“The European family? Wouldn’t that be the white people?”: Brexit and British ethnic minority attitudes towards Europe

Though ethnic minorities were significantly more likely to vote to Remain in the European Union in the 2016 Referendum than the white British, there has been scant analysis of ethnic minority attitudes towards the EU. Using focus group and interview data, this article analyses support for EU membership and Euroscepticism among British ethnic minorities. As the Leave campaigns drew criticism for anti-immigration messages, the article demonstrates how ethnic minority Remain support was more a vote against Brexit. Whilst Remain was framed as the progressive, even anti-racist alternative to Leave, ethnic minority Brexiteers criticized the EU’s border politics of free movement for (white) Europeans while borders around Europe are fortified and policed. The article finds weak identification with Europe among ethnic minority Remain and Leave voters, with perceptions of “European” as a white identity, other European countries as more racist and Islamophobic than Britain, and Europe itself a white racial formation.