If more people had gone to university, the UK wouldn't have voted for Brexit

Do you ever think back to last summer and wonder what would have needed to change for the Brexit vote to have gone the other way?

A higher turnout? A later referendum? Fewer outright lies? Nope, none of these.

The solution is (or would have been) a higher proportion of people in university education.

That’s according to a paper from University of Leicester researchers, published in peer-reviewed journal World Development and reported on by The Independent.

They claim the 48:52 split would ‘probably’ have gone the other way if just 3% more of the population went to university, making education a more significant factor than age, gender and income in determining the result.

Perhaps less surprisingly, higher education levels in certain areas were also found to be more significant than numbers of immigrants – something many may have already suspected.

And no, this doesn’t mean everyone who voted for Brexit is stupid. After all, if you went to university then you’ll be well aware that it’s not a hard and fast sign of intelligence.

Since the vote took place in June 2016, more than 120,000 leave voters have died, compared to fewer than 30,000 remain voters. When combined with the number of potential new remain voters, and those who admitted to regretting their vote, it seems clear that another vote held today would produce different results.

However, as we have been told on multiple occasions, Brexit means Brexit and – quite literally for some – Brexit does not mean breakfast.

It’s still on course to happen, even if it is tearing the country apart. But could it have been avoided if we’d just provided more university places?

(Images: iStock/Rex)