We can learn a lot about politicians’ true intentions by paying attention not just to what they say, but how they say it. In speeches and debates, certain words and phrases reflect their commitments to political, social and economic ideas. Through legislation, these ideas ultimately affect people’s lives.
Brexit and its aftermath is a prime case study of this. British people had different ideas about what Brexit would mean for the UK, and voted for or against the idea in a referendum. But the space where Brexit was turned into reality through legal framework was in parliament.
In a recent study, I examined parliamentary speeches and debates to understand what politicians actually believed about Brexit, and how confident they were in those beliefs.
