“Brexit”, this word represents one of the biggest problems in the history of European politics. Euroscepticism isn’t a new concept in the UK as the state has had its doubts about the EU throughout its history. These doubts clearly never died out as on the 23rd of June 2016 the British people voted to determine if the UK should leave the European Union or not and the decision made by a very slim margain was yes, they should. This referandum started the Brexit process but it also raised many questions in the public and between politicians, some argued that this was what is best for the UK while others argued that the voters who voted to leave were brainwashed by political propagandas. Propagandas play a big role in almost every major referandum and the same is true for the Brexit case, so the question isn’t whether or not propagandas were used, the main question in this case is if they brainwashed the public as many argue that they did. The main objective of this paper is to answer this question and the only way to answer this question is by analysing the propagandas made by those who were pro-Brexit and seeing if their arguements were born from reality. Brexit is a modern day topic and it being a recent affair is an important fact to remember when analysing the propagandas made in this case because the biggest tool that we have in the world of propaganda today is the mighty powerfull social media. Social media has made reaching masses a very easy process and it also means that everyone has a voice to state an opinion whether it is factual or not so the use of social media is another case that must be analysed in this research. Questions about Brexit being a result of propaganda are still being asked today and these questions are what this research paper aims to answer.

The United Kingdom has had doubts about the European Union’s political ambitions throughout its history, this outlook started before the EU even existed. After WW2 Winston Churchill stated that he believed that a European family must be created to ensure peace in the reigion, in his own words he stated that “We must build a kind of United States of Europe.” (1946) but he also didn’t see Britian being a major force in his own idea. He stated that France and Germany must take the lead in this situation and that is exactly what happened when the two states led the way in the launch of the European Coal and Steel Community in 1951. This is perhaps the first piece of evidence of the UK being Eurosceptic. Future prime minister Harold Macmillan disagreed with this outlook and put Britian on the path of entry as he applied for entry in 1961. This application was vetod for decade by French prime minister Charles de Gaulle, it wasn’t untill 1973 that UK actually entered under prime minister Edward Heath. The UK joining had the people and politicians split on whether or not it was the correct decision, similiar to the recent split during the Brexit era. This split led to a referandum in 1975 where the people voted to stay in with 67 percent of the population voting to stay. The next decade saw the emergance of a politician who would later become a symbol for Euroscepticism in the UK, Margaret Thatcher. Before becoming prime minister in 1979 Thatcher had campaigned to stay in EEC but she later changed her outlook on the European project. She signed the Single European Act in 1986 but just two years later she gave the infaomus Bruges speech that showed that she had had a change of heart about the European project. The speech didn’t preach an exit per se but it did emphasize the need to limit European ambitions. The eurosceptic tendencies of the UK continued after the demise of Thatcher as they exited the European Exchange Rate Mechanism in 1992 and had disagreements with the Maastricht Treaty in 1993 which established the European Union. As more treaties were being signed in the EU such as Amsterdam and Lisbon more arguments were developing in the British Parliament. The Amsterdam treaty of 1999 marked the establishment of the Eurozone, the Eurozone was a representation of economic unity in the EU and the UK opting to stick to their national currency the Pound Sterling was another example of their Euroscepticism. In the final era of the UK being a part of the EU it was governed by prime minister David Cameron. Cameron believed that the UK should stay in the EU but a parliamentary vote led to the decision to go to a referandum. He pledged to resign if the referandum resulted in Brexit (Britian Exit) and thats exactly what he did when the results came in. Britian has historically been Eurosceptic and the foundation in their relationship with the EU is important to remember when analysing the Brexit decision.

Now that we know about the historical aspect of Euroscepticism in the UK, we can talk about the modern interpretation, social media. Social media platforms are a very powerfool tool as they have transformed mass communication in to a process that can be completed in a matter of seconds and this tool was used by both politicians on both sides of the Brexit debate. According to research (Tong & Zuo, 2021) At both the conceptual and emotional levels, the anchoring process in Leave tweets was amazing. On the one hand, EU membership was prominently associated with well-known ideas such as democracy and liberty, and was fully incorporated into their existing meaning systems. In defining the relationship between the EU and the UK, tweets supporting Leave used the dichotomies of "democracy" vs "dictatorship" and "freedom" vs "control." The UK's EU membership was being compared to abandoning Britain's 'democracy' to the EU's 'dictatorship. Britain's freedom and independence had been stripped away as a result of its participation in the EU. The UK's EU membership was portrayed in this narrative as a barrier to Britain's authority over domestic issues. Brussels was depicted as superior to the United Kingdom. Brexit was deemed as “project hope” and staying in the EU was called “project fear”. Remainers were blamed for scaremongering about the probable economic effects of Brexit, according to tweets using the emotional anchor 'fear.' This naming strategy implies that continuing to be a member of the EU represents the elites' lack of faith in the British people and nation. It also demonstrates their capitulation to the dread of the ramifications of quitting the EU. This anchor reaffirms the EU's ability to exert control over the United Kingdom. Brexit supporters used social media to promote British Nationalism, arguing that the people and the government should have faith in the British people to have success in the post Brexit era making arguements about staying in the EU showing fear and weakness. Another tendency of Brexit supporters were over simplyfing the decision, as an example we can see that many tweets were made saying that the decision is either welcoming migrants or rejecting them. Majority of these pro Brexit supporters lack evidence behind their claims, they tend to try to effect people on their emotional side by bringing nationalism in to play. The problem with politics in social media is the fact anyone can say basically anything and many people are affected by the statements that are made without doing their own research. The tendencies don’t tend to change too much even when we are talking politicians. They are the profesionals of the field but they still tend to make emotional statements to effect peoples opinions according to an analysis of tweets made by members of the parliament (van Vliet, 2021) British legislators utilized a variety of moral perspectives to address Brexit. The bulk of tweets (65%) were based on some kind of moral argument. The high levels of division over the subject may be explained by the frequent usage of moral frameworks. Social media was a clear tool of propoganda for pro Brexit politicians and it was effective to say the least as it made succesfully played on the nationalistic emotions of the voters. Another intersting effect that social media had on the Brexit process was the development of a hero and a villian with the names switching roles depending on the side of the arguement that is supported. The two names for these roles are Nigel Farage and David Cameron. I am focusing on the propagandas that led to the public voting “leave” and from this outlook Nigel Farage was named to be the hero. Nigel Farage served for the EU Parliament from 1999 untill Brexit was finalised so it is an intresting and ironic case that he became a leader for the pro Brexit movement.

Nigel Farage is one of the first names that comes to mind when talking about Brexit, as i stated above he is the hero of Brexit supporters. Nigel Farage served in the EU parliament for a long time, from 1999 to the finalization of the Brexit process to be more precise but this doesn't change the fact that he has always had a euroskeptic mindset. The first strong indication of his euroskepticism came in 1992 when he resigned from the conservative party in protest of the signing of the Maastricht treaty this led to him becoming a founding member of the UKIP. Farage was elected to the European Parliament in 1999 and in the 2014 European election he led the UK IP to the largest share of votes. He resigned from the UKIP in 2019 in order to start the Brexit party. Many politicians argued that the only reason Nigel Farage joined politics was to get the UK out of the European Union and he certainly gave his best effort to make sure that Brexit became a reality and according to research (Abdel-Hafiz Hussein, 2020) the speech is an argument that Nigel Farage has given has been effective in the British voters decision-making process in the Brexit referendum. The research focuses on 20 speeches that Farage has given in the European Parliament in the time span of 2010 to 2017 and upon the analysis of these speeches it was found that Farage uses the set of rhetorical devices to get his point across such as do you solve sarcasm, tag questions, rhetorical questions and simile. He uses these methods very effectively and does a good job of playing on the emotions of not only politicians but the general public, his success in getting in peoples minds and playing on their nationalistic emotions makes him the the best ambassador for Brexit. A good way to understand his methods would be to look into an example, a good example to sum up his methods is when he said “We are just hours away from the opportunity of a lifetime: the opportunity to get our country out of the European Union and in doing so get our borders back, our democracy back and for us to embark upon an exciting future as an independent nation.” , just before the Brexit referendum started. Humans are emotional beings and the politicians who successfully play on human emotions have always been successful throughout history and as you can see in the example Farage talks about getting all borders back and becoming an independent nation, when he said getting all borders back he was referring to the immigrants that have entered the nation this argument was Made on more than one occasion And the classic Polish plumber propaganda was also used in arguments to justify the need to vote leave in the Brexit referendum it was argued that immigrants were harming the British culture and identity and these arguments made not only by Farage but by all Brexit supporters was successful in bringing up nationalistic emotions in the British society and it was a big reason why many people voted leave in the Brexit referendum. Nigel Farage is the leader of the pro Brexit movement, he pressured David Cameron into a Brexit referendum and he had a big influence on many people who voted leave Farage entered politics with the goal of Britain leaving the EU and it is fair to say that he was successful in reaching his goal.

Now that we have talked about the biggest political figure in the Brexit movement we can talk about certain propagandas of the right wing as a whole. Propagandas based on freedom and the British culture and race were heavily used by right wing politicians and pro Brexit members of society according to research (Rowinski, 2018) the freedom of concept was a strong tool used by the right wing this was a clever word to pick because freedom is a big part of the European identity but what the right wing did was make the word their own by arguing that being in the eu and all of the bureaucratic process is that it brings actually lowers Britains freedom due to certain regulations in Brussels. The main argument was that Britain at the chance to break free from EU regulations and regain its independence A statement that Boris Johnson made perfectly sums up the right wing mindset “I urge the British people to take the chance to break free from European shackles”. The word shackles and similar examples were commonly used in reference to EU regulations refering that Britain could literally break free. Another argument that was commonly used was The EU harming the economic security of the British people and this is where the classic “Polish plumber” propaganda came into play, this argument relied on the free movement in the European Union because people from other EU member states could freely enter do UK. This argument states that people coming from European nations with worse economic conditions would be willing to work for less pay then British or “our own” people and this would lead to less jobs for British people especially in fields where communication is less important to better understand this mindset we can look at the “Polish plumber” argument. Plumbing is a technical job where the plumber does the work and gets paid so a plumber not speaking a high level of English isn't going to affect his or hers potential to get a job but working at a lower rate highly increases the odds to get the job and this and examples like this what put many British people out of jobs. The power of Germany was also a tool used for pro Brexit propagandas with the argument being that Germany is recognised as the leader of the EU and Angela Merkel having an influence on British negotiations with the EU. Posters were made that portrayed David Cameron as weak and delusional and Angela Merkel as strong and dictorial. These posters implied that Britain must break free from Merkel's so called dominance and you and go back to a place of independent power. Just as I stated when I was talking about Nigel Farage, the right wing propagandas try to tap in to the nationalistic emotions of the society and all of the propagandas that were made are considered to be successful. The main reason why the right wing propagandas were most successful than the left wing propagandas in this case Is the fact that the left wing were more timid in their arguments while the right wing where a lot more emotional, controversial and expressive. The techniques at the right wing used and the things that they said and did Got a lot more people talking and thus was heard by more people. Playing on peoples emotions was strong strategy because emotions tend to play a big role in peoples decision-making processes especially in matters concerning their national identity and homeland.

The results of the Brexit referendum were highly anticipated around the world as it was one of the biggest political events in recent history. The referendum saw a 72.2% turnout rate with 16,141,241 voting remain and these numbers translate to 51.9% of the population voting leave and 48.1% of the population voting remain. As a result the decision to leave the European Union was made but many people in the society ask for a re vote due to the margins being so close, the results are clear indication that the nation was split into two on the matter of leaving the European Union. The margin was indeed really slim but that doesn't change the fact that the results show a clear rise in euroscepticism in the UK society I'm just how effective the right wing propagandas were on the public. A simple majority was what was needed in this referendum and that's why there was no revote, this marked the day that started the process of the UK leaving the European Union.

It is too early to say what will happen to Britain in the post Brexit era today because the Brexit process only just ended in January 2020 and just after the process ended the COVID19 pandemic started so we are yet to see the development of the UK in a “normal” world in the post Brexit era but this doesn't mean that nothing worth talking about has happened in the post Brexit era. Britain's exit from the EU's customs union and single market has brought problems to the trade sector especially in exports from the UK to the EU because of the new border rules however these difficulties have also been more significant due to the COVID-19 pandemic. has been tensions between Britain and the EU on matters such as vaccine exports and the arrangements for Northern Ireland, there have also been tensions in the United Kingdom in the post Brexit era with Scotland being against the decision. It's fair to say that the transition. hasn't been so smooth so far but this was expected due to it being such a big change and a change that ended a 43 year era and COVID-19 has only made matters more difficult. It would be smarter to analyse UK in the post Brexit era after some time has passed and the COVID-19 pandemic has fully lost its effect but it is clear to see that there are some problems that need to be resolved at this point in time.

The United Kingdom was one of the three major powers in the European Union and Brexit led to a power shift in the EU on matters such as the weights of vote in the council of the European Union because the voting process is affected by the population of individual states and because the UK had one of the highest populations in the European Union their absence means some states gaining power on the matter of the weight of their votes. Brexit has led to the strong becoming stronger and the weak becoming weaker on the matter of voting power Germany, France, Spain, Poland and Italy have gained the most increase in the weight of their votes and according to research (Gábor, 2020) approximately 90% of the United Kingdom’s voting power in the council of the European Union has been distributed to these five states. This is perhaps the most significant systematic result of Brexit in the European Union. The economic losses and internal tensions in the United Kingdom has seemingly increased the support for the EU among current member states and has increased the sense of unity. The EU has also lost 13% of its population due to the UK leaving the European Union. Looking at the small sample size do European Union has had a smoother adaptation process so far.

Brexit is a fairly new situation and only the future will show if it was the correct decision for the United Kingdom but looking at and examining what led to it becoming a reality it is clear to see that propagandas played a big role. The right wing Eurosceptics led by Nigel Farage did a great job of convincing the public that Brexit is what's best for protecting The United Kingdom, their freedom and national identity. They used strategies that affected people emotionally and increased the level of Euroscepticism that has been in the United Kingdom throughout history. Brexit supporters made pieces of the European identity their own and flipped the script on EU supporters to use them as argument for why they should vote to leave. We live ın a social media centered highly technological world where everyone not only has an opinion but a voice, this means that propagandas spread a lot faster and reach a lot more people a lot more often and that’s how Brexit supporters were able to raise the level of Euroscepticism in society to a point where referendum resulted with the decision to leave. The UK has had a history with Euroscepticism that’s why them joining the EU could be named as the beginning of new era and in my opinion Brexit has the same effect. This is the beginning of a new era and only the future can tell what the result for this decision will be for Britian.

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