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On Thursday night, the votes poured in: After months of debate, the United Kingdom officially 

 to leave the European Union in a referendum nicknamed "Brexit."
Shortly after the results were made public, Prime Minister David Cameron 

 that he would leave office in October. Global stocks 

. World leaders from the U.S. to Japan to Germany 

 about the far-reaching effects the referendum would have.
The scale of this reaction was predictable — after all, the U.K. 

) fifth-largest economy in the world, even moderate changes in Britain's political stance affect global markets.
So why did the U.K. vote for something so politically and economically disruptive? Some say race has a lot to do with it — specifically, the racial tension that has resulted from the U.K.'s recently welcoming in record numbers of immigrants. In 2015, 

 came to the U.K. from both inside and outside the EU. This year, the U.K. has 

 an additional 333,000.
The campaign to get the U.K. to leave the EU (also known as the "Leave" campaign) was spearheaded by the right-wing, populist UK Independence Party, or UKIP. The party, led by Member in the European Parliament Nigel Farage, 

 that the EU "means the end of the UK as an independent, self-governing nation with its own government and its own borders."

For months, UKIP has fought for the United Kingdom's independence from the EU — some say by 

capitalizing on racially charged animus toward immigrants

 to the Leave campaign as evidence that in the U.K., "racism is no longer racism — it's legitimate opinion."
Areeq Chowdhury, a British writer and the founder of 

 last week that it's "important we remember that this is a referendum that has only been made possible due to a long, hard-fought campaign by those on the far-right and political movements ridden with allegations of bigotry, xenophobia, and racism." He 

 that the UKIP has spent the past 10 years "focusing, obsessively, on the threat from immigrants, from both inside the EU and out."


That work seems to have been fruitful. Beauchamp says, "Over the course of the past 20 years, the percentage of Britons ranking 'immigration/race relations' as among the country's most important issues has gone from near zero percent to about 45 percent. Seventy-seven percent of Brits today believe that immigration levels should be reduced."


Many politicians say anti-immigration sentiment shouldn't necessarily be cast as racism — they 

 that immigrants take jobs from native-born British citizens, that immigration drives down wages for everyone, and that the desire to keep jobs abundant and wages high is a goal that millions share, across racial and political lines.
And Timothy B. Lee, at Vox, 

 that there are compelling reasons that British voters might have decided to leave the EU besides immigration — including the weakness of the euro and the EU's entrenched corporate interests. Still, concern about the rate of immigration is central to Lee's list.
But James Bloodworth, writing for 

 the issue can't be explained in purely economic terms. Even as the number of migrants arriving in the U.K. rose to a record 

 against casting everyone who backed the Leave movement as a bigot but also 

 about the danger of painting immigrants as monsters and villains:



Some British politicians are trying to soften the blow. Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, 

 a message on his Facebook page telling EU residents living in London that they are welcome and that the city is grateful for them.
Lauren Hansen, a writer at 

, "Mayor Khan's comments are especially poignant in this post-Brexit world as the continent's largest city grapples with the tension between an anti-immigration sentiment and the diversity that makes London, and cities like it, thrive both economically and culturally."

Of course, it would be remiss not to mention the parallels that many are drawing between the Brexit movement and Donald Trump's campaign rhetoric. Trump has 

 Britain's vote to leave the EU, and folks 

 NPR's Frank Langfitt that "similar issues — globalization and economics — are driving the Brexit and U.S. presidential campaigns."
In an article called "What Do The Brexit Movement And Donald Trump Have In Common?" the 


In the months to come, the U.S. will have the advantage of seeing how this vote plays out in the U.K. before voting in its own presidential elections in November.  Copyright 2019 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Politics and Government News

Social Issues

Leah Donnella

Author

Why did the U.K. just vote for something so economically disastrous? Some point to racial tension resulting from record levels of immigration within the EU.

Brexit: What's race got to do with it?

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