On 23rd June 2016, a referendum happened in the United Kingdom, it involved England, Wales and Scotland. Where they were voting on whether the United Kingdom would depart or stay in the European Union.
The U.K. is made up of England, Wales and Scotland and Northern Ireland while the E.U. involves a partnership that is politically and economically beneficial to the 28 countries that make it up, its goal is to foster co-operation economically. It works, with all countries blending into one nation with people moving, trading and living freely. They even have their own currency, the euro, a set of shared rules and a parliament.
After the referendum, the results were as follows: Depart won by 51.9% to 48%, being split like this:
Depart Remain
England 53% 47%
Wales 52% 48%
Scotland 38.1% 61.9%
Northern Ireland 44% 56%
There was a 71.8% turnout that involved 30million turning out to vote (Becker, Fetzer, and Novy).
The people had spoken and as such the U.K. was set to split from the E.U. Though the referendum happened in 2016, the U.K. had to wait for 2yrs to officially depart as per the Lisbon Treaty Article 50, which required both sides agree first, within those 2yrs, pertaining to the split.
The departure of the U.K. from the E.U. can be attributed to a somewhat rocky partnership between the two. 61yrs ago, the now E.U. was established, though under a different name. E.C.C. (European Economic Community) (Becker, Fetzer, and Novy). When the U.K. tried to join 6yrs later, the French were against it but joined it 10yrs later. Back then, compared to the other countries in the E.U., the U.K. was relatively poor but was actually contributing more to the E.U. budget than the other countries, which caused tensions between the U.K. and the E.U (Becker, Fetzer, and Novy). Trade disagreements began to pop up over the years, from trading of beef to British Chocolate, though this was resolved, the initial debate against it, just made the relationship worse. In recent times, economic issues and migrant crisis added more support for the departure which then became reality (Clarke, et al.).
After the voting, polls were conducted to find out why people voted for the departure, the results were that people hoped that the U.K. would regain control over the decisions they make for their nation and control over immigration in their own borders (Clarke, et al.). With all this, only latter times will truly tell who will benefit, however, the U.K. will be able to save on costs, as they will not be contributing to the E.U.’s budget (Hobolt), they will also be free to set up their own trading regulations, though some may argue that leaving the E.U. may affect their trading negotiation power negatively (Clarke, et al.). Sovereignty, however, is what the U.K. will gain most, control over their immigration and border laws, is what they mostly seek from this departure and will gain the most from it (Hobolt).
I believe the U.K. will depart from the E.U, since the current Prime Minister, Theresa May, has actually put into law (Clarke, et al.). The United Kingdom opposition and Government are all in agreement that the move is set. Although there are some issues yet to be resolved between the E.U and the United Kingdom, I believe the split set for 29th March 2019 (Clarke, et al.) will happen.
Politics and Government
The departure of the U.K. was conducted in a democratic way, where the people were the ones deciding on the very important issue. The departure was very much politically motivated, with political parties either siding with remaining in the E.U. or separating themselves from it. Now, although the matter was solved democratically, the voters who did not want to leave the E.U. but instead remain, are still dissatisfied. With just a 3% advantage in numbers (Becker, Fetzer, and Novy), the departing side of the voters, took the win, but there is still a large majority of people who were okay in remaining in the E.U. In fact, Scotland and Northern Ireland as nations wanted to stay but had to adhere to majority say. This will obviously affect the political parties with disagreements that express the dissatisfaction of the side that lost.
Another problem lies in the negotiations during the above mentioned 2yr period after the referendum, the current Prime Minister will have to satisfy both the E.U. and her political affiliates. This is no easy task, this is because as much as the U.K. wants to depart from the E.U., it has to make sure it has good relations with the E.U. member states. This is due protecting the rights of the citizens residing in those member states, a government still has the obligation to protect its citizen rights. The U.K. will still need to agree on trade regulations so that they don’t end up in the losing end, only time will tell whether this was a good move or not.
Works Cited
Barber, Benjamin. Strong democracy: Participatory politics for a new age. Univ of California Press, 2003.
Clarke, Harold D., et al. Brexit. Cambridge University Press, 2017.
Hobolt, Sara B. "The Brexit vote: a divided nation, a divided continent." Journal of European Public Policy 23.9, 2016, pp. 1259-1277.
Matti, Joshua, and Yang Zhou. "The political economy of Brexit: explaining the vote." Applied Economics Letters 24.16, 2017, pp. 1131-1134.
