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This paper investigates the relationship between rural space and Brexit. It uses the 2016 UK Referendum outcome and the ongoing processes of Brexit as an optic though which to explore the changing configurations of rural communities and the ways in which they both reinforce and problematise the politics and geographies of Brexit. Taking as its starting point the 'take our country back' nationalism of the 2016 Referendum the paper considers how the anti-migrant, defensive Brexit positions folded into dominant rural imaginaries. Arguing that these imaginaries have always been fractured, the paper shows how this has intensified through the ruralisation of migration in the 2000s. In this context Brexit can be understood as rupture more than a confirmation of nationalist or exclusionary rural imaginaries and the complex intra-rural Leave/Remain geography is indicative of this. Drawing on a small set of in-depth interviews with expert 'policy actors' from rural community and migrant organisations in rural regions in of Wales, England, and Scotland the paper reflects on the rural-Brexit relationship by exploring rural diversity, perceptions of the impacts of Brexit on rural places and rural-migrant dependencies that are social as well as economic. It identifies the interconnected precarity of rural communities' well-being as the decisions of (and constraints on) rural migrants in the post Brexit, re-bordered UK disrupt and affect rural livability. In doing so, it emphasises the ambivalence in the everyday 'rural Brexit' and calls for closer attention to the ways in which rural communities are constitutive of and respond to political turbulence. • Develops the nascent debates around the relationship between Brexit and the rural. • Examines the complexity of that relationship across three national contexts. • Brings together the sociological literature around Brexit with insights from rural sociology. • Explores the lacunae between the rural as an expression of nationalism and the rural as a lived and fluid space. • Draws on and presents situated policy responses from an exploratory empirical study. • Reflects on emergent senses of rural precarity and the importance of rural interdependencies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Brexit, the UK's planned withdrawal from the EU, has significant implications for UK fisheries, potentially creating both opportunities and challenges regarding future governance of some of the most important fisheries in the EU. This paper presents findings of discussions with key industry representatives from two of Scotland's largest ports – Peterhead and Fraserburgh. The views of these stakeholders give a unique perspective on the opportunities and challenges provided by Brexit. Views are reported on the current management system, the importance of the EU as an export market and how industry stakeholders believe fisheries should be governed if the UK leaves the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP). Despite the view from stakeholders that the current distribution of fishing rights in UK waters is unbalanced, and the view that the CFP has moved from a positive to a negative for the industry, the implications of these results suggest that this part of the industry is not focussed solely on a quick removal from the CFP that returns 100% of fishing rights and control of UK waters, but instead seeks an improved management system that allows for the long term sustainability of the sector. • EU Common Fisheries Policy viewed as saving the Scottish fishing industry but now seen to constrain its growth. • Scottish fishers want to leave the Common Fisheries Policy but not block access to their fellow fishers from abroad. • Reduction of export trade from the UK to the EU has potential for significant negative impact on the industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]