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What kind of Brexit do voters want? Lessons from the Citizens’ Assembly on Brexit

What kind of Brexit do voters want? Lessons from the Citizens’ Assembly on Brexit
What kind of Brexit do voters want? Lessons from the Citizens’ Assembly on Brexit
The Citizens’ Assembly on Brexit was a major exercise in deliberative public engagement conducted in autumn 2017. It brought together fifty randomly selected members of the public for two carefully structured weekends of listening, learning, reflecting and discussing. Assembly Members considered what post-Brexit arrangements the UK should pursue, focusing on trade and migration. On trade, most Members wanted the UK to pursue a bespoke arrangement with the EU and rejected the option of leaving the EU with no deal. On migration, most wanted the UK to maintain free movement of labour while using already available policy levers to reduce immigration numbers. These findings provide unique insight into informed public opinion on vital, pressing policy questions. The Assembly also illustrates the valuable role that such deliberative exercises could play in UK democracy. We suggest they could be particular helpful for unlocking progress on issues, such as the future of social care, that are often felt to be ‘too difficult’ to handle.
0032-3179
649-658
Renwick, Alan
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Allan, Sarah
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Jennings, Will
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McKee, Rebecca
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Russell, Meg
2757a05a-16cd-4b31-a467-c6b40b519af3
Smith, Graham
1dd95321-f164-444e-8a9b-83e3c606ea4c
Renwick, Alan
2789f84a-84f5-4535-8fa8-c4884e66d581
Allan, Sarah
30dd6a23-7246-41dd-bd64-321f03f4aebb
Jennings, Will
2ab3f11c-eb7f-44c6-9ef2-3180c1a954f7
McKee, Rebecca
de239716-a9b5-4b8d-9cc0-2ff7001ac3f6
Russell, Meg
2757a05a-16cd-4b31-a467-c6b40b519af3
Smith, Graham
1dd95321-f164-444e-8a9b-83e3c606ea4c

Renwick, Alan, Allan, Sarah, Jennings, Will, McKee, Rebecca, Russell, Meg and Smith, Graham (2018) What kind of Brexit do voters want? Lessons from the Citizens’ Assembly on Brexit. The Political Quarterly, 89 (4), 649-658. (doi:10.1111/1467-923X.12523).

Record type: Article

Abstract

The Citizens’ Assembly on Brexit was a major exercise in deliberative public engagement conducted in autumn 2017. It brought together fifty randomly selected members of the public for two carefully structured weekends of listening, learning, reflecting and discussing. Assembly Members considered what post-Brexit arrangements the UK should pursue, focusing on trade and migration. On trade, most Members wanted the UK to pursue a bespoke arrangement with the EU and rejected the option of leaving the EU with no deal. On migration, most wanted the UK to maintain free movement of labour while using already available policy levers to reduce immigration numbers. These findings provide unique insight into informed public opinion on vital, pressing policy questions. The Assembly also illustrates the valuable role that such deliberative exercises could play in UK democracy. We suggest they could be particular helpful for unlocking progress on issues, such as the future of social care, that are often felt to be ‘too difficult’ to handle.

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Accepted/In Press date: 26 April 2018
e-pub ahead of print date: 7 June 2018
Published date: October 2018

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 420632
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/420632
ISSN: 0032-3179
PURE UUID: 5ed7833d-e818-4850-911c-f7663569514e
ORCID for Will Jennings: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0001-9007-8896

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Date deposited: 11 May 2018 16:30
Last modified: 16 Mar 2024 06:36

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Contributors

Author: Alan Renwick
Author: Sarah Allan
Author: Will Jennings ORCID iD
Author: Rebecca McKee
Author: Meg Russell
Author: Graham Smith

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