Not enough investment in Northern England and Welsh areas after deindustrialisation in the 1980s with no plan by the Thatcher government to replace that with new investment/industrial strategy. The areas then developed high unemployment levels which fed into generational cynicism.
Which were ripe to be exploited by a coming demagogue in the shape of Nigel Farage. From Clacton in Essex to what became the British rustbelt. Fundamentally the EU became a convenient scapegoat for problems made by British political figures from the 90s onwards. Such as the lack. of investment and regeneration of left behind areas. Osborne and Cameron sort of got it with the Northern powerhouse project. The ideas of connecting the region through better rail links would probably help far better than HS2 in actual economic sense to the regional benefits, that a greater connectivity between the Northern cities would bring as opposed to every resource being sucked towards the southeast and London.
Plus, there was no need to call the Referendum. UKIP were never going to form a government and Cameron should of faced down his right wing and found consensus with putting his renegotiation deal with the EU/Merkel in the 2015 Conservative party manifesto. For legitimacy’s sake it would have been enough to see of UKIP as there would have been a national consensus formed through it that would have gained mainstream cross-party support…
The Reformist 