Beauchamp: Brexit not about economics, it’s about xenophobia

Posted by | June 24, 2016 13:15 | Filed under: News Behaving Badly Opinion Politics

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Zach Beauchamp at Vox:

Xenophobia exists in basically every country on Earth. The UK is no exception: Polling data shows high levels of hostility to immigrants going back decades before mass immigration began. But the huge increase in immigration in the past 20 years made this sentiment politically potent, fueling an anti-immigrant backlash.

Over the course of the past 20 years, the percentage of Britons ranking “immigration/race relations” as among the country’s most important issues has gone from near zero percent to about 45 percent. Seventy-seven percent of Brits today believe that immigration levels should be reduced.

As a result, anti-immigrant demagoguery has become politically potent. The UK Independence Party (UKIP), led by a Donald Trump-style populist demagogue named Nigel Farage, began life as an irrelevant anti-EU party in the early ’90s. But in the past 10 years, UKIP’s poll numbers have soared: It got 4 million votes in the 2015 election, thethird-largest national vote total in the country.

 

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Copyright 2016 Liberaland
By: Alan

Alan Colmes is the publisher of Liberaland.

5 responses to Beauchamp: Brexit not about economics, it’s about xenophobia

  1. Foundryman June 24th, 2016 at 13:27

    Spread fear and tell lies works, and Trump knows it. That’s why he has a real chance at winning.

    It’s interesting that some Britons are saying they voted to leave and now regret it, they didn’t think their vote mattered. The only way to defeat Trump, people MUST vote against him. Actually, we have to vote for Hillary, a 3rd party or protest vote does nothing to defeat Trump.

  2. Warman1138 June 24th, 2016 at 14:11

    Looks like the ”Fringe” over there pulled a fast one, the nutters from here have been praising it too so they’ll probably regret it later.

  3. Amersham46 June 24th, 2016 at 18:09

    Brexit’s victory will just encourage the Texas independence mob

    • whatthe46 June 25th, 2016 at 03:57

      did you see how sorry they are for leaving the UK, let stupid texass secede. those dumb asses will be running to Mexico to sell chicklets just to buy a damn water bottle. but, at least let me get the hell out first.

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