The Moral Messages of Brexit: Analysis of Politician Tweets Following the Referendum Vote of 2016

Ideas about morality are deeply entrenched into political opinions. This presentation uncovers how British parliamentarians use moral foundations to discuss the Brexit withdrawal agreement on Twitter, using parliamentarian Tweets from May 2017 - December 2019, following the 2016 referendum that resulted in Britain's exit (Brexit) from the European Union. Moral Foundations Theory is used to classify tweets with underlying moral arguments using LIWC. It is found that the majority of Brexit related tweets contain elements of moral reasoning. There are common underlying foundations between parties, but parties express opposing viewpoints within a single foundation. The presentation provides useful insights into Twitter's use as an arena for moral argumentation (in 280 characters or less), as well as discusses the politician's uses of moral arguments during Brexit agreement negotiations on Twitter.