Beyond the meadows and uplands: The Leave campaign’s vision of the post-Brexit future

The vote for Brexit in 2016 represented more than a rejection of the European Union (EU). In this article, I focus on the alternate future Leave presented during the referendum campaign. I analyse visions of the post-Brexit future outlined by Vote Leave and Grassroots Out/Leave.EU. I classify their policy proposals using the themes: economics, European Union relations, immigration, a Remain future, and the legal-political future. I use the framework of Rhetorical Political Analysis to examine how Leave campaigners endeavoured to persuade on the merit of their vision using rhetorical appeals in their speeches and texts. I argue Leave grounded their future vision in the status quo, presenting Brexit as a paradoxical instance of rupture and continuity. I find Leave primarily employed emotion-based rhetoric (pathos) to sell their alternative policy programme. The findings also reveal the centrality of ostensibly progressive, though overall exclusionary, policy proposals to Leave’s post-Brexit vision.