United Kingdom marks its three-year anniversary since leaving the EU
On 31 January 2020, following the Brexit referendum of 2016, the United Kingdom ended its 47-year membership of the European Union and officially left the bloc. Speaking on 31 January 2023 to mark the three-year anniversary, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak stated that “in the three years since leaving the EU, [the UK has] made huge strides in harnessing the freedoms unlocked by Brexit to tackle generational challenges.” Sunak went on to say that he is determined “to ensure the benefits of Brexit continue to empower communities and businesses right across the country,” calling Brexit a “huge opportunity to deliver”. The public mood across the UK, however, does not seem to align with the PM’s positive outlook, with a recent Ipsos poll showing 45% of people in Britain believe Brexit is going worse than they initially expected. This figure is up from 28% in June 2021.
Sunak’s comments come at a time when his government is faced with significant challenges, with thousands of UK workers across sectors taking strike action over insufficient pay and unsatisfactory working conditions. Furthermore, the third-year anniversary coincided with the publication of the IMF’s latest forecasts, which predict that Britain will be the only leading economy to shrink this year. According to the IMF, Britain’s economy could shrink by 0.6%. While Brexit is certainly not the sole reason for this gloomy economic outlook, it is, undeniably a factor.
Although the UK is now long out of the EU, the issue of Brexit continues to consume many headlines in London and Brussels. For instance, the UK government’s plans to review or revoke all EU laws is currently underway with thousands of pieces of legislation due to be assessed by the end of this year. According to the Government’s dashboard, there are now 3,700 pieces of legislation, covering over 400 unique policy areas, up for review. Plans to review such a significant amount of law, and so quickly, has attracted great criticism from business groups, legal experts, trade unions and environmental groups across the UK. Many have warned that such a review will be extremely costly and destabilising and result in great legal uncertainty for businesses and citizens. Despite the onslaught of criticism, however, the UK Government claims the process with maximise the benefits of Brexit.
The dispute over the Northern Ireland Protocol also continues to be a sticking point in EU-UK relations and discussions over post-Brexit arrangements. Northern Ireland, which under the Protocol has been kept inside the EU’s Single Market and thus, aligned with many EU trade rules, has been without an executive since February 2022. In protest against the Protocol, the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) are refusing to resume the power-sharing agreement in Stormont. The party argues that the Protocol undermines Northern Ireland’s place in the UK. Varying recent media reports, however, suggest that the EU and UK are nearing closer to a provisional agreement on the Protocol. Negotiations between both sides heated up in recent weeks with officials close to finding solutions at a technical level covering the most pending issues, including on customs, state aid and sanitary checks on agri-foods. An EU-UK deal reached on the sharing of live trade data in January left many speculating a deal was in sight.
Only time will tell if Brexit truly proves to present a “huge opportunity” for the UK.