The New Politics of Class The Political Exclusion of the British Working Class

This book explores the politics of class in Britain over the last 70 years. It shows how changing class sizes have set in train a process that has led to working class people not voting. While differences between the classes in terms of political ideology and identity are unaltered from 50 years ago, the political parties have responded to a shrinking working class by becoming more middle class in terms of policy, rhetoric, and personnel.These political changes have had three main consequences. First, as Labour and the Conservatives became more similar, class differences in party preferences disappeared. Second, new parties, most notablyUKIP, have taken working class voters from the mainstream parties. Third, and most importantly, the lack of choice offered by the mainstream parties has led to a huge increase in class based non-voting. Working class people are now much less likely to vote, and this threatens the representativeness of our democracy. They conclude with a discussion of the Brexit referendum and the role that working class alienation played in its historic outcome.