lections often come down to whether the public wants to stick or twist. But how does voters’ wealth affect their appetite for a ballot-box gamble? It increases people’s willingness to risk a big change is the answer from an important new Brexit study. Challenging simplistic claims that Brexit was driven entirely by the economically left-behind, it shows that having wealth (especially housing) made people more likely to vote for Brexit. Previous research has shown people in high house-price areas tended to vote Remain, but this study digs deeper, focusing on voters’ own wealth. Having lots of it makes you particularly likely to have voted Leave if you live in an area such as the home counties. Why? Wealth made people more relaxed about the economic impact of Brexit – wealth, after all, is a form of insurance. The authors show higher wealth is associated with not thinking Brexit would have an impact on personal finances even though it didn’t affect views on the national economic impact. This doesn’t mean Remainers can say Brexit was forced on the nation by Surrey stockbrokers alone; it means poorer individuals favoured leaving but didn’t vote for it, given their financial concerns. The balanced conclusion is that the insurance wealth offers against economic pain helps explain why the Brexit coalition included both the economically insecure and the economically insulated. • Torsten Bell is chief executive of the Resolution Foundation. Read more at resolutionfoundation.org