Abstract
In exploring England during the Age of Brexit, this chapter argues that Brexit did not of itself enable the citizens of England to ‘take back control’ of their laws, borders and money because it did not in itself necessarily change the relationship between England’s citizens and the centralized institutions of the sovereign British state which continued to wield the real power to control England’s laws, border and money. Brexit may have redefined the UK and England’s relationship with one supranational political union, and the institutions and governing elites of Brussels and Strasbourg. However, for the citizens of England to take back control of the political power wielded within and on behalf of their nation, they needed to act to redefine their relationship with the institutions and governing elites of the much older British political union.
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Lee, S. (2023). A Much Misgoverned Nation: England in the Age of Brexit. In: Beech, M., Lee, S. (eds) Conservative Governments in the Age of Brexit. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-21464-6_14
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