ABSTRACT

No area of public policy will be left untouched by the UK’s vote for Brexit. As outlined in this handbook, from foreign policy to welfare, from the UK’s devolution settlement to its international trade orientation, Brexit is likely to produce profound change across multiple policy domains. Brexit also raises broader questions about the future trajectory of British capitalism. Since joining the European Economic Community (EEC) in 1973, the UK’s economic model has become increasingly integrated into the political and economic structures of the European continent. The EU’s Single Market provides a reservoir of demand for the UK’s competitive financial and business services sectors. Membership of the Single Market has facilitated migration from EU member states into the UK labour market. British production hubs have become deeply integrated into EU supply chains. At its core, the UK’s exit from the EU threatens to uproot and reconfigure these relations. Moreover, the Leave vote was in part at least due to voters disaffected and left behind by poor UK economic performance since the financial crisis (Goodwin and Heath 2016), suggesting the British model of capitalism might be experiencing its own particular form of crisis, with Brexit as one specific manifestation of this. In this chapter, we assess the extent to which Brexit is likely to lead to continuation of or a rupture with the UK’s prevailing model of capitalism (MOC).