Europe Analyse

How Britain's EU referendum turned into an elite-bashing show

The surprise vote in Britain highlighted numerous fractures within British society, in particular between old and young voters. As Mediapart English's deputy editor Michael Streeter reports, the referendum also persuaded many disgruntled and impoverished working class voters to vote for the first time in years – and punish the Establishment elites.

michael streeter

“How could they do it?” It is a question being asked by many seriously angry young people in Britain this weekend after the shock referendum vote by the country to leave the European Union. The “they” in question are, by and large, older people. For among the many divides thrown up by this vote, Scotland versus England, London versus the rest of England, people with university degrees against manual workers, one of the fractures exposed is a generational one.

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