The 'Brexit Referendum' and Identity Politics in Britain: Social Cleavages, Party Competition and the Future of Immigration and Integration Policy

The June 23rd 2016 referendum vote to leave the EU revealed deep social divides which cut across traditional party lines, and set up the most complex and divisive political reform agenda for decades. The manner in which the government proceeds with this agenda will depend very much on the patterns of electoral competition it faces. All governments are sensitive to electoral pressure, and the current government, with a perilously small majority, will be no exception. The electoral pressures of the government will be- in turn- to a large extent influenced by how the politics of immigration develop post-referendum, and how much immigration policy will change in the process of leaving the EU. This proposal directly addresses two priority areas: 'Brexit and party politics' and 'Implications for migration'. This programme of high impact research will offer new insights on some of the most important new pressures on UK politics in the aftermath of the vote for Brexit.
Our research has four goals: (1) to examine how the vote to leave the EU relates to the emergence of divisions in British society around immigration, diversity and identity, as a continuation of past trends, a transient shock, or the beginning of a fundamental political realignment; (2) to investigate how the referendum result is impacting on the internal politics and electoral strategies of the main opposition political parties to the left and right of the governing Conservative Party; (3) analyse how the referendum result is changing the politics of immigration, currently the most salient issue in the country, and map the emergence of a new agenda within this area: of immigrant integration policy and politics; (4) undertake an intensive and clearly-defined stream of impact and knowledge exchange work to communicate our findings to key stakeholders, working with Professor Menon to inform politicians, policymakers, journalists and civil society groups. The impact work will also actively engage a large group of Early Career Researchers.
The three investigators have a long track record of delivering top research outputs in internationally excellent journals, leading academic presses, and engaging with a wide variety of research users to achieve tangible societal impacts in the areas related to this application. We will maximise value for money by using existing data sources, many already financed by the ESRC. The partnership with the British Election Study team will enable us to gather new data efficiently through an existing large scale research project, offering strong return on investment.
The project is divided into three work packages (WP): WP1 will bring together work on the social cleavages and party competition; WP2 will deliver research into the politics and policies of immigration and integration; and WP3 will coordinate impact efforts.

This project envisages an intensive but realistic programme of impact activities that are targeted not only toward non-academic research users but also early-career researchers (ECRs), with an eye to the importance of capacity building. The impact work package will not only exchange knowledge and impact civil servants, civil society groups, media and politics but also enable ECRs to gain experience of the knowledge exchange and impact process.
We will maximise our existing relationships with research users and, with their support, pursue six pathways to impact:
(1) Convene an elite-level workshop for civil servants, drawn from the Department for Exiting the EU, Home Office, Department for Communities and Local Government, and Cabinet Office. In cooperation with Professor Menon, these will be hosted at the 'UK In a Changing Europe' at King's and will present our findings and begin a conversation about Brexit effects which we hope will continue to benefit not only us but the UK In a Changing Europe programme more widely.
(2) Convene a workshop for political and party campaigners and other key stakeholders on the electoral effects of Brexit, in partnership with the Electoral Reform Society. This will be held at King's and will again broaden the programme's impact.
(3) Convene a workshop on immigration and integration issues for civil servants, civic groups who work on these issues and are actively involved in the policy making process, and other actors engaged in the ongoing debate over immigration policy. This will be developed and held in partnership with British Future and will again broaden the programme's impact with diverse stakeholder audiences.
(4) To maximize impact on the broader public understanding of Brexit we will convene two public 'town hall' meetings modelled on the successful UK In a Changing Europe meetings held in spring 2016 -one in Canterbury, and one in Manchester.
(5) Up to 12 Early Career Researchers will get the opportunity to attend, participate and where possible present their own research at these events. We will support them through the process to ensure they make the most of this opportunity and advertise widely to maximise the reach of this initiative.
(6) We will publish and disseminate two research reports, published under the UK In a Changing Europe brand and which will present our chief findings to a large audience of non-academic users. These reports will be shared on the websites of our partners as well as the Political Studies Association and we will, as we have done in the past, blog widely in the media about our findings. Our findings from our partnership with the BES will also be disseminated through their website and blog.