Britain | Political attitudes

Declinism is booming in Britain

It is more common among Labour voters than Tories, and among Remainers than Leavers

THE VIEW from white cliffs of Dover has little changed in decades: a grey sea, gulls overhead and the coast of France on the horizon. On January 1st that bracing vista became a Rorschach test for Brexit. A Leave voter may have seen an ocean of opportunity, and a new dawn for Britain. A Remainer might have wistfully seen an island cut adrift, and the sunset of British influence.

This article appeared in the Britain section of the print edition under the headline “That sinking feeling”

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From the January 9th 2021 edition

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