Britain’s Brexit Misadventure

The European Economic Commission (EEC) the forerunner of the present European Union (EU) - an economic and political partnership involving 28 European countries - was set up after World War II to foster economic co-operation. Since then, it has grown into a “single market” allowing goods and people to move around, basically as if member states were one country. 

It has its own currency, and its own parliament. Today the EU sets rules on a wide range of issues - including trade, environment, transport, human and consumer rights etc.

During the formative stages of the EEC, Britain kept aloof of the grouping, but with the break down of its colonial empire, and the ex-colonial states eagerly seeking to reach trade agreements with the EEC, Britain realised that it could be isolated in Europe and lose out economically. It then made frantic efforts to join the EEC bloc of nations. 

But by then the EEC was in no hurry to admit Britain into the grouping. After much huffing and puffing, Britain was finally admitted into the EEC on January 1 1973; after its application to join the bloc was twice rejected, once in 1961 and again in 1967. In 2016, in the face of growing attacks by the Eurosceptic flank of Britain’s Conservative Party against continued membership in the EU, the then Prime Minister David Cameron called a referendum to decide whether Britain should remain within the Union or break away - commonly referred to as ‘Brexit’.

The 2016 referendum gave a narrow margin of victory to voters in favour of leaving the EU, Cameron resigned from his post as PM, and Theresa May was elected in as his successor. The proponents of Brexit proposed no concrete plan for leaving the EU during the campaign, and even today Britain has no commonly accepted plan for a deal to exit the union. 

May has made scrapping free movement of EU citizens into Britain and leaving the customs union, reflecting her Conservative Party’s Eurosceptic flank as red lines in her Brexit plan.

The agreement on Britain’s leaving the EU, signed between premier May and the EU which was submitted to Britain’s parliament for ratification has been twice rejected not only by parliament, but also by the premier’s own Conservative Party as well. Britain’s parliament also categorically voted against crashing out of the European Union without a deal in place.

Britain is today deeply divided between ‘Brexiteers’ and ‘Remainers’ and the Prime Minister has apparently lost the confidence of both her party and parliament. The main political parties the Labour Party and the ruling Conservative Party too, are also equally divided over the issue, reflecting the general mood in the country. Today with no agreement on the modalities of leaving the EU, Britain titters on the brink of crashing out the European Union without a plan or a deal. 

On Thursday, European leaders agreed to delay the UK’s departure from the EU scheduled for May 29 to April 12. On Saturday nearly a million Britons marched in Central London calling for another EU referendum, as MPs search for a way out of the Brexit impasse. Protesters carrying EU flags and placards called for any Brexit deal be put to another public vote or referendum.

The BBC reports premier May is coming under pressure to quit after saying she ‘might not put her Brexit deal to a third vote by MPs’, while the ‘Guardian’ claimed the premiers resignation ‘would achieve nothing, save plunging the Conservative party into a leadership contest and the country into even deeper crisis. 

The only way forward, according to the ‘Guardian’ is for parliament to wrest control from the government this week and hold a series of indicative votes to try to establish which route commands most support in the Commons. 

Yes, the pit Britain seems to have dug itself into is bleak and Premier Theresa May is almost certainly finished. So spare a thought, a prayer perhaps for the Britons, it appears Britain is facing mayhem and chaos.