What do Leave voters think about Brexit now? They are getting little airtime in the current frenzied debate, beyond brief TV interviews in white-working-class towns. The loudest Brexiter voices are Conservative politicians, still chasing their fantasies of striking global trade deals and turning Britain into Singapore.
But few of the 17.4 million who voted Leave in 2016 ever wanted any of that. Most of them come from a different place than Boris Johnson or Jacob Rees-Mogg. I’ve tried to understand Leave voters partly by going through surveys, with help from Matthew Goodwin of the University of Kent. I’ve also consulted my private hotline to a subcategory of Leavers: several hundred FT readers who have emailed me since 2016 in response to my out-of-touch elitist Remoaning. The vast majority of Leave voters know what they voted for, still believe it and are unmoved by the latest Remainer arguments. That’s because the three-year dialogue of the deaf between the two Britains continues: Remainers talk economics, while most Leavers talk culture.
Fifteen or so studies of Leave voters published since the referendum offer a clear picture, argues Goodwin. To quote the large-scale British Election Study: “Leavers are concerned primarily about sovereignty and immigration.” Theresa May was therefore right to interpret the Leave vote as demanding an end to freedom of movement and rule-taking from Brussels. That wasn’t on the ballot paper, but it was what most Leavers prioritised.