Brexit and the Nations

The central promise of the Brexit campaign was to ‘take back control’—to restore British sovereignty. Initially referring to parliamentary sovereignty, this rapidly morphed into the sovereignty of the British people, creating a binding mandate for withdrawal. That is an important move, but in both cases sovereignty was to be located in one place. This reflects the traditional ‘Westminster’ view of the United Kingdom as a unitary state in which competences may be devolved to local levels but ultimate power remains at the centre.