From Broke To Brexit: Britain's Lost Decade

by Michael Burton

Overview

Perhaps the most extraordinary period in modern British history, the years between the Great Recession and Brexit have often been dubbed ‘the lost decade’ because of the economic and political turmoil caused by those two great events. Michael Burton outlines how the first led to the second, assisted by a rare confluence of other, often unrelated, social and political factors that delivered the shock Leave verdict in the EU referendum of 2016. These included the longstanding grievances of voters in former industrial areas feeling left behind by globalism, stagnant incomes after the recession, austerity, the rise of social media, the refugee and Eurozone crisis in Europe, the deep split in the Conservative and Labour parties over the EU and rising wealth inequalities. The author also charts the chaotic political landscape that ended in the final Brexit deal. This book is ideal for the general reader as well as for students of politics, history and economics needing a concise and well-explained account of this turbulent period in British history.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9783030818883
Publisher:	Springer International Publishing
Publication date:	10/01/2021
Edition description:	1st ed. 2022
Pages:	255
Product dimensions:	5.83(w) x 8.27(h) x 0.00(d)

About the Author

Michael Burton is a longstanding commentator on British public policy and the author of two previous Palgrave Macmillan books on politics, The Politics of Public Sector Reform from Thatcher to the Coalition (2013) and The Politics of Austerity: A Recent History (2016). He is a former editor of the weekly business title The MJ (Municipal Journal) and currently editorial director of its publishers, the Hemming Group.

Table of Contents

Introduction

This will briefly outline the book, explaining as above why the decade was so momentous and why the recession, austerity economics and Brexit are all linked.

Chapter one: Britain in the depths of the Great Recession

This chapter sets the scene in 2009/2010 outlining the undercurrent tensions in British society even before the recession such as income inequalities, generational divides, immigration, regional disparities, globalism, which were later to become starkly apparent during the next decade.

Chapter two: austerity Britain

This chapter looks at the Cameron government’s austerity policies and considers their impact and whether they were necessary.

Chapter three: the great divides

The recession exposed great divisions within UK society, between prosperous London and the poorer outlying regions, between wealthy homeowners in London and young people struggling to get on the property ladder in the capital, between the baby boomers and Generation X. The Cameron government initiated ‘the Northern Powerhouse’ to drive growth to poorer regions but it was in the secondary cities, the Rotherhams, Barnsleys and Blackburns where local economies were weakest and where welfare cuts as part of austerity as a result had the greatest impact.

Chapter four: the rise of the far right

This chapter looks at attitudes to the EU within the UK and at the rise of immigration as a political issue following the big influx of EU workers in the mid to late 2000s. It then examines the rise of UKIP and how, in response to its polling success, David Cameron responded with his fateful decision to hold a referendum on the EU which led to Brexit.

Chapter five: interregnum: Olympic UK

This chapter looks at a year, 2012, which appeared to tell the world that the UK was a cosmopolitan, multi-racial, open-minded society, in contrast to the message sent out by the referendum result four years later. The chapter covers the London Olympics, the sense of optimism which it briefly generated and the impact on the public mood, symbolized by internationalist London Mayor Boris Johnson.

Chapter six: the disrupters

This chapter looks at one of the features of the lost decade, the rise of social media which disrupted established media providers and led to the rise of ‘fake news’ when it came to election coverage and public perceptions of controversial political issues. Politicians on the fringes were able to bypass traditional media and appeal directly to the public without the intervening firewall of informed commentary. The EU referendum campaign would ultimately be won through social media.

Chapter seven: foreign quarrels

This chapter looks at how international issues impacted on the UK, primarily from the rise of Isis in the Middle East and its attraction for some young Muslim males in the UK, the fall of Gadaffi in Libya, and the Syrian civil war and consequent refugee crisis. These all contributed to a rise of xenophobia reflected in growing support for UKIP. By the time of the EU referendum refugees from the Middle East and Africa, asylum seekers, homegrown Islamic terrorists and EU working immigrants were all conflated by unscrupulous politicians into a single threat that would boost the Leave vote.

Chapter eight: Cameron makes history

This chapter covers the 2015 general election and examines the impact of the recession on the public and on the public finances and at the socio-economic challenges Cameron now faced. It also covers the 2014 Scottish referendum which should have been a wake-up call to the possibility that a EU referendum could end in Leave.

Chapter nine: headlong into Brexit

This chapter looks at the eventful year following the 2015 election. It covers the referendum campaign and the poll itself, Cameron’s resignation, the election of Theresa May, Corbyn’s own post-referendum troubles with his Shadow Cabinet and the start of the Brexit process. In particular it considers the reasons why the country – to the shock of the political class – voted Leave and examines the socio-economic profile of the Remainers and Leavers that exposed the deep divide in the country.

Chapter ten: capitalism in crisis

This chapter looks at the disastrous general election campaign which saw May lose her majority and Corbyn emerge as the unlikely hero of Labour, cementing its leftwards march. Political commentators attributed much of his electoral success to young voters, furious about the Brexit result and at the government’s austerity. In a sign of post-referendum confusion, the middle classes tended to vote Labour while working class voters – mainly Leavers – backed the Conservatives. The elections also saw the disappearance of UKIP.

Chapter eleven: party loyalties under pressure

This chapter looks at the negotiations for a Brexit deal during 2018 and early 2019 and the way Brexit broke traditional party loyalties among Labour and Conservatives. This chapter will cover the negotiations up to when (or if) the UK leaves the EU.

Conclusion:

This summarises the key undercurrents of the decade and sees Brexit and its impact on the UK body politic as the expression of underlying socio-economic changes in Britain.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

‘This insightful account analyses the socio-economic undercurrents that linked the Great Recession to Brexit during one of the most dramatic decades in modern British politics. The book is ideal for the general reader or student wanting to understand the background to the UK’s departure from the European Union and the landslide election of the Boris Johnson government.’ (— Jackie Sadek, Chief Operating Officer, UK Regeneration, and former Whitehall adviser)

‘In his chronicle of one of the most turbulent times in modern British politics, the author identifies the cause and effect of the seismic changes of the decade. This book is an unbiased, informed and important assessment of ten years that have changed the nation.’(— David Godfrey, Visiting Fellow, Localis think tank (UK), and former UK ministerial adviser)