Our director Yves Bertoncini speaks in a seminar organised in London on September 14 2015 by the University of York and Policy Network, and funded by the ‘UK in a Changing Europe’ initiative, to debate about the issue "Unpacking public opinion: Britons, the EU and the referendum".

Euroscepticism will weigh heavily in the UK’s referendum debate on EU membership, but do we know exactly what we are talking about? Beyond general assertions, it is necessary to understand the sources, patterns and effects of Euroscepticism among the British people.

This seminar aims to provide a detailed picture of how Britons think about the EU and to present and discuss the results of an online survey experiment conducted two weeks before the 2015 UK general election by Sofia Vasilopoulou, of the University of York. The research provides new evidence of significant variation in UK support for different EU policies, as well as the emotional dimension of people’s attitudes to the EU. It also finds correlations between attitudes to specific EU policies and how people voted in May 2015.

Politicians and experts from the UK and abroad are invited to comment on the findings and reflect on how campaigners of different horizons can best engage British voters during the referendum campaign.
Yves Bertoncini speaks alongside:
– Sofia Vasilopoulou, lecturer in politics, University of York
– Janet Royall, Labour peer, former shadow leader of the House of Lords
– Chris Heaton-Harris, Conservative member of parliament (tbc)

This seminar takes place between 17:00 and 20:00 in Central Hall Westminster.
For more information, see the Policy Network website.