Coda. 1886–1932–1973–2016

Abstract

The outcome of the 2016 EU referendum fits into a wider pattern of historical change. At various points since the 1880s, hopes placed in the economic future of regional blocs have reshaped Britain’s identity as a trading nation. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries many people in the UK and its settler colonies argued that it was essential to invest resources into British World cooperation. The British World trade system slowly unravelled after 1945 as it became increasingly difficult to see the Commonwealth as a coherent and attractive economic bloc with a bright future. The triumph of the Leave campaign in 2016 resulted from their ability to overhaul this earlier perception that European Community membership was vital to Britain’s economic future, and to revitalize earlier narratives which presented the UK’s global trade role as key to its economic prosperity.