Almost fifty-two percent of the votes in favor and more than a million difference with respect to the alternative of staying the twenty-third of June the British people determined by referendum to leave the European Union.
Why do Britons want Brexit?
Membership of the single market has played a key role in the whole process and in the face of threats, the defenders of success have been stark.
Trade protectionism and community tariffs.
The CAP and regulations seriously affect British trade, in fact they claim that once the exit occurs, the UK will not have any problem in reaching an agreement with the European Union to maintain its access to the single market because they claim that no one in Europe is willing to forego the more than five hundred billion euros each year in exports going to the island with a positive balance for the European Union of more than one hundred and eighty thousand million dollars.
Regulations
They do not accept the legislative incontinence of the European community that since the year two thousand and ten has approved more than three thousand five hundred laws and regulations that affect British companies, hindering their ability to do business and arming their competitiveness.
Democracy
The EU is the paradise of bureaucrats, whose elites, by the way, live practically in anonymity, and you never know for sure who makes the decisions or how they are taken or who influences them. Of course, in this situation it is not difficult to understand that for a people like the British accustomed to a very participatory democracy where citizens directly know their representatives, do not find this pseudo-democracy compatible with the defense of freedoms.
Immigration
Key point in the campaign especially among populists and nationalists. The British want to control their borders and in fact want to implement an immigration system equivalent to that of Australia, that is, that prioritizes the qualification of immigrants over other criteria in recent years.
It must be said that the British economy has gone relatively well. In fact, employment is at the highest levels in history and many immigrants have arrived on the islands.
“Look at the numbers, the net migration in the UK is approaching its record and we have no control from the EU.” Nigel Farage, UKIP leader
Only last year in net terms, more than three hundred and thirty thousand people moved to the United Kingdom in search of a job, and of course, this has been taken advantage of by pressure groups to generate a nationalist breeding ground, among other things, for the high social benefits that exist in this country and generates a huge distorting effect when many immigrants arrive at once.
According to official figures, net migration, which is the number of people arriving less than the number of people leaving, reached a third of a million last year, the second highest level in history.
More than half of the arrivals were from citizens from the EU.
Brexit supporters believe that it is too much and argue that the United Kingdom could control better its borders outside the EU bloc. However, for supporters to remain in the EU, the influx of immigrants represented a crucial boost for the economy, as economic crises in other EU countries the number of arrivals to the United Kingdom has increased, but, according to experts, it is not clear what impact an eventual Brexit would have on migration flows.
It is possible, for example, that if the United Kingdom leaves the EU, but joins the European economic zone later, there will be relatively few changes in the policy and immigration would continue in the same way. On the other hand, it is possible that a new immigration system will be created that applies to EU citizens, which would make entry into the country very difficult especially for people who work in low-paid positions because, traditionally, the system United Kingdom immigration, as in many other countries, has focused on the selection of skilled labor.
There have been several problems of pilot tests from technological incompatibility to an incorrect result without problems due to age or languages, as a result it is expected that around 20% of applications will be denied.
20 or 30% of 3.6 million people, many people will be left in this situation.
What will happen to them is that they will not have an immigration status; they will be undocumented or illegal.
Without a Brexit agreement it will change the rights of the settled community members, it could be withdrawn by the parliament with the exit agreement if a treaty protects the rights of the EU citizens, which is a guarantee. With a Brexit without agreement, the rights of the community members are not guaranteed.
If the United Kingdom leaves without an agreement, only those people who are in the country by this date will be able to opt for the status of settled, while with an agreement they will have until the end of the transition period in December 2020. This uncertainty suggests that the rights of citizens have not been the priority in the Brexit negotiations.
Many doubt that the government will be able to approve all requests on time and those who get it have no guarantee that their situation will not change in the future.
Last November 14, the British government and the European Union authorities made their break-up agreement public. An agreement from me more or less than 585 pages that the truth has not served to please almost anyone.
“Mr. President, what we agreed on yesterday is not going to be the final agreement. It’s a draft.” Theresa May in Parliament
An agreement that almost nobody likes
The agreement reached between the British government and the European Union is neither very good nor very bad for any of the parties has been raised basically to give certainty during the next few years while negotiating a final agreement. Yes, read well this is not the final agreement; Yes, this divorce promises to be very, very long, get used to the rhythm of Brussels.
What has been agreed has been basically a kind of separation agreement that sets some keys so that, one day, a total rupture agreement can be reached … or maybe not, because one of the things contemplated in this document is a period of transition that in practice could extend and extend over time. Yes, that’s right, we’ll see it in a moment, but first of all we have to say that this agreement has been fatal in British politics, this agreement does not like almost anyone: neither the supporters of Brexit nor those who oppose him. May has achieved almost the impossible: to agree with almost everyone that the agreement has been a real disappointment.
The negotiation has been something like a poker game where the British taught their cards to the other players before they even started playing. For example they activated article fifty (the article of departure) too early, they had no obligation to do so, they could have taken all the time in the world, but they activated it without having anything prepared and the deadlines started to run against them. Then, in the negotiation, the British leaders have stumbled, because they have not had a clear strategy and is that Theresa was not even in favor of the Brexit, she supported the permanence of the United Kingdom in the EU.
How can a separation process lead someone who opposes him and considers it bad?
“I believe with every fibre of my being that the strategy outlined is the best for the country and for all citizens we will maintain control of our borders, control of our money, control of our laws and control of our agriculture and our fishing.” Theresa May
The United Kingdom is the second largest economy in the whole EU, in fact, its economy is bigger than the economies of the 19 smaller countries of the Union together, it trades more with the rest of the world than with all the countries of the Union, so the European countries swell to export all kinds of things to the British and London is the financial capital of the world.
They are strong arguments, because despite this May has not achieved virtually anything that was proposed. For example, she promised that she would sign free trade agreements and now they will not be able to do so until the year two thousand and twenty one, she said that the United Kingdom would not put more money and now they have agreed that the British will pay more than fifty billion dollars.
Theresa, you know, was not in favor of Brexit, but she did have an obsession: to control borders strictly.
She said it about illegal immigrants, but she also referred to European immigrants because it was her obsession then and it has been her obsession during the whole process, in fact, she has promised to reduce the annual influx of immigrants drastically and that is the part which has given you the most priority in the negotiation. It did not matter to her to give in on all the other issues in exchange for the British government controlling the entry of people and that he did. Of course, this is something that matters to her and it mattered to the British in 2016, but in recent years the concern for foreigners has plummeted. Now, at such an important moment, the British population have a government that has placed as a priority something that they care less and less.
The United Kingdom has a lot to lose, but also the European Union. But well, basically, the most important thing that has been agreed is that as of March 29, 2019, the day in which the United Kingdom will cease to belong to the EU. A transition period will begin that will last until December 31 of the year 2020, when things will continue practically as they have been until now.
There will be no customs or tariffs and barriers of any kind and, moreover, if during that time a definitive agreement is not reached, as of January 1, 2021 the customs union will last indefinitely at least until the parties decide otherwise.
Paris and Berlin know that London knows how to take advantage of these years to rearm its position and gain competitive advantages, which is why in the agreement they have included 2 very important points on this issue:
First, although the United Kingdom breaks with the European customs union, Northern Ireland will continue to be part of it, so the United Kingdom would have to be willing to have customs and even tariffs between its own territories.
Second, the United Kingdom cannot unilaterally break the customs union, so more than a Brexit without the consent of Brussels we will be before a “half-Brexit.”
This agreement is not particularly good for the UK that does not even get a full connection with the European Union, but it generates certainty, it increases the manoeuvrability of London and allows it to gain time to compensate for the mistakes made.
Watch the full interview:
The United Kingdom will not impose tariffs on most imports in the case of a Brexit without agreements, the British government announced hours before the parliament decides whether the country leaves the European Union without a pact. 87% of imports of a wide range of products will not be subject to temporary tariffs that will be eliminated in the event that they enter through Northern Ireland.
The policy of the United Kingdom if it liberalizes the established tariffs could also try to keep the borders open in the event that an agreement cannot be reached.
The European Union is a major incentive to increase controls on its part in the face of the fear of smuggling and what comes from the British market, but if these controls enter into force by the EU, frictions on the border will increase.
It has been suggested that trucks bound for the EU could increase controls in the 17 miles.
The products that will have tariffs in case of a Brexit without agreement will be the beef or lamb and some dairy products in order to protect farmers and producers in the United Kingdom.
Now, the measures Ireland could take on its side of the border are unknown.
“I am very worried like all the Europeans especially the ones who have not been here for a long time maybe those who have lived here for five, six or seven years are less worried, but the others are starting to be afraid of being kicked out. After all we don’t know what we can expect as things are not clear yet.
After Brexit, the government wants to introduce a skills based immigration policy way even nationals will compete on a level playing field with those from around the world. It’s a move that some in the industry cautiously welcoming.
But the Brexit is going to open the door to a wider pool of talent. The current system is going to have to change, as restaurants are actually unable to sponsor our staff from outside the EU, but the criteria for getting staff from other countries is so ridiculously strict which is not just workable”. Karol Terech
voxradiolambeth.com 