We've heard about and see the term 'Brexit' in the news. It was quite popular last year, and it is still resurfacing in the headlines. Brexit refers primarily to the United Kingdom leaving the European Union. It's really just a merge of the words Britain and exit. ON Thursday, June 23, 2016, Britain held a referendum (a vote where everyone can participate). It was a narrow election, but 51.9% voted to leave while 48.1% voted to remain. Interestingly, England and Wales opted to leave while Scotland and N. Ireland wished to remain. It was such a significant result that David Cameron resigned as Prime Minister and handed it over to Theresa May. May was actually against Brexit early on, but now supports it because its what "the British people want".
I want to make a side note that is worth addressing. The UK, or United Kingdom, is the official name for a group of "countries", England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. You may have
heard England a lot, but that was the historical name. Now, you refer to the "countries" as one sovereign state, the United Kingdom.
Before we delve into more about Brexit, I want to spend some time and explain what the EU is. The EU was established after WWII so that countries would cooperate economically. Here are the current members:
Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Republic of Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland,Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden
Founding members wanted countries to trade together and avoid conflict like war. Over the years, the EU has grown to a "single market" where people and goods and move around, almost as if they all formed one country. The laws and regulations like consumer rights. transportation, environmental regulations, and even phone rates. Currency is also the same, well mostly, as 19 of the member nations use the Euro. All in all, the EU seems like a working plan that seems to be working well for its members...oh wait...Greece...hmm....so much for a stable economy. But anyway, the EU has been around for a long time and Europe has prospered under it.
However, many conservatives is Britain, primarily Boris Johnson
Everyone thought that Brexit would be devastating to Britain's economy, and it seemed so initially, with exchange rates dipping, However, UK's economy actually grew 1.8% in 2016 and continues to rise. Inflation has risen at 2.6%, but unemployment has dropped to only 4.5%! That's pretty awesome, considering it's the lowest in over 40 years.
Why though? Why leave? Ah yes, the burning question is here. The UK Independence Party earned about 13% of votes in the general election of 2015, and many Conservative Party leaders like Boris Johnson and people in Northern Ireland wanted to leave. The argument is that the EU imposes too many rules and charged billions of pounds a year on businesses for membership fees. They wanted more independence and wanted the UK to make its own laws, versus sharing decisions with other member nations. A major issues was immigration; Brexit supporters wanted the UK to control its own borders and halt the number of people immigrating. The thing with the EU is that there is "free movement", where you don't need a visa to go live in another EU nation, so again this basically means they are all one country.
Now let's talk about the opposition. PM David Cameron was part of the Remain campaign, as well as many other cabinet members. Other nations like France, Germany, the US (at least Obama. Our man Donald is pro-Brexit). Also, their point of view is that it's so much easier to sell and trade between EU nations and to immigrate, which would raise economic growth and in turn bring in more revenue for the government to pay for public services. Most large businesses also supported the Remain campaign because it would have been easier for them to expand globally.
If the UK wanted to rejoin the EU, it may be much more difficult, as they may be subjected to more stringent regulations. The UK was able bypass some rules like keeping their own currency as they were a founding member and was in it for decades. Is it really necessary for the UK to leave the UK?
The UK is one of the major powers of the world, and no matter what path is chose, anything that happens within the UK will cause significant global consequences. Brexit may bring positive change to the UK that we will yet to see, or it may be a complete failure.
I want to make a side note that is worth addressing. The UK, or United Kingdom, is the official name for a group of "countries", England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. You may have
heard England a lot, but that was the historical name. Now, you refer to the "countries" as one sovereign state, the United Kingdom.
Before we delve into more about Brexit, I want to spend some time and explain what the EU is. The EU was established after WWII so that countries would cooperate economically. Here are the current members:
Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Republic of Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland,Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden
Founding members wanted countries to trade together and avoid conflict like war. Over the years, the EU has grown to a "single market" where people and goods and move around, almost as if they all formed one country. The laws and regulations like consumer rights. transportation, environmental regulations, and even phone rates. Currency is also the same, well mostly, as 19 of the member nations use the Euro. All in all, the EU seems like a working plan that seems to be working well for its members...oh wait...Greece...hmm....so much for a stable economy. But anyway, the EU has been around for a long time and Europe has prospered under it.
However, many conservatives is Britain, primarily Boris Johnson
Everyone thought that Brexit would be devastating to Britain's economy, and it seemed so initially, with exchange rates dipping, However, UK's economy actually grew 1.8% in 2016 and continues to rise. Inflation has risen at 2.6%, but unemployment has dropped to only 4.5%! That's pretty awesome, considering it's the lowest in over 40 years.
Why though? Why leave? Ah yes, the burning question is here. The UK Independence Party earned about 13% of votes in the general election of 2015, and many Conservative Party leaders like Boris Johnson and people in Northern Ireland wanted to leave. The argument is that the EU imposes too many rules and charged billions of pounds a year on businesses for membership fees. They wanted more independence and wanted the UK to make its own laws, versus sharing decisions with other member nations. A major issues was immigration; Brexit supporters wanted the UK to control its own borders and halt the number of people immigrating. The thing with the EU is that there is "free movement", where you don't need a visa to go live in another EU nation, so again this basically means they are all one country.
Now let's talk about the opposition. PM David Cameron was part of the Remain campaign, as well as many other cabinet members. Other nations like France, Germany, the US (at least Obama. Our man Donald is pro-Brexit). Also, their point of view is that it's so much easier to sell and trade between EU nations and to immigrate, which would raise economic growth and in turn bring in more revenue for the government to pay for public services. Most large businesses also supported the Remain campaign because it would have been easier for them to expand globally.
If the UK wanted to rejoin the EU, it may be much more difficult, as they may be subjected to more stringent regulations. The UK was able bypass some rules like keeping their own currency as they were a founding member and was in it for decades. Is it really necessary for the UK to leave the UK?
The UK is one of the major powers of the world, and no matter what path is chose, anything that happens within the UK will cause significant global consequences. Brexit may bring positive change to the UK that we will yet to see, or it may be a complete failure.
http://www.economist.com/Brexit
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/aug/12/david-miliband-calls-second-vote-on-brexit-deal-europe-britain
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-32810887
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/aug/12/david-miliband-calls-second-vote-on-brexit-deal-europe-britain
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-32810887
liking this. you should do more Europe articles also.
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