U.K. formally withdraws from European Union

Chancey Boyce, Web Editor

On Jan. 31, the United Kingdom formally withdrew from the European Union, a culmination of four years of bargaining and bureaucratic red-tape after the British people voted to leave the Union in June 2016. 

In the past several decades, many individuals in the United Kingdom began to protest the European Union for various reasons. Among other reasons, they alleged that it undermined European nation-states, that it harmed the UK through invasive economic intervention, and that its decision-making process was undemocratic (ipsos.com).

The European Union was created in a series of treaties after World War II in order to unify the European nation-states and prevent another war. Over time, the Union evolved to establish laws and edicts for its 27 member nations throughout Europe on various matters of public policy: everything from education to fisheries (celsi.sk).

In 2016, Prime Minister David Cameron approved a referendum on whether or not to leave the EU, and the British people voted narrowly to leave. Surprised at the result, Cameron immediately resigned from the Ministership and was replaced by Teresa May, who promised to make a deal to leave the Union (GQ.com).

“Who even voted for you? Oh, I know democracy’s not popular with you lot,” Nigel Farage, one of the biggest critics of the EU in Britain, once said to the President of the European Union, Herman Van Rompuy.

After three years, May proved to be incapable of making a proper deal that satisfied all parties. She resigned and was replaced by former London Mayor Boris Johnson. Johnson’s Conservative Party won a 2019 election in a landslide on the platform of Getting Brexit Done (CNBC). Using his victory in the Parliamentary elections as leverage, Johnson made a deal and Britain left the European Union in January.

“The most important thing to say tonight is that this is not an end but a beginning. This is the moment when the dawn breaks and the curtain goes up on a new act in our great national drama,” Johnson said.

On the other hand, many pro-EU Britons argued that leaving the European Union would isolate the United Kingdom from the wider world and Europe in general, and that it would harm Britain economically (New York Times).