Safer to Stand Alone Once More? The Securitisation of Europe in the British Eurosceptic Discourse

The issue of Europe has vexed successive Conservative Prime Ministers, with David Cameron no exception. Pressure from within and without his party induced David Cameron to commit to holding an in/out referendum on EU membership. This piece uses discourse analysis and the recent sociological turn in securitisation theory to analyse how Eurosceptics have presented the European Union as an existential threat in order to make a ‘Brexit' possible. The analysis uncovers an overarching representation of the EU threatening British sovereignty and identity. Within this, I identify two major representations of the EU as Nazi Germany and the EU opening the door to mass immigration and two supporting representations of the EU as Soviet Russia and the EU enabling terrorism and organised crime. The chapter concludes by noting that this threatening discourse will be an important factor in the forthcoming referendum debate