Tory MP blasts study saying better educated voted to remain in EU
ONE OF Yorkshire’s leading voices for Brexit has condemned research that claimed Britain may have voted to remain in the EU if more people had a university education as “patronising claptrap”.
A new study argues that an increase in the proportion of people in England and Wales accessing higher education could have changed the Brexit result.
The study, by Dr Aihua Zhang, of Leicester University’s mathematics department, analysed voting data from the EU referendum and statistics from the 2011 census, taking into account factors such as sex, income level, education, age and employment.
It found that around a three per cent increase in the proportion of British adults going on to study for a degree could have reversed the referendum result.
“Higher education is found to be the predominant factor dividing the nation, in particular in England and Wales, between Remain and Leave,” the paper says.
“This analysis demonstrates highly significant evidence that university-educated British people tend to vote consistently across the UK for Remain.”
However, Conservative MP for Shipley Philip Davies said that the academics behind “ridiculous reports like this” were out of touch and had “nothing better to do than to dream up a revolution”.
He said: “If more had voted remain we would have remained.”
THE SIMMERING tensions over the deep divisions within British society over Brexit emerged once again yesterday as an academic behind a controversial new study was forced to defend claims that the UK would have remained in the European Union had more people had a university education.
The controversy came as Downing Street rejected a claim by the former head of the diplomatic service that the Brexit talks have not begun promisingly for the UK.
Sir Simon Fraser, who was the chief mandarin at the Foreign Office until 2015, said Cabinet divisions made it hard for the Government to establish a clear position and that it had been “a bit absent” from the negotiations in Brussels.
His comments were rejected by the Prime Minister’s official spokesman, who said the two rounds of talks which took place between Brexit Secretary David Davis and the EU’s chief negotiator Michel Barnier had made important progress.
“We would disagree strongly (with Sir Simon’s comments). The last two months, we have had a constructive start to the negotiations. We have covered a significant amount of important ground,” the Prime Minister’s official spokesman said.
“As the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union said at the end of the last negotiating round, important progress has been made in understanding one another’s positions on key issues.”
The study on the impact of the electorate’s education by Dr Aihua Zhang, of Leicester University’s mathematics department, concludes that “as much of the Leave campaign was characterised by emphasising detrimental factors (such as immigration or the recession of the economy) university-educated voters seem to be more immune than those who do not have university education to this kind of campaign”. It also concludes that the outcome of the 2016 referendum could have been different if turnout had been lower.
But after sparking controversy, with a number of senior politicians disparaging the analysis, Dr Zhang said: “The statistical analysis itself in my paper makes no commentary or assessment on individuals’ academic status and their capability to make informed decisions.”
It comes after Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire MEP, Mike Hookem, queried the research “that seems to suggest that only those with a university education were capable of making an informed decision on the EU referendum”.
He said: “Even the slightest suggestion that the 52 per cent of people who voted to leave the EU did not understand what they were voting for is deeply offensive. Not having a degree does not make your experiences or your opinion any less valid and it is highly offensive to suggest this.
“However, it seems to be an ongoing trend with bitter Remain campaigners to delight in playing down the intellectual credentials of those who voted to leave and essentially call them thick. The fact is, we live in a liberal democracy and that means each person’s vote is equal to the next person’s, irrespective of educational background. Just because someone does not have a university degree does not mean they are thick.”
It also emerged yesterday that the UK made a net contribution to the European Union of roughly £156m a week in 2016/17, the lowest level for five years. Figures published by the Treasury suggest the total amount for the 12 months to March 2017 was £8.1bn.