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Britain is about to leave the EU with either a very ‘thin’ agreement (hard Brexit) or no agreement at all. In the medium and long term, this will cause a large reduction in production of goods and services in Britain, particularly in manufacturing, scientific and technical research, and some sections of finance and business services. For this reason, most centre and left public discourse, and most academic authors, assume that ‘British capital’, or capital in general, is opposed to Brexit. The pursuit of hard Brexit by the Conservative Party under May and Johnson is therefore seen as a purely political project – a wish to recreate the British empire, or to foment xenophobia and racism; and thus an end to the Tories’ traditional role as the party of capital. In the article whose link is given below, I argue that, to the contrary, large and influential sections of capital are either in favour of Brexit or are indifferent to it. The sections of capital driving Brexit include British-headquartered corporations operating outside Europe, corporations supplying services within Britain, speculative parts of the City of London, and overseas capital invested through ‘the London laundromat’. They seek to avoid rises in the taxation of corporations and increased regulation of finance, and to reduce protections of labour and the environment. Sections of capital which disbenefit from Brexit, notably manufacturing and retail and investment banks, can mitigate the impact by moving their operations to sites in the EU, or by negotiating ‘passporting’ rights. This explains why the Conservative Party is carrying through a hard Brexit; in its Far Right form, it is still the party of neoliberal capital. This article may be of interest to people interested in British political economy; ‘varieties of capitalism’; the tensions between production in place and mobility of capital; the relations between capital, states and territory; the nature of the EU; and the Far Right. Any thoughts you have on the paper, whether empirical or theoretical, would be very welcome. Since my central argument differs sharply from most other commentators, I would be very interested to hear if you think I’ve got it completely wrong! Also given below is a paper I wrote earlier in the year about why the Labour Party lost the December 2019 general election. The article focuses particularly on popular consciousness: the rise of individualism and xenophobia arising from daily life under neoliberalism; poor understanding of the economics of austerity and Brexit; variation of these by age and geography; and consequent votes in the referendum and two general elections. Brexit, capital and the Conservative Party: why Britain is leaving the EU with no deal https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.jamiegough.info%2Fsites%2Fdefault%2Ffiles%2Fdownloads%2FBrexit%2520capital%2520and%2520the%2520Conservative%2520Party%2520final%252011-20.pdf&data=04%7C01%7CECONOMICGEOGRAPHY-L%40listserv.uconn.edu%7C426c358697ee4f2863e108d893c89981%7C17f1a87e2a254eaab9df9d439034b080%7C0%7C1%7C637421837070118302%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&sdata=Tk1%2FP8iBdwstulj8FBCweHOtzrMHqkHJ2ZJDKhNyOu8%3D&reserved=0 Why Labour lost the 2019 general election: social democracy versus the Far Right and neoliberalism https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.jamiegough.info%2Fsites%2Fdefault%2Ffiles%2Fdownloads%2FWhy%2520Labour%2520lost%2520the%2520election_0.pdf&data=04%7C01%7CECONOMICGEOGRAPHY-L%40listserv.uconn.edu%7C426c358697ee4f2863e108d893c89981%7C17f1a87e2a254eaab9df9d439034b080%7C0%7C1%7C637421837070128296%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&sdata=T92hae1Cv4tDWF6va%2FfAfbyr9p6osY%2BJ9%2Bnshc8l5PM%3D&reserved=0 Jamie Gough https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.jamiegough.info%2F&data=04%7C01%7CECONOMICGEOGRAPHY-L%40listserv.uconn.edu%7C426c358697ee4f2863e108d893c89981%7C17f1a87e2a254eaab9df9d439034b080%7C0%7C1%7C637421837070128296%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&sdata=W5r1FOsJF7PWjOoNS0i6V%2FmLGH5XpZ9ZzLrA22AvRpE%3D&reserved=0<https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.jamiegough.info%2F&data=04%7C01%7CECONOMICGEOGRAPHY-L%40listserv.uconn.edu%7C426c358697ee4f2863e108d893c89981%7C17f1a87e2a254eaab9df9d439034b080%7C0%7C1%7C637421837070128296%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&sdata=W5r1FOsJF7PWjOoNS0i6V%2FmLGH5XpZ9ZzLrA22AvRpE%3D&reserved=0> Correspondence: adamgo...@clara.co.uk<mailto:adamgo...@clara.co.uk>
