Europe as an idea as well as a political and cultural project has been a vast subject in the British public debate, the relationship between Britain and Europe was mostly regarded as extremely cautious and parochially nationalist; however, whereas in the 1960s and 1970s opposition to the European Economic Community (ECC) was predominantly led by intelligentsias and maverick politicians, the present-day debate seems less intellectually-driven and academic in his language.
It is not new the fact that the UK already had a history of nationalism and isolation, being Brexit a confirmation of this tendency. In 1896 the term “splendid isolation” started being used to describe the troubled relationship between the UK and Europe. Not the type of isolation forced in France by Germany (Bismarck), but a desired isolation. The UK has always been eurosceptical due to the widespread thought that they can make it all by themselves, from their point of view, the EU needs the UK more than the UK needs the EU.
After a big campaign and a lot of propaganda on both sides -although much more effective the pro-Brexit one- the elections were celebrated. The population, driven by their emotions and the promises of progress and evolution, chose Brexit. This doesn’t mean that pro-EU was the right thing to vote and pro-Brexit the wrong one, talking in those terms would be totally anti-democratic and far from the freedom of thought prevailing in the European Union. However, facts and evidence have proven that point. According to the data collected by the British Election Study, a 10% of the people who voted “leave” is now either regretting their vote (6%) or unsure about whether they regret or not their decision (4%).
Once the elections had been celebrated, there was no way back. The United Kingdom was leaving the European Union. That was what they wanted, democratically. But, what were they looking for, specifically? What were the reasons behind such an important decision? Well, Among other things, membership of the European Union implies acceptance of the so-called “four fundamental freedoms”: the free movement of workers, goods, services and capital.
And the main argument of the campaign in favor of the exit was that with Brexit the British were going to “regain control” over their own affairs, in particular over their borders, which would allow better control of migration.