What will ‘taking back control’ mean for social policy in the UK? Brexit, public services and social rights

Kitty Stewart, Kerris Cooper and Isabel Shutes

LSE Research Online Documents on Economics from London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library

Abstract: While social policy falls predominantly under national rather than European Union (EU) jurisdiction, there are nonetheless multiple ways in which social policy and social outcomes in EU member states have been affected by EU membership. This paper draws on existing evidence and analysis to review the consequences for UK social policy of the decision to leave the EU. We focus predominantly on the implications of the British government’s pledge to ‘take back control’ of money, borders and laws. Our conclusion is that Brexit is likely to have negative effects on the quality of public services and, for some groups in particular, social rights, and that these effects are likely to be greater the more distant are the future trading and wider relationships between the UK and the EU27.

Keywords: Brexit; EU; Social policy; Welfare state; Public services; Social rights (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: E6 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 9 pages
Date: 2020-10-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-mac
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Published in Journal of European Social Policy, 1, October, 2020, 30(4), pp. 509 - 517. ISSN: 1461-7269

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ehl:lserod:105183

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