalism and conservatism, cosmopolitanism and decentralization. Bringing together scholars of British Politics, the chapters focus on the following topics: Brexit and the myth of British National identity since World War II; the evolution of discourses surrounding Brexit and the broader shifts in the character of British liberal and conservative traditions; how the phenomenon of Brexit has decentered the Labour Party’s ideational tradition; the expression of beliefs about Brexit and British foreign policy; the ‘identity effects’ of Brexit on unionism and nationalism in Northern Ireland; whether the UK require a more decentred local government at a community level in order for people to feel both represented, and able to participate.

Liberal left orthodoxy holds that Brexit is a disastrous coup, orchestrated by the hard right and fuelled by xenophobia, which will break up the Union and turn what’s left of Britain into a neoliberal dystopia. Richard Tuck’s ongoing commentary on the Brexit crisis demolishes this narrative. He argues that by opposing Brexit and throwing its lot in with a liberal constitutional order tailor-made for the interests of global capitalists, the Left has made a major error. It has tied itself into a framework designed to frustrate its own radical policies. Brexit therefore actually represents a golden opportunity for socialists to implement the kind of economic agenda they have long since advocated. Sadly, however, many of them have lost faith in the kind of popular revolution that the majoritarian British constitution is peculiarly well-placed to deliver and have succumbed instead to defeatism and the cultural politics of virtue-signalling. Another approach is, however, still possible. Combining brilliant contemporary political insights with a profound grasp of the ironies of modern history, this book is essential for anyone who wants a clear-sighted assessment of the momentous underlying issues brought to the surface by Brexit.

During Brexit, political questions were continually framed in emotional terms. The referendum was presented as a conflict between reason and resentment, fear and hope, heads and hearts. The Leave vote was interpreted as the triumph of passion over rationality, and its aftermath triggered concerns about the divisive impact of feelings on political culture. This book examines how these stories about feelings shaped public experiences and determined political possibilities. The politics of feeling uses first-hand accounts to explore how ‘ordinary’ people understand their own feelings about the referendum, and how they reacted to the feelings of others. It shows how they drew on public narratives, while also rejecting and reworking them. The authors highlight a dangerous contradiction whereby feelings were simultaneously understood as dangerous and illegitimate, and as an authentic reflection of our inner selves. This had its own political consequences.

This book represents a significant intervention into the debates surrounding Brexit and language policy. It analyses the language capabilities and resources of the United Kingdom in a new, post-referendum climate, in which public hostility towards foreign languages is matched by the necessity of renegotiating and building relationships with the rest of Europe and beyond. The authors scrutinize the availability of key resources in diverse sectors of society including politics, economics, business, science and education, while simultaneously offering practical advice and guidance on how to thrive in the new international environment. This extremely timely edited collection brings together leading researchers from across the field of language policy, and is sure to appeal not only to students and scholars of this subject, but also to practitioners, policy makers and educators.

This book explores the growing tension between multilingualism and monolingualism in the European Union in the wake of Brexit, underpinned by the interplay between the rise of English as a lingua franca and the effacement of translations in EU institutions, bodies and agencies. English and Translation in the European Union draws on an interdisciplinary approach, highlighting insights from applied linguistics and sociolinguistics, translation studies, philosophy of language and political theory, while also looking at official documents and online resources, most of which are increasingly produced in English and not translated at all – and the ones which are translated into other languages are not labelled as translations. In analysing this data, Alice Leal explores issues around language hierarchy and the growing difficulty in reconciling the EU’s approach to promoting multilingualism while fostering monolingualism in practice through the diffusion of English as a lingua franca, as well as questions around authenticity in the translation process and the boundaries between source and target texts. The volume also looks ahead to the implications of Brexit for this tension, while proposing potential ways forward, encapsulated in the language turn, the translation turn and the transcultural turn for the EU. Offering unique insights into contemporary debates in the humanities, this book will be of interest to scholars in translation studies, applied linguistics and sociolinguistics, philosophy and political theory.

This book traces how right-wing newspapers in Britain helped shape British public opinion about the European Union over the course of the 20 years preceding the EU referendum in June 2016. The author argues that newspapers such as the Telegraph, Mail, Sun and Express have been effectively waging a long-term propaganda war, with the distortions and borderline fake news presented one of the factors that helped secure the narrow majority for Brexit. Written by an EU insider, the book presents hard facts and debunks the core myths on EU laws, exorbitant budget contributions and uncontrolled immigration, and contributes to the broader debate on the importance of the press for democracy.

*THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER* Keep calm – but do not carry on. There is nothing remotely inevitable about Brexit – except that it will be deeply damaging if it happens. Extricating Britain from Europe will be the greatest challenge this country has faced since the Second World War. And as negotiations with the EU expose the promises of the Brexit campaign to have been hollow, even some Brexit-voters now wish to exercise their democratic right to change their mind, seeing that the most pragmatic option is to ... stop. It would certainly be the best thing for Britain. But how can it be done? Haven’t the people spoken? No. In this indispensable handbook, Nick Clegg categorically debunks the various myths that have been used to force Brexit on Britain, not by ‘the people’ but by a small, extremely rich, self-serving elite, and explains precisely how this historic mistake can be reversed – and what you can do to make sure that it is.