Life After the EU !

After forty seven years of membership, Britain has finally severed its connection to the EU, but in the worst possible circumstances.   For the next year it will be subjected to the EU rules but will not have a vote in the decision making process.  That will be a time of negotiation to decide the terms that will apply to this " divorce " settlement and it is quite possible that twelve months from now a " no deal " exit may still be the final outcome.

Britain is negotiating from a position of weakness because all the power is now with the remaining EU members.  They have a vested interest in not making the terms of partition too generous to discourage other unhappy member countries from bolting out the door.   So far, the British problems with negotiating an orderly exit have tamped down discontent in the rank and file.

The big issue is how Britain will trade with the other EU countries.   The EU started out as a common market in which member countries gave preference to the goods exchanged between one another.  As an outsider, Britain is no longer entitled to that preference.  The old British empire has evaporated and Britain must stand on its own two feet and trade with the rest of the world.   This may not be welcomed if it disrupts existing trading block arrangements.

Perhaps the greatest area of friction may be within Britain itself.  A great number of the population voted at the referendum to remain in the EU and lost by a small margin.  Scotland is likely to demand another vote on remaining within the United Kingdom and hopes to re-join the EU.   That land border question in Ireland remains explosive and will doubtlessly dog the negotiations to arrange the final outcome of Britain's withdrawal from the EU.

Some EU members may re-engage old disputes with Britain now their vote is vital in seeking a settlement.  The status of Gibraltar is an old sore with Spain and may prove a hindrance in getting Spanish acceptance to withdrawal terms.  In the past Spain has closed the border and disconnected telephone contact to stop Spanish workers accessing the colony.  Britain would be wise to remember the Argentinian invasion of the Falkland islands when it thought Britain was distracted.

The biggest question is whether the people of Britain will enjoy what they term " getting their country back ".  Britain will still be the preferred destination for those escaping intolerant regimes and vast pools of refugees still exist on the continent awaiting a chance to cross the English channel. Britain neither changed its currency to the Euro or took part in the free movement across borders without passports or visas so it was spared the worst of change within the EU and it will still be subject to the International Court of Justice.

Perhaps this new " freedom " is mainly an illusion.  The blame for a changing world was sheeted home to EU membership.  There is no going back to an earlier world when Britain was head to a vast empire and " ruled the waves ".   Now it is a matter of fitting in to what may prove to be an unfriendly world of the future.