5First, the issue explores changes in the strategy of different forms of pro-EU and anti-Brexit mobilisation across four articles: it examines the Liberal Democrat’s transition from radical opposition to ‘ideological quietism’, the Scottish Parliament’s use of pro-European rhetoric to protect its autonomy against recentralisation, the survival of grassroots mobilisation, and the function of political memes. Second, three articles analyse the evolution of political identities and values-based voting, focusing on the shift of conservative think tanks from neoliberal ‘Global Britain’ narratives to defensive trade assessments, the continuity in migration policy framing regarding sovereignty and welfare conditionality, and the fragmentation and realignment of ethnic minority voters. Finally, the collection addresses institutional and economic divergence through a study of the Supreme Court’s role as a constitutional arbiter and two articles focusing on economic issues, with a case-study of post-Brexit UK/EU divergence on media ownership regulation and an article on the effects of Brexit on financial services and the City of London.

6Clémence Leveque’s article focuses on the Liberal Democrats’ ambiguous commitment to EU membership after the referendum, as they were torn between their europhile tradition and the new reality of a democratic negative outcome, including from some of their own voters. She shows how the party shifted positions over the 2016-2024 period and mostly avoided raising the Brexit issue, illustrating the importance of electoral incentives in shaping party policy. Similarly, Edwige Camp-Pietrain examines Brexit-related debates in the Scottish Parliament during the same period and shows how the anti-Brexit parties in Scotland - the Scottish National Party but also unionist parties, including the Conservative Party under Ruth Davidson - struggled to articulate a clear policy about the EU, leading to a shattering of the Scottish consensus on membership of the EU. Marie Aouanes-Perrière uncovers a similar dilemma for pro-EU grassroots mobilisation - the People’s Vote campaign of 2018-19 - with limited opportunities to achieve results nationally and stop Brexit. Yet she also shows that local activism proved resilient and remains instrumental in keeping the debate about Brexit alive in the UK.

7In his contribution, Nicolas Sigoillot provides an original interpretation of Brexit-related memes posted on two Reddit forums between 2016 and 2020, arguing that humour can contribute to establishing a vernacular history of Brexit through shared narratives and memory. Here, as Kinane, quoted by Sigoillot, put it, irony ‘exposes and re-enacts the absurdity of political discourse by transforming it into ritual performance’. It contributes to the self-education of readers and attempts to produce consensus.

8The mixed results of the British withdrawal from the EU have led Conservative Thatcherite think-tanks which were so influential in the 1990s and beyond, such as the Institute for Economic Affairs and the Centre for Policy Studies, to tone down their enthusiasm for Brexit. Virgile Lorenzoni explores the contradictions at the heart of their neo-liberal thinking and shows how they have reneged on their promises of a post-Brexit golden age for ‘Global Britain’.

9In her article, Hélène Grinan-Moutinho analyses how Brexit reshaped UK migration policy and EU citizens’ rights through political discourse. The article insists on the way sovereignty, welfare conditionality and national identity frames legitimised ending free movement, the EU Settlement Scheme, and a points-based system, which produced selective inclusion based on status, skills, and contribution to society. Both Conservative and Labour governments maintained similar framing that reinforced state control and stratified rights for EU nationals, despite economic tensions and persistent high migration levels.

10Brexit transformed minorities from a cohesive Labour bloc into a fragmented, strategically influential electorate shaped by representation and belonging debates. This is what Donia Touihri-Mebarek examines in her article, which shows how Brexit and populism reshaped ethnic minority political identities in Britain. It traces voting patterns from 2016–2024, showing growing fragmentation, Indian Hindu realignment toward Conservatives, and Muslim disaffection from Labour. It argues identity and value conflicts replaced class-based loyalties, producing volatile issue-driven alignments.

11Aurélien Antoine’s article evaluates the UK Supreme Court’s institutional role from 2016 to 2025, examining landmark rulings like Miller 1 and Miller 2. Despite allegations of judicial activism, the study argues the Court maintains constitutional balance through pragmatic legal reasoning rather than political interference. Through his analysis of Brexit and devolution, Antoine concludes the judiciary remains a cautious but vital guardian of the rule of law.

12The last two articles focus on economic aspects. Mélanie Anderson-Dupéré’s article evaluates the UK’s post-Brexit transition from EU media and digital market frameworks. It highlights how regulatory autonomy has enabled independent merger controls and the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024, while simultaneously increasing costs for creative industries due to divergence. The study's main contribution is the argument that UK policy remains overly focused on consumer-based market competition, failing to reframe media plurality as a fundamental democratic right for citizens. Focusing on the financial sector, Nicholas Sowels studies the impact of Brexit on UK financial services. It underlines the shift towards a tailored regulatory framework that balances macroprudential stability with a secondary objective of promoting international competitiveness and growth. Sowels highlights significant setbacks (such as the loss of passporting rights and 40,000 jobs) and notable resilience in global derivatives trading.