Was Brexit really necessary? Insights on events leading upto the split

The Brexit occurred on 31st January 2020. That is, the United Kingdom isolated itself from the European Union. This is a significant new development in world geopolitics since it forces you to consider what is patriotism, what is a country and what is a nation? Come, let us attempt to comprehend what Brexit is? for what reason did it occur? How it influences these nations and the remainder of the world?

The Background

As a matter of first importance, the narrative of the United Kingdom itself is fascinating. It is a nation framed by the amalgamation of four different countries to be specific to England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. These four nations together comprise the United Kingdom which is itself a nation. You would ask how this is conceivable? They are four separate nations but then establish one nation together. In any case, this is possible, in certain regards, the United Kingdom is a sole nation and in certain regards, they are four separate nations, for instance, in cricket, you may have seen that England has a different team and Scotland has a different one. In any case, in the Olympics, the whole United Kingdom has athletes participating in all four countries in the United Kingdom. Taking a peek at the legislature, the whole United Kingdom has a single Parliament, but they have their own parliament too. Actually, if you happen to visit the website of the Prime Minister of the UK it reads that The UK is a nation inside a nation. In the United Kingdom lies Ireland. Ireland is a totally autonomous nation. It’s anything but a piece of UK, however before 1922, it used to be a part of UK, when we talk about Great Britain, at that point it incorporated England, Wales and Scotland thus when you take a look at the Wikipedia page, at that point, it reads that the UK is referred to as the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, yet before 1922, it was referred to as United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. So Northern Ireland and Ireland are separate today. Another fascinating thing is that before the Brexit choice in 2014 another referendum was initiated in Scotland in which the individuals were asked whether they needed Scotland to stay a part of the United Kingdom or whether they needed it to be a free nation simply like Ireland. Then 55% of the individuals decided in favor of Scotland to stay a part of the United Kingdom. Do remember this since it is relevant ahead.

Presently, let us move to the European Union. It comprises of the major countries like Germany, France, Spain, Portugal, and Italy. Altogether, 28 diverse European nations formed an association which is known as the European Union. In any case, taking a look at certain viewpoints, the European Union is a nation in itself simply like the United Kingdom, for instance, there are no borders between these nations, there are no border checks while going from Germany to France, from France to Spain and from Spain to Portugal. There is no border between these nations. Just a single currency is used in every one of these nations and that is Euro. The whole European Union has a different Parliament as well. Although every one of these nations does have their national Parliaments, the European Union likewise has one and the individuals living in every one of these nations can cast a ballot and pick the individuals for representation in the European Parliament. The European Union likewise has the position to set guidelines. These guidelines have to be followed by all the nations that come under the European Union.

Why the European Union?

A few people accept that the European Union has its demerits. Their nation needs to follow whatever EU directs and a few people don’t care what the EU thinks and consequently, they are against the European Union. Presently you’d think What was the purpose of the development of the European Union? For what reason can’t these nations remain independent like India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh.

There is a significant purpose for this union. At the point when the European Union was formed, its principal reason for existing was the advancement of harmony among these nations. It came into being after World War 2 and as you probably are aware all the European nations were battling amongst each other in World War 1 and 2. The anonymity between France and Germany rose to a great height. In any case, after the end of World War 2 and the death of Hitler, they concluded that they have had enough of battles and now they have to attain peace. The only way to achieve peace was to have an association with each other. In this way, during the 1950s and 1960s, they opened borders for trade and easy movement of goods. Continuously, more nations began to participate and the Union grew strength to strength. At that point in 1999, the party nations agreed to accept a common currency to dominate the world. The European Union turned into a superpower, which the party nations couldn’t have become on their own. Financially speaking, these nations became rich. Consider this scenario, Germany is good at automobiles, Italy has great quality Olive oil, Austria produces good quality milk and various other nations produce various other commodities. The Union allowed easy access to these commodities without the conventional trade barriers resulting in a boom in the economies of the party countries. Just as commodities could move freely, labor also could work in any country that is a part of the European Union. This made life easy for many people who were facing problems finding jobs in their own country. Moreover, businesses started to thrive as they could run multiple operations in various European countries without bothering about differential norms set for businesses because across the European Union the entry, working and exit were all standardized. As a result of a common playground for businesses across Europe, companies found it very easy to conduct business.

But on the flip side making standards and guidelines for such a group of nations isn’t easy, at some point you realize that it is next to impossible to keep everyone happy and content. Often differences emerge so, to a huge extend, the European Union offers choices to every nation. It doesn’t force its decision on them generally. For instance, with respect to the appropriation of the Euro as a widely accepted currency, each state has a choice, if a country decides that it wants to use Euro as the currency it can if it wants to use its own currency it go ahead with that as well. For instance, in nations like Denmark, Poland, and Hungary, the Euro is still not used. There is also a provision to remain inside or outside the Schengen Area. Be that as it may, in certain territories, the European Union made certain laws that rankled a few people, For instance, the refugee emergency of 2015. The European Union expressed that each nation needs to take a fixed number of displaced people inside their nation according to a set percentage of its populace. For obvious reasons, this decision by the Union was unacceptable to many countries that were already under economic stress. This sentiment of resentment against the Union was used as a tipping point by the Conservative Party of Britain. They used this anguish of people to favor Brexit. Although, there were two groups even inside the Conservative Party. One wanted to split away from the European Union and the other wanted to be a part of the Union, yet the group that needed a Brexit-that is, to quit the European Union mounted weight and got a referendum conducted.

The Brexit referendum

The referendum occurred in 2016 in which 52% of the individuals voted in favor of Brexit. The party that wanted to break away from the union used various propagandas and used fake news to create a sense of panic and confusion amongst the masses. The people were fearful that if they did not break free the Union will try to force refugees into Britain and that will cause joblessness and businesses will suffer. Fearing an economic turmoil people had no choice but to vote for Brexit.

The Fallout

Brexit eventually happened on 31 January 2020 but the precise trade arrangements with the EU have not yet been debated. Brexit’s consequences can be seen on a wide scale over the coming years, but certain issues can now be expected on their own, for example on departure from the European Union, tariffs will now be levied on imports and exports between the UK and the European Union. Trade will become complicated and that is really bad news for people living in the UK as 1/3rd of the UK’s imports came from the EU. Tariffs will now be levied on them, so they’d become costlier. Therefore, all the goods purchased by the UK would become costlier for the people living in the UK. In general, UK businesses will have to suffer a significant loss as the businesses cannot compete in bidding for public contracts in the EU. They can neither enter the rest of EU markets nor hire staff from the rest of the EU in their businesses. Knowing what is to come, many businesses in the UK have left the country and moved to either the European Union or Ireland because It is a member of the EU. Even from the work viewpoint, the people in the UK are experiencing a major problem. Before Brexit, they had multiple opportunities to look for jobs. But now, they would remain limited within one country. Because of these factors, when they vote for Brexit , an immediate impact was seen on the UK economy. A 2018 study shows that there was a loss of 2.5% of GDP on the UK economy, spending fell by 6%, unemployment grew by 1.5% and per capita income fell by 1%.

The Scotland issue

It’s a very fascinating case because if you look closely at the map you’ll see areas where people chose to break away from the EU and there are places that still want to be part of the EU. You will find that a vast majority of citizens in the area of Scotland have said they want to remain with the EU, but because Scotland is one of four countries in the United Kingdom, the overall vote percentage is titled Brexit’s favor. But the people living in Scotland were always in support of the EU and what’s going on now is that Scotland’s people are angry. They want to hold yet another referendum to break away from the UK and join the EU. Obviously, the United Kingdom did not like this because there would be an even greater economic effect if Scotland leaves the United Kingdom. Do you think Scotland is entitled to a referendum as it is a part of the United Kingdom first?

Was Brexit necessary? Tell us what do you think