Abstract
This paper examines three aspects of Brexit with regards to the NHS. Firstly, we consider the influence of views regarding one the most contentious issues in the referendum campaign: Vote Leave’s claim that the ‘savings’ from EU membership could alternatively be used to provide additional funding for the NHS. We find that views about NHS underfunding had a relatively small, but statistically significant, effect on leave voting even after controlling for a range of socio-demographic and economic variables. However, the magnitude of this effect is reduced and becomes insignificant when health-related and cultural controls are added. Secondly, we examine how NHS workers voted relative to others in employment, and find that a relatively high proportion were actually leave voters. Finally, we analyse whether individuals thought that Brexit would have a positive or negative impact on the NHS, as well as the reason/reasons for their view. We find that supporters of the Conservative party were by far the most likely to think that Brexit would be good for the NHS.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 557-578 |
| Number of pages | 21 |
| Journal | British Politics |
| Volume | 18 |
| Early online date | 17 Aug 2022 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 18 Oct 2023 |