Reading Paper #13: “What Brexit means to Britain”

Allison Brown 4215: European Union Dr. Anderson March 23, 2021 Reading Paper #13: “What Brexit means to Britain” Author: Matthew Goodwin -- Is a renowned British academic who currently serves as: the Director of the Center for UK Prosperity at the Legatum Institute, Professor of Politics in the School of Politics and International Relations at the University of Kent, and Associate Fellow at Chatham House. Goodwin’s research is around “Brexit” and British political issues, he has published books on “Brexit” (2015) and “National Populism” (2018) that relate to his article in “Current History”. Published: Published in “Current History” the US’s first international affairs publication founded in 1914 by George Washington Ochs Oakes (brother of New York Times’ Founder) was originally started to effectively cover the events of World War I but has continued with its publication focusing on the US’s role and influence in international affairs as well as other political movements in Europe and around the world. The publication is based in Philadelphia and “...maintains no institutional, political, or governmental affiliation” Current ( History, About). Date: This entry was published in March 2017. The referendum to leave the EU was carried out the previous year on June 23, 2016, and clearly had an impact on the contents of the article. Leading up to the article’s publication, Donald Tusk was re-elected as President of the European Council (despite opposition from his home nation of Poland) and in France, Emmanuel Macron wins the presidential election over rival Marine Le Pen. In the UK, a terrorist attack in early June on London Bridge kills 7 and injures 48, the public attack on civilians only stoking fear for some Britons. Additionally, in June, PM Theresa May (Conservative) wins the parliamentary elections but still falls short of a necessary majority. Thesis: Different factors in the UK such as an increase in migrants/refugees and the growth of “Euroskepticism” in part led to the UK’s exit from the European Union, or “Brexit”. Gist: The UK’s vote for “Brexit” was a culminating event that has been building within some of the nation’s population for some time. Issues like increased refugees/migrants, economic-woes being falsely tied to the EU, the “changed landscape” of the EU, and PM David Cameron’s 2013 “in or out referendum” have built the narrative against the EU, and in 2016, 52% of the population voted to leave. Telling Examples: 1) Increased Migrants/Refugees, “Communities that experienced increased migration were more likely to vote for Brexit” (110), the correlation according to Goodwin is clear between communities amounts of refugees/migrants and their vote for separation from the EU. They perceived a split with the EU would decrease the number of immigrants because of the EU’s “major refugee crisis in 2015” (107) which resulted in over one million asylum seekers and migrants. 2) Changed Landscape, Goodwin builds on the argument that part of why Britain pushed for an exit from the EU was how the organization had changed since the last referendum in 1975. The EU had expanded, going from 9 to 29 member states between the 1975 and 2016 referendum, talk of adding states like Albania, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, and possibly Turkey only furthered this argument for those against the UK staying in the EU. Recent issues too like the Greek debt crisis, the great recession, the UK’s own major debt crisis, and high rates of unemployment were used as arguments for the UK’s exit. 3) PM David Cameron’s 2013 “in or out referendum”, In 2013 Cameron promised to hold a referendum and this promise was seen by many politically in the UK as an “awkward squad of backbench Conservative Members of Parliament” (108). Cameron in the end failed on this promise for a referendum and failed to negotiate the terms of the EU membership for the UK. In February of 2016, Cameron announced that through negotiations in Brussels he announced that he had secured an opt-out from a declaration in EU treaties that worked for an “ever closer union” and that he made an “emergency brake” (108) that would also potentially allow the UK to suspend the welfare benefits for citizens of other EU member states in the UK. Criticism: I thoroughly enjoyed this reading, it is a succinct recap of the events that led to “Brexit” and how the vote in the referendum to leave the EU by a narrow majority of 52% was a show of other growing issues of xenophobic nature (against refugees, particularly Muslim refugees) and “Euroskepticism” (108) that was only fed by some politicians and misinformation leading to the referendum vote, building on issues that have plagued Britain for some time in the context of the EU’s expansion and policies. I knew of David Cameron’s promises early in 2013 for a referendum and his opt-out negations, but I was unaware of the “emergency brake” that could have allowed him or the British government to pull out welfare for other EU citizens in the UK.