Theresa May and the question of the British Union in the run-up to the first “meaningful vote”

Abstract

On 13 November 2018, after 20 months of intense negotiations, the United Kingdom (UK) finally reached a withdrawal agreement with the European Union. The next step for Theresa May was to persuade Parliament to approve the deal. This was the so-called “meaningful vote” that Parliament had managed to secure in December 2017. Initially scheduled for 11 December 2018, May decided to postpone the vote until 15 January to have more time to convince wavering MPs. When the vote finally took place, the government was heavily defeated. As the Brexit result revealed deep political divisions between the different parts of the UK, one of Theresa May’s first tasks was to maintain the unity of her country. The safeguard of the British Union was indeed high on May’s agenda, and she made it very clear during her first speech as prime minister when she reminded people that the actual name of her party was the Conservative and Unionist Party. But was she successful? This is what this paper will examine. Through an analysis of her political declarations from 14 November 2018 to 14 January 2019, we will see how she tackled the issue of the Union. This paper therefore aims to study May’s idea of Britishness and to analyze just how detrimental Brexit was to the very notion of “union” within the UK.