Mapping social science research on Brexit and migration

Migrants' opportunities for civic and political participation are often restricted by their legal rights. This paper reports on a study which included a survey with 1,120 young people aged 12-18 originally from Central and Eastern Europe, living in the UK…

The state-induced anti-immigration environment and the normalisation of xenophobia in political and media discourses have led to the increased othering of European migrants in the UK through new forms of social stratification, especially since the Brexit Referendum of 2016.

Background: Following Brexit, and the ending of freedom of movement, labour supply crises have emerged in the UK. The paper focuses on the horticultural sector, where these crises have been particularly pronounced, with fears of crops being left to rot in the fields now commonplace.

This paper explores the role of intra-company transfers in the United Kingdom government's labour immigration policy over the last quarter century. It demonstrates their role in determining the number of non-European Economic Area foreigners working in the country and examines the way policy…

Anxiety is driven by cognitive uncertainty, and large political events can change levels of uncertainty in a nation's population, including among individuals in migrant groups.

Pre-Brexit media discourse in the UK focused extensively on the end of free movement, the governance of European mobility, and its relationship with state sovereignty. This article, methodologically anchored in Critical Discourse Analysis, discusses how the potential post-Brexit deportee…

I review trends in migration to the UK since the Brexit referendum, examining first the sharp fall in net migration from the EU that resulted, and then the recent more dramatic exodus of foreign-born residents during the covid-19 pandemic. I describe the new post-Brexit system…

Background Around 2 million people have migrated from Central and Eastern Europe to the UK since 2004. The UK Central and Eastern European Community (UK-CEE) are disproportionately exposed to the social determinants of poor physical and mental health.

This paper looks at how the British media addressed the issue of migration in Europe between 2015 and 2018, four years when the topic was high on news and political agendas…

This article considers UK government's proposal to re-introduce an accelerated appeals system for detained asylum seekers through resort to legislation. Previously, a similar system, the `Detained Fast Track, was ruled unlawful largely on the basis that it lacked procedural fairness…

Drawing on theories of intergroup conflict and research on political legitimization of prejudice and crime motivated by bias, this study examines the temporal clustering of hate crimes in the aftermath of triggering events in the UK. In addition to domestic and nondomestic terrorist attacks…

Objective: Central and Eastern European (CEE) migrants are a large minority group in the UK who are vulnerable to experiencing mental health problems. However, due to their shared ‘whiteness’ with the majority population, health service disparities may be overlooked.

This article presents findings collected in 2016-2017 from a multi-method ethnographic study of Shirebrook, Derbyshire in the English East Midlands, examining the narratives used by the local authority (LA) and local residents that construct immigration as a social problem. In doing so…

This article reports on a qualitative study with migrant Roma communities in South Yorkshire, UK. The study was undertaken shortly after the 2016 European Union membership referendum in the UK.

In the decade after 2007 eurosceptic actors in the UK successfully deployed securitizing narratives to portray the free movement of people (FMoP) and EU citizens as a threat to the 'ontological security' of national citizens. The ensuing exclusionary policies (up to and beyond the end of FMoP)…

The paper draws on Rosa's three dimensions of the structured phenomenology of time - daily time, longer time, and historical time - as a conceptual lens to analyse the lived experiences and structural framing of temporary farm work in the UK and to address the question:

There has been exponential growth in research about the impact of Brexit on the plans and projects of EU migrants in the UK. Much research focuses on highly visible migrants, such as the Poles. By focusing on French highly skilled migrants in London, our paper offers the perspectives of those who…

Post-Brexit, UK migration rules treat 'EU- and non-EU citizens equally'. Thus, a much larger number of working migrants have less access to social rights than before.

In the two decades of economic recovery in post-Independence Timor-Leste (2002-2022), there has been a growing interest and commitment, especially among young people, to pursue temporary and circular labour migration.

The Brexit vote in 2016 caused consternation in higher education circles. Financial and reputational questions were raised concerning:

Much has been written about Brexit and migration, but little from the perspective of Bulgarians in the UK. Through an online questionnaire followed by in-depth interviews, we study Bulgarians' 'stay' or 'leave' intentions in light of Brexit and then Covid-19.

The joined cases NT1 & NT2 present the first claim before the High Court of England and Wales (the Court) on the right to be forgotten, established by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in the seminal Google Spain case. Both claimants, NT1 and NT2…

This article examines the relationship between nationalistic mobilisations, hidden funds and undisclosed campaign contributions, commonly known as dark money.

At a time when the world is becoming more mobile, and migration levels are high, relatively limited attention has been paid to return migrants. Yet returners can play an important role in their homeland. In Scotland, with a sluggish population growth fuelled entirely by immigration…

The UK's decision to leave the EU was partly influenced by a desire to reduce immigration. This followed a period of increased Euroscepticism, and an ‘othering’ of those of a different background, nationality or religion, and ultimately the EU itself. Post-Brexit…

Diaspora networks are one of the key, but often invisible, drivers in reinforcing long-distance nationalism towards the ‘homeland’ but simultaneously construct nationalist myths within their countries of residence.

One of the desiderata strongly pursued by the supporters of Brexit was to end the jurisdiction of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in relation to the United Kingdom (UK). While they seem to believe that the mission has been accomplished…

Discussions on homonationalism have drawn attention to how some LGBT bodies are accepted as worthy nation-state participants. Concomitantly, critical disability studies have analysed how ableism is entangled with neoliberal capitalism and nationalist formations.

This paper focuses on the intra-EU movement of young adults from Finland, Poland, and Spain who have settled, short- or long-term, in London and its wider region. In our comparative analysis…

In 2016, Turner argued that 'we are all denizens now'. Taking this argument and the proliferation of quasi-citizenship as a starting point, this article argues that such an argument masks the enduring importance and exclusionary power of citizenship.

This article examines the changing migration projects of Central and Eastern European migrants in Northern Ireland. It sets out the context for settlement scheme applications, linking it to broader hostile environment policies in the UK.

This article focuses on migrants' occupational agency in the UK labour market. In particular, the article explores the experience of Latvian migrant workers who together with other Baltic and Central European migrants have filled the low-skilled and low-paid employment sectors in the UK.

Background: Demographic changes across the globe create increasing demands for care labour mobility. The contribution of migrant workers to the long-term care (LTC)…

Immigration is highly salient for voters in Europe and the USA and has generated considerable academic debate about the causes of preferences over immigration. This debate centers around the relative influences of sociotropic or personal economic considerations, as well as noneconomic threats.

This paper uses the British Election Surveys from 1979 to 2019, together with the 2016-2019 CSI Brexit online panel, to explore how nostalgia has changed over time.

A 2016 referendum in the United Kingdom narrowly voted for the country to leave the European Union, a decision labelled Brexit. This chapter explores some potential consequences of Brexit for the rural UK and its people under four headings. First, from an economic angle…