Winners and Losers: the EU Referendum Vote and its Consequences for Wales

The JCER is an open-access journal published by the University Association for Contemporary European Studies (UACES) in association with the UACES Student Forum.

The JCER invites submissions from scholars who are experts in any subject area delivering analysis that relates to Europe. This includes, but is not limited to, Politics/International Relations, Area Studies, European Integration, Economics, Law, History, Culture and Learning & Teaching. The journal publishes the work of established academics alongside that of PhD students and early career researchers.Abstract:

In the June 2016 EU Referendum, Wales voted to leave the EU - in the face of strong political support to remain. Whilst Wales’s vote puts it on the ‘winning’ Leave side, the process of leaving the EU will bring with it some tangible losses that will impact Wales differently from the rest of the UK.

In the immediate aftermath of the vote, there was widespread consternation about why Wales, as a net beneficiary due to significant receipts of Structural Funds, would see a majority vote Leave. The reasons behind this, and also the potential for a new regional policy are discussed in this article.

In addition, it looks at a possible ‘win’ for Wales with the potential expansion in regulatory competence which may come from the repatriation of competences back to the devolved administrations on Brexit, though recognising that this may not be straightforward and may carry a heavy price tag.

This article is part of an issue which includes a special section on the UK's EU referendum.