Which three English regions voted most heavily for Remain in the European referendum?
Here’s the list to choose from, in alphabetic order:
East of England
East Midlands
London
North East
North West
South East
South West and Gibraltar
West Midlands
Yorkshire and the Humber
(Answer below, along with its significance)
The top three were:
London (60% Remain)
South East (48% Remain)
and…
South West and Gibraltar* (47% Remain)
That mere 1% difference between the South East and South West, along with the South West’s appearance at number three, is very relevant for Liberal Democrat strategy.
The South West has been, and continues to be, one of the party’s strongest areas. Which leads sometimes to the reasonable question ‘so is a strategy so heavily focused on Remain voters wise given that the South West voted Leave?’ To which the answer is, ‘yes, because the South West was one of the most heavily Remain voting areas’.
* Gibraltar is so small compared with the South West that this 47% figure reflects the South West and isn’t simply a quirk caused by Gibraltar’s very high Remain vote.
Thanks to nw12398 on Reddit for prompting the thought for this post.
There are quite big differences between the Deep South West (Devon and Cornwall) and the Midsouthwest (Somerset, Dorset, Wiltshire, Avon, Gloucestershire). The former was where the Liberals survived in their darkest hours, while in large parts – but not all – of the latter we retained a respectable vote but had to push down Labour to become the clear alternative to the Tories. One of the most depressing things about 2017 was that Labour overtook us in some places we held up to 2015. Oh well, back to basics…
It would be interesting to see where the Remain vote was strongest in the South West. At a guess, Avon, Wilts, Bournemouth?