Leaving the EU, not the European model? New findings on public attitudes to Brexit (Part 1)

As the UK and the EU move to the next stage of the Article 50 negotiations, the UK faces a fundamental choice over the type of country it wants to be post-Brexit. Should it continue to align with EU rules and regulations – such as EU-derived consumer, financial, employment, environmental, food safety and animal welfare standards – or should it opt to diverge from this legislation and move away from Europe’s economic and social model?

This choice was critical to the shape of the Brexit negotiations, given that it was clear that the scope of any trade agreement with the EU was contingent on the extent of future regulatory alignment. It also went to the heart of the UK’s domestic policy agenda. The UK’s future economic and social model would apply to nearly every aspect of the people living in the UK – from what was consumed to how people worked; from the products bought to the air breathed.

In a series of two briefings, IPPR explored the public’s perspective on this choice now facing the government by detailing the results of new polling on attitudes to EU rules and a range of critical Brexit trade-offs now facing the country.

The first briefing focused on public attitudes to a number of different consumer, financial, employment and environmental standards that originated from EU law.

ESO: In Focus: Brexit - The United Kingdom and the European Union http://www.europeansources.info/record/brexit-the-united-kingdom-and-the-european-union/

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