Woolfson attempts to reassess the Brexit debate in the UK over immigration and free movement of labour in terms of the politics of austerity. He advances a progressive case for Brexit based on regaining national sovereignty to enable the effective defence of national labour standards outside of the neoliberal European project. The issue of labour standards is a cause that paradoxically the current Conservative administration has sought to champion, although on a highly contestable basis. In the UK general election of 2017, the Labour Party has significantly advanced its position on the basis of an anti-austerity program while the Conservative government has entered into a likely terminal crisis. It is argued that rejecting membership of the supranational European Union has the potential to advance labour rights further in an inclusive and non-xenophobic way.
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