PERSPECTIVE| FES LONDON Labour’s Brexit Dilemma ANDREW HARROP December 2017 n Britain is scarred by both economic and cultural insecurities, but it is the latter that explains the 2016 vote for Brexit. Leave voters chose to‘take back control’ from urban, liberal Britain, as much as from the EU. n In the last 18 months the views of Leave voters have barely shifted but it has be­come clear that it will be hard if not impossible for Britain to leave the EU’s eco­nomic area – not least because of the status of Northern Ireland. This sets the scene for a fresh political and cultural crisis unless politicians can find a new way to align pragmatism and emotion. n The British left faces a particular challenge because it can only win by securing the support of both cultural liberals and cultural conservatives. Ultimately Labour will almost certainly prioritise the UK’s economic interests and back an EEA-type relationship or even EU membership. But it must bide its time, because it needs to follow as well as lead public opinion and develop a convincing domestic response to cultural fears.