I think part of the success of the leave campaign was that it managed to paint us as servants and rule takers to Europe, rather than influential members of one of the most powerful groups in the world.
(And I know we have a horrific colonial past and were wankers for huge chunks of history. Not least to Ireland and Scotland. But people want to take pride in their country, not feel ashamed of it. And at the end of the day, it's people who chose who is in power.)
Ugh. I feel like I may have just made a populist argument. And not even one I fully agree with.
It's all in the presentation, isn't it? It doesn't have to be populism. It can be genuine pride in cultural shifts, or pride in developing from one type of economy to another. But older narratives have proven very strong in the UK. If the older narrative persists alongside the new version of 'what makes Britain Great' then you get a situation where there are buttons ripe for the pushing, as seen in the referendum and in this election.
Ireland managed to move from a strongly anti-British stance from 1920 to 1960 to 'partners in Europe'. Despite historic neutrality, Ireland's membership of the EU ties in with Robert Emmet's 1803 speech at the dock in which he hoped to see Ireland take her place among the nations of the earth. Historic ties to the US have never translated into becoming an American poodle (though the war on terror saw Ireland's airspace and airport facilities used for 'extraordinary rendition' purposes). Ireland takes pride in influencing American politics for its own purposes via voting blocs and congressional lobbying. Even though the influence of Catholicism is waning in Ireland, historically the RC church was an important link to a wider European and global civilisation that was not British. Irish people of an older generation tended to have a feeling of commonality with the Poles. Importantly, the history curriculum in Irish schools has for many years emphasised Ireland's place in wider European culture and history. As Irish law has come to reflect wider European humanist values, many have taken pride in that too, though it has been difficult for some to see a culture they identified strongly with transmuted into a more pan-European/Scandinavian version.
The UK always had a narrative in which a plucky little island built an empire and then went it alone against The Hun Parts I and II, in a Greeks/ Romans partnership with the US - this is the influential partnership that appeals in the UK. The anti-EU 'servants and rule takers' narrative was only successful because the EU message jarred so obviously in the minds of many with the imperial vestiges. I also suspect there are many who do not see the colonial past as problematic.
Interesting to ponder how the Reformation didn't produce much fraternal sentiment across northern Europe and into Britain.