This past Friday, June the 24th of 2016, the United Kingdom held a referendum on whether it should remain a member of the European Union or withdraw. In a 52-48 vote (for which 72% of the voting populace turned out; the largest voter turnout since the 1992 general election), the nation decided to leave the EU and seek its own sovereignty.
The UK has long been the odd-one-out in the United Kingdom—it's the only country to use its own currency (the British Pound) instead of the Euro, it's geographically separated from mainland Europe, and it has frequently opposed EU legislation (in fact, the UK has voted against EU measures 72 times in the past few decades, and every single time the measures have been passed over the Brits' heads). This renders it somewhat unsurprising that the UK specifically is the first to leave the EU.
Perhaps the most popular argument made by those in favor of leaving has been based on the EU's immigration policy, which requires that member countries accept migrants from other member countries and restricts members' abilities to bring in immigrants from other outside nations. In the midst of Europe's migration crisis, the UK has been made to accept increasing numbers of immigrants from other countries in the EU, many of whom are foreign refugees. As there exist in the UK many people who disapprove of migrants' failure to assimilate into British culture, this policy has been the subject of much scorn as of late.
These people are in no small part inspired by the events they see unfolding in the larger eurosphere relating to migrant attitudes and behaviors. The attacks at Cologne's central train station, the Paris shooting, the Swedish rape crisis, the European appearance of "rape game" Taharrush, and other such happenings have contributed to a huge decline in support for migration. Far more influential are the events occurring on British home soil, such as the Rotherham scandal, wherein an estimated 1400 victims, overwhelmingly underage white girls from lower-class backgrounds, were sexually abused by older members of the migrant population for years upon years and kept from seeing justice due to a desire not to offend the cultural sensitivities of the perpetrators.
Though the distaste for the migration policies of the EU was but one of the motivating factors behind Britain's decision to leave the European Union, the fact that it was among the most influential signals the emergence of a movement that disagrees with the dominant narratives of cultural relativism furthered by progressives in government and the media. With so much uncertainty in both Europe and the world at large, it's safe to say that only time will tell what will come of this trend.
On a side note: A recent article I came across lambasted Brexiters by implying that they are xenophobic, but I'd like to remind readers that what Leave voters are averse to is not the fact that immigrants are foreign, but that in many cases, they bring with them a culture that is fundamentally at odds with the ideals of Western democracy. The Leave campaign is not against immigration in general—in fact, it is in favor of allowing more immigration from non-EU countries and notes its inability to do so under EU law.
