GEMA Online ® Journal of Language Studies Volume 20(1), February 2020 http://doi.org/10.17576/gema-2020-2001-05 eISSN: 2550-2131 ISSN: 1675-8021 77 Discursive Representation of the EU in Brexit-related British Media Reem Alkhammash reem.alkhammash@gmail.com English Language Department, University College, Tarabah, Taif University, Saudi Arabia ABSTRACT Coverage of the Brexit referendum dominated UK media in the summer of 2016. Previous research has focused on the Leave-leaning press and the representations of politicians within that debate. Analysing the British media representation of the EU is paramount in understanding dominant, conflicting discourses regarding the decision of British voters in the period preceding the referendum. This study compares language use in conflicting discourses of Brexit in British media by adopting a corpus-based discourse analysis using the Brexit corpus in Sketch Engine. Drawing on two corpus methods, namely concordance analysis and collocation analysis of the lexis under study (i.e., the term ‘EU’), results of the analysis show that in the Leave campaign, the EU is represented in a negative sense in that continuing to be a member of the EU is viewed as bringing certain economic danger to the future of the UK and as increasing the prospect of terrorist attacks. However, the EU is represented in the Remain campaign both positively and negatively. It is represented positively in that the British public is reminded that the UK shares similar values to those held by the EU and negatively in that the media are critical of the EU in its current form. The Remain campaign also dismantles narratives made by the Leave campaign detailing the benefits of exit to British sovereignty and economy. This article concludes with a discussion of the dominant discourses about the EU found in the British media. Keywords: corpus-based discourse analysis; Brexit; discursive representation; EU; conflicting discourses INTRODUCTION The complexity of Brexit is unprecedented in British history. The 2016 decision to vote either to leave or to remain in the EU reflected a more complex situation than a mere division between two parties in British politics (Harris, 2018, and Bennett, 2019). The divided public opinion was a manifestation of differing value systems and strong attitudes held by different classes and political affiliations in British society. Such disagreement was formed over years and was specific to the British political sphere. In the British public discourse, views over Brexit were affected by British voters from certain demographics and classes. Remain voters, who were more likely to support the Labour Party, came from urban areas and were most likely to be young and educated, while the Leave voters supported the Tories and came mostly from working-class backgrounds. Of note as well is the shift of the working class from the Labour party it had historically been linked to into the Conservative Party and the UK Independence Party (UKIP) (Zappettini & Krzyżanowski, 2019). With regards to Brexit, contemporary British media outlets have been actively engaged in populist views. Gaston and Harrison-Evans (2018), for instance, argue that populist ideology is an emergent, powerful narrative in the UK and that the rise of populist rhetoric is attributable to populist leaders who have been divisive regarding the UK being a member of the European Union. In discourses pertaining to Brexit, many topics are prominent in both the Leave and the