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A year later, Brexit remains a mistake

3 min read
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One of the arguments that’s been put forward over the years about why Britain needs to maintain its pricey monarchy is it represents tradition and stability in a world that can be lacking in both.

Styles fluctuate, mores change, governments come and go, but Queen Elizabeth II and her family remain a constant, a touchstone for generations of Scots, Welsh, English and Northern Irish.

Perhaps more than any other time in recent history, Britain could use a dose of stability right now.

There have been deadly terrorist attacks in Manchester and London, an inferno at an apartment block in London that could result in as many as 80 deaths, and an election earlier this month that was widely expected to strengthen the majority of Prime Minister Theresa May’s governing Conservative Party.

Instead, it resulted in the Conservatives losing their majority in the House of Commons and the opposition Labor Party making gains, even though it assumed that Labor would be pulverized thanks to the party being led by Jeremy Corbyn, an old-school, veteran lawmaker who was thought to be too far to the left for most of the British electorate. The possibilities of May being ousted as the Conservative leader and yet another general election being called hang in the air.

All of this is occurring against the backdrop of “Brexit.” One year ago Friday, British voters narrowly approved a non-binding referendum withdrawing Britain from the European Union, the economic and political alliance of 28 states stretching from Cyprus to Finland that established a common market and allowed for the easy movement of capital, goods and people within it.

It had been assumed the referendum would be defeated and, like the unexpected election of Donald Trump in the United States four months later, was viewed as a kind of rebellion by voters who were left behind by globalization and were unsettled by cultural change, particularly that wrought by immigration.

The results of the Brexit vote were a shock a year ago, and more than one observer opined that Britain was making a mistake of historic proportions that would shackle its economy, lower its living standards, weaken its standing in the world and even potentially disunite the United Kingdom, with Scotland breaking away and Northern Ireland fulfilling the long-held dreams of Irish republicans by being absorbed into Ireland.

Twelve months later, the verdict remains unchanged. Britain made a historic mistake with Brexit.

And yet it keeps trudging forward with its plans to leave the European Union, even though there are some signs British voters are starting to experience buyer’s remorse.

An April poll found that a narrow plurality believed leaving the European Union was the wrong thing to do, and some suggested Britain should hold a second referendum once the terms of departing the European Union become clear.

While some hope Britain might be able to retain all the advantages of being in the European Union without full membership, other members of the EU might not feel so charitably inclined.

That could leave Britain facing tariffs on its goods, talent from the continent finding other places to flourish and British citizens no longer able to live, work and vacation in Europe with the same uncomplicated mobility as before.

Fifty years from now, when Brexit is being studied in classrooms, one question will be asked above all others: What were they thinking?

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