Resumen de Populism and Sovereignty: The EU Act and the In-Out Referendum, 2010–2015

Ben Wellings, Emma Vines

• This article argues that the ‘referendum lock’ enshrined in the European Union Act (2011) and the pledge to hold a referendum on Britain's membership of the European Union have eroded the principle of parliamentary sovereignty that they sought to defend. Analysis of the Act and debates about an In-Out referendum during the Coalition government's period of office from 2010 to 2015 reveals an unintended consequence: recent debates and policies concerning the European Union have enshrined a populist nationalism opposed to European integration as part of contemporary British political culture.