Social Mobility and Brexit: A Closer Look At England's 'Left Behind' Communities

We examine linkages between the Social Mobility Commission’s index and the EU referendum leave vote for 324 English local authorities. We find strong correlation suggesting that those areas with lower social mobility were more likely to have voted leave in the EU referendum. There is also strong correlation between low adult opportunity and higher leave vote. We look at regions separately and discover this is not North. vs South issue as dissatisfaction with the EU exists across England and particularly for the communities that have been left behind by the forces of globalisation.