In/out referendum campaign Dr Monika Brusenbauch Meislová EVS465: Brexit: Politics, Policies and Processes 24 March 2020 [USEMAP] [USEMAP] Referendum campaign ̶unofficial beginning: 20 February 2016 when PM announced that a referendum would be held) ̶official beginning: 15 April 2016 ̶poll/referendum: 23 June 2016 ̶duration: 10 weeks ̶Electoral Commission selected two official groups: ̶ ̶Designated official leading Remain campaigning group: Britain Stronger in Europe ̶ ̶Designated official leading Leave campaigning group: Vote Leave [USEMAP] Referendum campaign Cabinet divisions ̶Dilemma → suspension of collective cabinet responsibility by Cameron ̶6 of 24 cabinet ministers rejected the government position ̶importance of Boris Johnson’s decision to back Leave (DC wanted to avoid any sense of infighting/“blue on blue” attacks) ̶Tensions over the use of govt officials. [USEMAP] Remain campaign ̶Focus on economic costs of brexit (Treasury, IMF, Bank of England) ̶the one issue the Remain campaign could unite around ̶conglomerate of campaigners ̶focus was on the transactional, business-like partnership ̶Intervention by Obama ̶Project Fear ̶Pro-Remain campaign no illustration history in UK politics ̶The leadership of the campaign rested with the PM ̶Corbyn hesitant in his support for Remain ̶Lib Dem recovering from a heavy 2015 defeat ̶Other Remain-backing parties (SNP, Greens, Lib Dem) uneasy at sharing a campaign with Cameron [USEMAP] [USEMAP] Leave campaign ̶Many Leave campaign groups ̶Vote Leave: official campaign, a cross-party campaign run by Matthew Elliot and Dominic Cummings ̶Boris Johnson, Michael Gove, Labour MP Gisela Stuart ̶Leave.EU – a group connected to UKIP and funded by Aaron Banks ̶ → Tensions between the two groups (but allowed for a series of messages to be communicated to different groups of voters instead just one single message) ̶Initial focus on the economic and sovereignty argument → quickly moved to an immigration territory ̶UKIP connections [USEMAP] [USEMAP] Leave Campaign ̶Immigration as the predominant issue in the debate ̶Leave campaign able to draw on people’s concerns about immigration with regard to security, identity, welfare, cost, border control + repeated failures of govt. ̶A post-truth political campaign/fact-free campaign ̶unlike general elections, there is no set date for another vote ̶Both sides made much disputed claims! ̶Most notorious (Vote Leave): we send 350 million the EU a week – let’s fund our NHS instead. [USEMAP] [USEMAP] Adobe Systems Thank you very much for your attention (brusenbauch.meislova@email.cz) [USEMAP]