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    Voting out of the EU: exploring the geography of Leave


    Harris, Richard and Charlton, Martin (2016) Voting out of the EU: exploring the geography of Leave. Environment and Planning A, 48 (11). pp. 2116-2128. ISSN 0308-518X

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    Abstract

    On Thursday June 23rd, 2016, a majority of the UK electorate voted in favour of leaving the EU by a margin of 51.9% to 48.1%. Throughout the night, as the results were reported, the media spoke about London, Scotland and Northern Ireland versus the rest of country in regard to their support for the EU. In this commentary, I look at the geographical distribution of the share of the Leave votes and model it against the share of the electorate, by local authority and by region, using a multilevel framework. The model identifies both differences between countries and differences between regions but also more localised variations that depart from those trends. Areas with an older population were more likely to attract a higher share of the Leave vote, as were those with higher proportions of residents in lower supervisory and technical occupations and with residents born outside of the UK but in the EU. The referendum has revealed a less than United Kingdom, with notable differences between Scotland, Northern Ireland and much of London, and parts of the East Midlands, West Midlands and the East. However, London is not as pro-EU as might be anticipated given its social, ethnic and demographic composition, which may help explain why the Leave campaign won with a small margin.

    Item Type: Article
    Keywords: European Union; referendum; UK; votes; regions;
    Academic Unit: Faculty of Science and Engineering > Research Institutes > National Centre for Geocomputation, NCG
    Item ID: 7849
    Identification Number: https://doi.org/10.1177/0308518X16665844
    Depositing User: Martin Charlton
    Date Deposited: 01 Feb 2017 16:40
    Journal or Publication Title: Environment and Planning A
    Publisher: Pion
    Refereed: Yes
    URI:
    Use Licence: This item is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike Licence (CC BY-NC-SA). Details of this licence are available here

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