What "Brexit Means Brexit" Means to Citizens

On 23 June 2016, the UK voted to leave the European Union. However, the simple choice presented on the ballot paper between leaving or remaining did not give clear guidance as to the form that Brexit should take.

As the government negotiates the UK’s exit from the EU, it is therefore important to ask what the public expects from Brexit and what outcome of the negotiations might be considered legitimate by the public.

This project will use state-of-the-art empirical methods to allow researchers to go beyond the standard list of survey items eliciting views on different policy options, and instead map how people’s preferences, priorities and understandings of the various scenarios available from the Brexit process overlap and interact.

By seeking to provide a portrait of people’s expectations about, and preferences over, Brexit, this project will give policy-makers, politicians and the public a better understanding of public opinion concerning the policy trade-offs. Furthermore, the project will provide a deeper understanding of the drivers behind these attitudes, including whether they change in response to statements and cues from politicians and public figures.