‘Brexit Fissures’: Party Politics and Territorial Politics Post-2017

Brexit has proved to have been one of the most disruptive and tumultuous political events in contemporary UK politics. Whether it unleashes the sort of ‘buccaneering spirits’ envisioned by its most passionate supporters, or leaves the UK languishing as an island in decline remains to be seen. The journey, to date, however, has brought with it what can best be described as a series of ‘Brexit induced fissures’ vis-a-vis the UK’s political architecture. The goal of this chapter is to highlight how those fissures have played out/are playing out in two specific domains: (1) The arena of party politics and the party system between 2017 and 2019 – a period when parliamentary politics looked to have reached total gridlock, but which culminated in a dramatic electoral victory for the governing Conservative Party. (2) The on-going push–pull struggle over the territorial integrity of the UK where talk of a second Scottish independence referendum and a ‘border poll’ in Northern Ireland continues to gain momentum.