(A)counting the losses on both sides - Sir Peter Scott on the Brexit

The UK's decision to abandon Europe, which is what leaving the European Union amounts to, has come as a shock - not least in the UK where many people who voted 'out' never expected to win. In effect this was a protest vote against immigration, tinged with nationalism and even racism, and austerity, a long delayed but inevitable reaction against the inequalities generated by neoliberal capitalism. The details of the UK's relationship with the EU as a member state were not particularly important in what was a bad-tempered and nasty referendum campaign. In effect the EU became a whipping boy for larger discontents. More...