ABSTRACT
The vote by a majority of British people in a June 2016 referendum to exit from the European Union has been widely portrayed as reflecting a rightward shift in British politics. This chapter will argue that while the rise of racism and xenophobia in the UK should be taken seriously and challenged, it is dangerous and simplistic to see Brexit as purely a right-wing response. Rather, the roots of the ‘populism’ we see in the UK (and across much of the globe) lie in three decades of growing inequality, a decade of austerity and a profound alienation on the part of millions of citizens from the political and economic system – and it is not inevitable that this anger flows only from the political right. The chapter will explore the implications of these contradictory trends for a social work profession battered by 30 years of neoliberalism, and the possibilities that they offer for the development of a renewed anti-racist social work rooted in principles of social justice.
