Press

According to Charles Grant, director of the Centre for European Reform, Brexit supporters mirror Trump voters who tend to be older, white, less affluent, and less likely to live in urban areas – folk left behind by Britain’s shockingly poor pensions provision but who blame our fast-changing world instead.

In a recent paper, a team of experts at the Centre for European Reform, the University of Groningen and the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency presented an analysis of the integration of UK regional economies with European markets. By linking their findings with opinion poll data, they argue that the areas with most to lose from leaving the EU have the highest levels of support for Brexit.

"The EEAS is very much a tool that hasn't reached maturity yet," said Rem Korteweg, an EU foreign policy expert at the Centre for European Reform think-tank. "Its general direction still needs to be mapped out: Is it a 28-member ministry of foreign affairs? Or is it an entity coordinating ministries of foreign affairs in the 28 countries?"

Researchers at the Centre for European Reform CER note that if unemployment rises, it is the under 30s who would be most vulnerable. "Economists know a good deal about the impact of recessions on different social groups," Christian Odendahl and John Springford from the CER report. "They have also studied how recessions impact the future earnings of these groups after the economy returns to normal. And the verdict is clear. It is the young and the low-skilled who suffer the most."