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Brexit: passed by the working classes?

by

It seems so.

As Britain voted to leave the European Union last week, the leader of the UK Independence Party, Nigel Farage said, “The election was won in my view in the Midlands and the North and it was the old Labour vote that came to us…” This morning, Deutsche Bank’s Jim Reid puts some numbers on it:

In terms of socio-economic groups, 57% of ABs (upper/middle class – professional/managers etc) voted remain, 49% of C1s (lower middle class – supervisory/clerical or junior management/administrative), 36% of C2s (skilled working class) and 36% of DEs (Ds – semi & unskilled manual workers; Es – casual/lowest grade worker or state pensioner).

By implication, the ones who didn’t vote for Remain, voted for Leave. In other words, over 60% of rank-and-file British workers voted for the Leave campaign. (Note: ZH provides no link to the original. If you have a link to the original, please post it in the comments.)

We could take this interesting tidbit, if it’s true, in any number of directions.

  • Among workers, is this a rise of protectionism? Or is it a rise of appropriate national pride and common sense?
  • Is the recent day or two of market turmoil really just the ruling classes throwing a temper tantrum?
  • What should be made of all these leftists saying that Brexit passed because of old people, conservatives and racists? Are left-wingers name-calling their own base? The Party apparatchiks are mad at their base? Is the spat temporary, or something deeper?

UPDATE: Can there be any doubt that the EU hates democratic accountability? (Being accountable to the People it presumes to govern) One of its various Presidents, Martin Schultz, has now said:

“The British have violated the rules. It is not the EU philosophy that the crowd can decide its fate”.

I saw that coming.

Comments

  1. 1. Most voters vote their pocketbooks. If ‘protectionism’ means more local control, greater sovereignty, more accountability, then I would say yes. Protectionism need not be defined negatively, as market freedom often needs protecting more than any other economic model, although that is the term’s typical meaning.
    2. Immigration (legal and illegal) is a bigger issue there than here. Socially and economically, it doesn’t much affect the wealthy and connected but does affect the middle and lower classes. Thus, “openness to the rest of the world”, “forward-thinking”, etc. means very different things applied to very different people.
    3. Britain’s exit is a serious financial issue. The UK is the second-largest contributor to the EU. The decision has trade implications, both for negotiations and for the borders themselves, regulations, tariffs, etc. And while currency isn’t a primary issue (thanks to Thatcher’s refusal to dump the Pound Sterling), this will affect the Euro because of the relationship between it and the EU, the currency’s ability to rely on lawmakers to manipulate it, etc.
    4. I assume those who are now attacking Leave voters with these typical ad hominems don’t care about traditional political affiliations as they don’t serve their immediate agenda. Had Labour voters supported Remain (and why would they?), their campaign would no doubt be pounding their chests that they campaigned for the interests of ‘working people.’ The GOP should be taking notes.

  2. Interestingly, after reading the BBC and Guardian sites, and some of their links to other outlets, both sides of the Channel are starting to realize to-their-horror the implications….and their (unorthodox) options. The Law of Unintended Consequences has bitten-down hard on the Elites and the Hardliners.

    Instead of tanks and troop-trains heading for the borders; they have politicians, lawyers and social-media pundits. I’m struck by some of the similarities to August 1914 when the Great Powers blundered into a war-of-wars through unthinking lockstep-escalation and national inertia. Perhaps they can avoid the contagion and the conflagration this time. The EU of a week-ago is dead. Without democratization, accountability and some greater respect for the govern — and the regulated — they are doomed to vicious fragmentation as autonomous regions and smaller countries decide they want out of the EU — or independence as sovereign states.

    Remember that in the UK, they only vote for MP every 7-years, unless there are snap-elections. And the Parties’ incumbencies are now near-absolute so there’s no real “choice” or accountability at the polls. And the government isn’t run by the MPs, it’s run by the civil service and the Parliamentary leadership. Half the MPs don’t attend even sessions unless their rubber-stamp is required. They don’t even have enough seats in the House for all of the MP to sit at one-time.

    And they only vote for MEP every 5-years with little accountability there either.

  3. More than pocketbook. They vote for “Leave Me The Hell Alone”. When governments strive more and more to force you to do what is best for you, because you are too stupid to decide that for yourself, yeah, I could see where an undemocratic Brussels rule would tend to be looked down upon by anyone who has no connection to it.

    I saw a video, starring Patrick Steward, which, while humorous, claimed that the European Union gave Britain the following:

    Right To A Fair Trial
    Right To Privacy
    Freedom From Torture
    Freedom Of Religion
    Freedom Of Expression
    Freedom From Discrimination
    Freedom From Slavery
    Freedom From Domestic Violence
    Freedom From Degrading Treatment
    Peace In Northern Ireland

    Anyone who know anything about British history should already see the flaws in the argument, as these were things Britain already HAD!! The European Union merely replaced British law with EU law, then claim that they gave them something they did not have before.

    Something similar is happening here, where voters who are tired of Democrats who think they know best how to run our lifes and tired of Republicans claiming to stand against them and then forgetting to when the press is mean to them, have decided enough is enough. From both sides.

  4. But what horror? of what serious implications?

    The Eurocrats have been slapped in the face. And, *if* the UK goes through with Article 50 (and that will take a few months), the Eurocrats will lose part of their funding. And the example will be set for other “rebellious” EU countries. Yes, some serious implications for Brussels.

    But the implications for the UK are neutral-to-positive. There is no reason why the UK shouldn’t do very well, trading with the world “now more than ever” – including (but not limited to) trading with the remains of the EU.

    I think the markets are having a media-induced frenzy; nothing more. The pound, which is down at present, will recover and perhaps even become another “safe haven” currency like the JPY or the Swiss franc – once people remember that it’s the Euro whose future is in doubt. (Yes, I know the pound is mismanaged – but no more than the JPY or CHF.)

  6. I guess if you leave school at age-15, you might not have heard of Magna Carta or the Glorious Revolution and the 1689 Bill of Rights.

    Why does anyone listens to such-examples of the “Elites”?

  7. The EU announced on Friday, the day after, a whole host of new regulations on household appliances. Yes, household appliances. You see, the ones currently in use are not energy efficient enough. Oh, and as a side effect 70% of the toasters made in the UK are now no good. The EU is a House of Cards that will crumble in time. The UK is getting while the getting is good.

  8. I would disagree that Brexit was a result of Britons voting with their pocketbooks. For some, maybe, but not for all. A greater percentage of Baby Boomers voted “Leave” than any other generation. Which is definitely not voting with their pocketbooks, because the EU ensured them nice fat pensions. No, they were voting against their own benefit. It is true that they will never see the consequences of this vote: they will never see the benefits that they believe it will bring to their ungrateful grandchildren and yet-unborn generations. To paraphrase an old Greek saying, “Blessed is the society whose elders plant trees in whose shade they shall never rest.”

    Long story short, the EU is an attempt to create an autocratic, oligarchic, supranational government. If the EU Commission gets their way, the member states will lose all national sovereignty, and the people of Europe will be serfs ruled by oligarchs they did not elect to office. The is the future that Britain rejected, and it hopefully be averted yet, if other European nations decide to leave.

  9. The region where cops admitted to ignoring the gang rapes of little white girls by moslems was one of the highest to vote leave. All of London’s welfare/dole recipients voted stay.

  10. “The British have violated the rules. It is not the EU philosophy that the crowd can decide its fate”.

    A local official was quoted in the Seattle Times this morning saying that zoning decisions need to be made “for the benefit of the collective, not the individual.” And who decides what benefits the collective? Apparently not the individuals. Same haughty attitude as the leaders of the EU.

  12. “The British have violated the rules. It is not the EU philosophy that the crowd can decide its fate”

    Right.

    And,

    “Your mouth has violated my intelligence, you elitist piece of crap.”

    Signed: a member of the fraction of the crowd… who left.

  15. What’s up with these washed up has beens against Brexit, like Lindsay Lohan, Michael Moore. Who’s next, Dustin Diamond, a.k.a. “Screech.”