By Allan Wall, January 4, 2021
Congratulations, United Kingdom!
As of December 31st, 2020, at 11 p.m. Greenwich time, the UK is completely out of the European Union.
Back in 2016 (the same year Trump won) Britain held a vote on “Brexit”, that is, the “British Exit” from the EU.
The leave side won, and the process began.
On March 29, 2017, the British government sent a formal letter to the EU, invoking Article 50 of the EU Treaty, the process for withdrawal.
The next several years were filled with negotiations between the UK and the EU. Back in the UK there were parliamentary votes and two general elections.
Finally, in January of 2020, three and half years and two prime ministers later, the withdrawal agreement was signed, albeit to be followed by a transitional period which just ended, on December 31st, 2020.
The European Union, previously sold as a common market, has over the decades gradually been developing more and more into a supranational government, with more and more legislation originating not in the respective parliaments of the EU’s member states, but in the EU headquarters in Brussels.
Will the UK be the last country to withdraw, or will any continental European nations follow its example and arrange their own exits? There are political parties in some European countries favoring withdrawal, but none have the political clout at present to bring it about.
As for the United Kingdom, there are doomsayers predicting an economic decline thanks to Brexit. And there are bumps in the road for the short term.
But there’s no reason that the United Kingdom can’t have a successful economy outside the European Union. Britain was a great trading power long before the European Union ever existed.
Indeed, Britain’s location on an island off the coast of Europe gives it many advantages, just as its location played an important role in the development of its unique culture (to which the U.S. owes much).
Of course, the UK continues to trade with the EU, but it has many opportunities to expand trade with other parts of the world.
Trade with other Anglophone countries – the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, with which the UK shares many cultural connections – would seem to be advantageous.
Add to that trade with former colonies in the Caribbean, Africa, and Asia, and plenty of other countries and regions, including Latin America.
So in the long run, Brexit shouldn’t be a problem. Of course, in the short run, inconvenient complications can be expected.
For example, on January 3rd, 2021, it was reported that “ … some British citizens trying to return to their homes in several European countries this weekend have been barred from boarding flights. Airlines refused documents that before Brexit had been valid proof of the Britons’ status as residents in Spain, Italy and Germany, although Spanish authorities claimed that the issue had been resolved by mid-Sunday.”
One can expect incidents like this to be amplified by the globalist media.
Now that Brexit is a done deal, it’s time for British society, and its lawmakers, to come to grips with other problems that aren’t going away, with or without the EU.
Post-Brexit, the British can no longer blame European bureaucrats for problems that the UK must solve itself.
Immigration, for example. Britain has too many immigrants who are not assimilating.
Consider that the United Kingdom (England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland) is about the size of Oregon, but with a much higher population (about 67 million vs. 4 million!).
Indeed, at this period in history, one might ask, “Why does the UK need immigrants?”
Sadly, in recent years, freedom of speech in the UK has been restricted on certain topics thanks to “hate speech” legislation, a totally alien concept for the traditional English legal system.
Who defines hate?
One result is that in the UK, “hate speech” legislation has been used against Christians upholding traditional morality.
Now that the Brexit is done, would any British lawmakers step up to restore freedom of speech?
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