“A sea of opportunity”—The maritime dimension of Brexit narratives

Brexit was a seismic political event. The narratives that shaped its outcome reveal much about contemporary Britain and its constituent political, socio-cultural, and historic values and identities. In particular, Brexit magnified the importance of the ocean as both an economic lifeline, but also a politically contested space with fisheries and immigration at the forefront of the debate. Despite the prominence of maritime narratives in the campaign and referendum, and the enduring political, economic and security importance of these issues in the subsequent negotiations, this dimension of Brexit has been largely overlooked in academic analysis. This article sheds new light on how and why coastal communities in particular perceived political choices in a certain manner and presents the findings of a new dataset that helps unpack some of the ways the maritime dimension of Brexit narratives underpinned the process.