I am glad to see that the British public are finally waking up to the stupidity that was, and still is, Brexit. It was born as a result of a stupid decision, implemented by the ambition of two lying politicians and has put the British economy back years from where it should have been ten years later. An article in The Economist last week is entitled “Edging Closer” and discusses the ways in which this stupid and irresponsible decision is slowly being reversed. The only saving grace, if you can call it that, is that the estimates of how long it would take for Britain to extract itself completely from Europe hover around twenty-five years. So, we are only halfway there, and that makes the reversal process that much easier.
If you remember, the idea of Brexit resulted from a stupid decision by David Cameron, the then Prime Minister, to hold a referendum on leaving the European Union. It was stupid because no politician in his/her right mind holds a referendum where the result they want is not 100% guaranteed, let alone a referendum that was not necessary in the first place. Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage jumped on the idea as an opportunity to further their own ambitions, and proceeded to lie through their teeth, which they fully admitted, publicly, afterwards, to support the idea of Brexit. The fact that they succeeded should haunt Cameron forever. Unfortunately, I don’t think it will haunt Johnson, and certainly not Farage, because that requires a degree of conscience and morality that neither seem to possess – they were driven purely by blind ambition. I’ll refrain from commenting on the gullibility of the British public because that’s all-too-obvious.
The Economist article begins with the statement that, “Nearly a decade after Britain’s reckless vote to leave the European Union, debate over Brexit is back. The intervening years have not been happy. Estimates of the resulting loss to British GDP range from an irksome 4% to a dismal 8%. Even the central excuse for Brexit, immigration restriction, was not kept. Current polling shows that 52% of the population now think that Brexit was the wrong decision, with only 32% thinking it was the right one – 16% didn’t know! In addition, the majority think that re-establishing relations with Europe is a higher priority than building relations with the United States.
Europe has had many of its own problems over the past ten years, so concern over Brexit has faded. However, the advent of the Trump administration debacle in the United States has pushed improving their relationship with Britain further up the priority list – the increasing threat from Russia has also pushed that change in agenda. The reality gods appear to be becoming more aligned! The elimination of Brexit will be slow because too many egos are involved but it seems to be moving in the right direction, at last. Scientific collaboration has been re-established, young Brits can now study in Europe and vice versa, Britain has realigned with EU rules on food safety and animal health, unblocking trade in farm goods and reducing barriers between Britain and Northern Ireland, a broader youth scheme, easier cross-border travel and many other small steps.
However, the process has been slow, and both sides are clinging to old concepts; one example is an unrealistic demand for money from the EU to Britain for its proposed entry into the SAFE defence spending fund, which would have been good for both Britain and the EU.
The Economist article suggests a partial partnership as an interim step, which will be mainly symbolic but a very important statement of intent for the future. The last line of the article states that, “For both Britain and the EU, it is past time for a bolder approach. I might add, ABOUT BLOODY TIME!!
