With Brexit already completed, have Britain settled all their books and business with EU? The answer is no.
So let's start with the very basics.
Understanding
After the destructive WWII, European countries thought to come on a deuce or a peace treaty for regional corporation in the trade and political segment. The resultant led to the emergence of European Communities in 1950, European Coal and Steel Union in 1952, European Atomic Energy Community and European Economic Community. European Union was established in 1993 for the main aim of trade and regional cooperation. It is political and economic union with now 27 countries being a part of it.
Before going ahead, we need to understand why UK wants to leave EU albeit, it was set up for the growth of all partner countries? For that to answer we need to understand the geography of UK.
UK is a consortium of four different countries, it is also known as country of countries as they include England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
We can point out few reasons behind the UK exiting EU from an outsider's view. They are: less immigration controls; easier immigration rules for present EU citizens; less autonomy of national parliaments collectively to veto proposed EU laws; no free-trade agreements and bureaucracy for businesses; high influence of the European Courts of Human Rights on British police and courts; less power for individual member states, and more for the central EU, EU bills and international competition for domestic business.
Though this reasons are enough to manipulate britons' thoughts, we can look more into this as to establish power and autonomy in the region by UK.
So is this enough to get rid of EU for Britain?
Now, it is the right time to introduce the options available for Brexit. There are largely four possible options to exit the Britain are No deal, Hard Exit, Soft exit and Chequers Agreement.
So, what exactly these options are?
No deal is an option which is considered as the deadliest for the UK economy. In this option UK would have to follow all the rules of a non-euro country. It is also expected that UK economy would crash as businesses and banking sector may have to suffer, hard borders between Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland, UK would not be allowed to follow Free Trade Agreement and has to follow Standard International trade rules, immigration would become difficult, increase tariff rates and long checks at border. This would have a positive effect on domestic business as they will have to face no competition from outside. Also, UK would get chance to make their own rules and regulations.
Hard Brexit, another option supported by the conservative MPs. This option includes cutting off from the custom union, single market and EU court. The harder the brexit the harder the things would become. Irish border would have to be partitioned through tight border. Immigrants living outside their native place have to submit settled status and they can reside their peacefully. But it would not be possible after the transitional period. Domestic market would benefit whereas businesses that depends on Euro market would have to suffer.
Soft brexit is supported by other conservatives and MP. The softer the brexit the lesser the changes would be. Here, the business that depends on globalization would benefit but the domestic market has to suffer. Immigration law would not be as strict as they could be in hard brexit. Irish border would not require hard border.
Chequers Agreement, it is the proposal of the combined interest of people on both sides of hard Brexit and soft brexit. It was split into four segments: economic partnership, security, cooperation and institutional arrangements. The plan aims at holding the UK in a close relationship with the EU by having continued access to the European Single Market for goods and a common rulebook on state aid would be agreed, preventing either side from subsidizing their own industries. For its part, the UK would commit to maintaining high environmental, climate change, social, employment and consumer protection standards. There would be no hard border between Northern Ireland and Ireland, and no border in the UK. A "facilitated customs agreement" would remove the need for customs checks by treating the UK and EU "as if a combined customs territory". The UK would apply EU's tariffs and trade policy on goods intended for the bloc but would control its own tariffs and trade for the domestic market.
In Process
Brexit has shaped politics in Britain for more than a decade. And in this power play, some good and some bad decisions were made for britons.
David Cameron, former Prime Minister of UK was the one who flared the proposal of Brexit. A referendum was passed on 23 June, 2016 asking the citizens to vote on the terms of UK with EU or simply Brexit. The outcome was totally surprising for the world and the UK Government itself. The Government never expected that people would vote against EU as 52% voters voted in favor of Brexit and 48% wanted UK to remain part of the EU. In lieu of carrying the load of the decision to its end the UK PM decided to step down on very next day.
On 13th July 2016, Theresa May formed the Government and sworn in as the next Prime Minister. After many struggles, protest, discussion and long parliamentary debates over the consequences of Brexit on the financial, economic, political and social front.
Scotland voted against Brexit. The Scottish government believes that staying in the EU is the best for Scotland and the U.K. It has been pushing the U.K. government to allow for a second referendum. To leave the U.K., Scotland would have to call a referendum on independence. It could then apply for EU membership on its own.
On 7th Dec, 2016 Theresa May planned to trigger Article 50 of the treaty on European Union. So what does Article 50 say?
Article 50 is a clause in the European Union's (EU) Lisbon Treaty that outlines the steps to be taken by a country seeking to leave the bloc voluntarily. Invoking Article 50 kick-starts the formal exit process and allows countries to officially declare their intention to leave the EU.
On 14th March 2017, Article 50 was invoked, which states a two-year process of UK leaving EU on a proposed date of29th March 2019. Also, on 19th June after the General Elections of UK, Brexit negotiations commenced. UK white was prepared on the future relationship of UK and EU, known by the name Chequers Agreement which was later in the next two months was rejected by the EU. On 14th Nov, 2018 Brexit Withdrawal Agreement was published.
In 2019, first meaningful vote was held on the Withdrawal Agreement in UK house of common. The government was defeated twice but on 14th March, the Government managed to clear the motion passes to extend the Article 50 until 30th June and requested the same to EU. On 29th March the date on which the Brexit was supposed to happen. Third round of voting was held and again UK Government was defeated. After request, EU granted another extension till 31st Oct, 2019 on a condition that if UK did not hold European Parliament Election it had to leave EU on 1st June itself. Soon, Theresa May stepped down as the PM due to her inability to gain vote of confidence and pass the Brexit Plan.
The time was passing, Boris Johnson was now the next face as Prime Minister. For around 2 months the discussion kept on rolling with agreements and disagreements due to lack of support in house of common. EU again extended the deadline to 31st Jan, 2020. In early December, the general elections were held and the conservative party won 80 major seats. And, on 20th Dec, 2019 Withdrawal agreement was passed in the house of common with 358-234 votes.
In January the royal assent was received from the queen and the agreement was signed by Boris Johnson and EU President to officially declare Brexit. On 31st Jan, 2020 Britain officially leave the European Union and the transitional agreement begin for the period ending 31 Dec, 2020.
So after the two page long history, and the delay, finally the brexit took place. But the implications will start now. With COVID 19 in background and UK being one of the countries with highest number of infections, the road for the dealings is not laid with red carpet for the royal country. Boris Johnson, has now to revive industries and businesses which are in turmoil while negotiating with the European Union to get best offer for Britons.
Subscribe to our updates as we have a second part coming up soon, drawing the implications of Brexit on UK and the global business scenario. Spoiler Alert: it isn't as flowery as it looks.
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