Since the referendum result, the domestic political implications have been unprecedented. The Prime Minister (PM) David Cameron has announced he will resign prompting a leadership contest within the Conservative Party with the aim of having a new PM by autumn. The Labour Party is also facing turmoil as several members of the shadow cabinet have resigned over the Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn’s performance for the Remain campaign during the referendum. There is also the possibility of a second referendum on Scottish independence as Scotland voted to remain in the EU. Scotland’s First Minister and leader of the Scottish austria rcs data National Party (SNP) Nicola Sturgeon has stated that it is “democratically unacceptable” that Scotland will leave the EU as 62% of the electorate in Scotland voted to remain in the EU. And the Deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland, Sinn Fein’s Martin McGuinness, has called for an all-Ireland vote on unification, a so called ‘border-poll’. All in all an extraordinary time in British politics-and all within 72 hours of the referendum result.
Four key issues in the EU referendum campaign
During the referendum campaign there were four key issues which came to the fore:
Immigration
The free movement of EU citizens is a fundamental part of EU membership which is outlined under EU law. The Remain campaign argued that EU immigrants pay more taxes than they take out, that immigration is good for the UK economy and under PM Cameron’s renegotiated deal[2] in-work benefits for new EU migrant workers would be limited for the first four years. The Leave campaign argued that it is difficult to control immigration because of the free movement of EU citizens and as a consequence high immigration has driven down wages for British workers. In addition the Leave campaign argued that public services in the UK are under strain as a result of immigration.
Sovereignty