The Divergent Dynamics of Cities and Towns: Geographical Polarisation and Brexit

While the EU referendum vote put the political divide between Britain’s towns and cities into the spotlight, this divide is the product of long-term forces of social and economic change. In this chapter, we show how geographical polarisation has and continues to reshape British politics, in the diverging trends between those places that have experienced relative decline and those that have thrived. Not only do these changes have electoral consequences for the major parties in Westminster they pose particular challenges in terms of public policy.