Unsustainable and Uncontrolled: Framing Immigration During the Brexit Campaign

The British vote to leave the European Union in 2016 came as a major surprise to politicians and scholars. Pre-referendum scholarship indicated that while British voters had concerns about cultural issues, such as identity and immigration, they would ultimately decide based on economic considerations. However, post-referendum voter surveys and scholarship showed that immigration was a key issue for many Leave and Undecided voters. This paper addresses why immigration was such a significant issue, and why it was so closely tied to leaving the EU, by discussing how the official campaigns and print media sources prioritized and characterized the issue. I argue that the relative prominence of immigration in media coverage, and the increased likelihood that newspapers would use Leave-associated frames, which also corresponded with pre-existing negative attitudes towards immigrants, contributed to immigration’s overall salience and strong ties to Leave.

Author dc:creator

• Van Horne, Jessica Marie

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Friedman, Kathie

• Agenda-setting
• Brexit
• European Union
• Framing
• Political communications
• United Kingdom
• Public policy
• Communication
• European studies

Statement dc:rights

• CC BY-NC-ND

Language dc:language.iso

en_US

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1773/42153

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:digital.lib.washington.edu:1773/42153