Brexit

From Wikispooks
Revision as of 09:32, 14 June 2017 by Patrick Haseldine (talk | contribs) (Adding image)
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Event.png Brexit  Rdf-entity.pngRdf-icon.png
EU Vote.jpg
DateMarch 2017 - 2019
Interest ofCamila Carlbom, Joanna Cherry, Dominic Cummings, Michelle Dewberry, Nigel Farage, Paddy Hannam, Gina Miller, Brendan O'Neill, Gloria De Piero, Alan Riley, Dominique Samuels, Spiked Online, Wolfgang Streeck, Rishi Sunak, Eloise Todd, Guy Verhofstadt, John Ward

Brexit, a portmanteau of the words "British" and "exit", is the process by which the United Kingdom (UK) intends to withdraw from the European Union (EU), as a result of the June 2016 EU Referendum in which 51.9% voted to leave the EU.[1]

On 20 March 2017, a Downing Street spokesman announced that Prime Minister Theresa May is to officially notify the European Union on Wednesday 29 March 2017 that the UK is leaving.[2] Her letter invoking Article 50 was delivered to Donald Tusk, Chair of the European Council, at 12:20 hours BST, after which she made a statement to the House of Commons.[3]

A Tory Brexit

In an article dated 31 March 2017, The Canary reported:

Voting to leave the EU is not inherently racist or foolish. Even those of us who would have chosen to remain in the EU cannot ignore its serious flaws. Particularly its anti-democratic tendencies. In recent years, the EU deposed the democratically elected leaders of Greece and Italy, and replaced them with pro-austerity technocrats.[4] This is a challenge to democracy. It is not ignorant or bigoted to question a continuing and deepening alliance to such a system.

But the left-wing Brexit of greater democracy and protection from radical neoliberal austerity is never going to happen under this current government. May’s Brexit is about quite the opposite. The PM is more interested in dismantling hard-won rights. And cutting the taxes paid by wealthy individuals and corporations.

In order to protect Britain from the losses associated with leaving the single market, May’s government has confirmed it would turn Britain into a tax haven – cutting corporation taxes radically to attract business.[5] May has also campaigned to withdraw Britain from the European Convention on Human Rights,[6] and has steadfastly refused to guarantee working people’s rights after Brexit. The rights that ensure us all a minimum wage, maximum hours, and safe workplaces. The ones that all but ended sweatshop/workhouse conditions in the UK. Yet these rights may well end up on the chopping block as May courts corporations to stay in the country.[7]

UKIP has enabled this. It has sold working-class Britain a lemon.[8]

Article 50

On 2 October 2016, the first day of the Conservative Party conference, Prime Minister Theresa May announced she would trigger Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union by the end of March 2017 which would make the UK set to leave the EU by the end of March 2019. Although the terms for withdrawal have not been established, May has promised a Bill to remove the European Communities Act 1972 from the statute book and to transfer existing EU laws into the UK domestic law.[9]

On 3 November 2016, upon an application by Gina Miller and others, the High Court ruled that Theresa May's government could not trigger Article 50 without first consulting Parliament.[10]

Parliamentary debate

In a House of Commons debate on 11 October 2016, the Shadow Brexit Secretary Sir Keir Starmer put 170 questions about Brexit to the government and sought an assurance that Parliament would be given a vote on the terms of the exit negotiations:

"We do accept and respect the result of the referendum. But neither those who voted to remain nor those who voted to leave gave the government a mandate to take an axe to our economy. By flirting with Hard Brexit the Prime Minister puts at risk Britain's access to the single market rather than doing the right thing for jobs, for business and for working people in this country. So much for putting the national interest first!"[11]

For the government, Brexit Secretary David Davis said he was not prepared to outline Brexit aims in detail since it was “not black or white” whether the UK would stay in the single market and Parliament could not expect to be given every detail of the government’s plans for leaving. Davis said the government had a mandate to get the best possible deal but insisted he could go no further than talking about overarching aims because revealing the UK’s top priority would prove “extremely expensive”. Sterling fell to one of its lowest ever levels of $1.22 as David Davis was speaking.[12]

Background

The process of withdrawal from the European Union has, since 2007, been governed by Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union. No member state has ever left the EU. Under Article 50, the withdrawal must be in accordance with the Member State's constitutional requirements and uncertainty exists as to the constitutional requirements in the UK. Unless extensions are agreed to unanimously by the Council of the European Union, the timing for leaving under the article is two years from when the UK gives official notice, but this official notice was not given immediately following the referendum in June 2016. The assumption is that during the two-year window new agreements will be negotiated, but there is no requirement that there be new agreements.[13] Some aspects, such as trade agreements, may be made difficult to negotiate by the EU until after Britain has formally left the EU.[14]

Withdrawal has been the goal of various individuals, advocacy groups, and political parties since the UK joined the European Economic Community (EEC), the predecessor of the EU, in 1973, though continued membership of the EEC and the Common Market was approved in a 1975 referendum by 67.2% of votes.

 

Related Quotations

PageQuoteAuthorDate
Theresa May“Brexit means Brexit, and we're going to make a success of it.”Theresa MayJuly 2016
Mark Rutte“I'm totally, totally, totally against referendums on multilateral agreements.”Mark Rutte
Frans Timmermans“They are now being disappointed. Look at what the divisiveness of Brexit has done to the UK. Today, the UK looks like Game of Thrones on steroids.”Frans Timmermans16 May 2019

 

Related Documents

TitleTypePublication dateAuthor(s)Description
Document:A new turf war with Strasbourg pushes Warsaw further down the road towards Polexit from the EUArticle4 August 2021Paul NuttallWill the schism between Poland and the European Union over legal differences eventually lead to "Polexit"?
Document:Antisemitism threats will keep destroying Labourblog post12 February 2020Jonathan CookIf we are only allowed to gently chide Israel in ways that cannot meaningfully advance Palestinian rights, if we are prevented from discussing the strategies of staunchly pro-Israel lobbyists to silence Israel’s critics, if we are denied the right to push for an international boycott of Israel of the kind that helped blacks in South Africa end their own oppression, then nothing is going to change for the Palestinians.
Document:Boris Johnson in Downing Street for five years: what could possibly go wrong?Article30 December 2019John S WarrenAll the cards are held by Boris Johnson because he has the answer to all the problems facing Britain. Save, perhaps, one: what could possibly go wrong for the Conservative-Brexit Government?
Document:Boris Johnson is a threat to democracy itselfArticle18 June 2019Simon Wren-LewisWe can only hope that while most Conservative members want to live in a world where there is no spoon, enough voters prefer changing the real world in ways that enhance, rather than diminish, our democracy.
Document:Boris Johnson's first two priorities for post-Brexit BritainArticle1 February 2020Richard MurphyBoris Johnson has admitted what Brexit was for. He wants to control and constrain people. The market in labour will be constrained. And let’s not for a moment pretend that a Freeport supports markets: freeports are instead about permitting the free movement of capital beyond the control of the state and without the imposition of any taxes.
Document:Brexit is the villain in accidental death of the economyArticle6 August 2023William KeeganThe Brexit miscreants who conned the nation just carry on shamelessly, while their replacements, Rishi Sunak and co, take up the banner and Keir Starmer, once a noble remainer, offends his natural followers by ruling out rejoining the EU or even the single market.
Document:Brexit reveals Corbyn to be the true moderateblog post12 September 2019Jonathan CookIt is time to stop acting like zealots for neoliberalism, squabbling over which brand of turbo-charged capitalism we prefer, and face up to our collective responsibility to change our and our children’s future.
Document:Britain didn’t vote Labour just to get a new iron chancellorArticle4 August 2024William KeeganThe economic damage wrought by Brexit continues. Our investment and growth prospects would benefit enormously if Starmer and Reeves abandoned this policy of “no return to the customs union, single market or freedom of movement”. I repeat what I have said before: the Labour manifesto commits it to removing unnecessary barriers to trade. But Brexit is the most formidable barrier of all!
Document:ECJ Advocate General says UK can revoke Article 50 unilaterallyArticle4 December 2018Tony ConnellyArticle 50 allows the "unilateral revocation of the notification of the intention to withdraw from the EU, until such time as the Withdrawal Agreement is formally concluded"
Document:Election 2017: finally, a real choice for Britain's votersArticle17 May 2017Raoul MartinezNo wonder the billionaire-owned media are attacking Jeremy Corbyn with everything they've got. But we the people can still win.
Document:England prepares to leave the worldArticle4 November 2016Neal Ascherson"If you believe you are a citizen of the world you are a citizen of nowhere." Mrs May will pass into folklore with that line, just as Mrs Thatcher is remembered for "There is no such thing as society."
Document:Interfering with Laura Kuenssbergblog post25 November 2019Craig MurrayIt's no coincidence that it is precisely the old and the poorly educated that are the targets of Dominic Cummings"Brexit election” strategy. If it comes off, Laura Kuenssberg and her fellow hacks will have proven that the power of the mainstream media is as yet unbroken.
Document:Jeremy Corbyn’s Coventry speech on Brexit in fullSpeech26 February 2018Jeremy Corbyn"So I appeal to MPs of all parties, prepared to put the people’s interests before ideological fantasies, to join us in supporting the option of a new UK customs union with the EU, that would give us a say in future trade deals."
Document:Just like that: How the Tory magic trick was doneblog post18 December 2019Chris JacksonBoris Johnson will not be leading the people into any mythical promised land, rather they will be led like lemmings off the edge of a cliff. The population of the nation now have more austerity, economic inequality, privatising of the NHS and ever deteriorating public services to look forward to, led by a right wing, elitist, populist.
Document:Labour has ignored its voters – it is now paying the priceArticle24 June 2021Paddy HannamGeorge Galloway speaks to Spiked Online about the problems faced by the Labour Party, and his campaign in the 2021 Batley and Spen by-election
Document:Legal Challenge To BrexitArticle27 November 2018The UK can stop the Brexit process unilaterally, without the consent of the other 27 EU Member States
Document:Message for the Red Wallblog post12 April 2022Clifford Thurlow"This is my message for the Red Wall. If you reach a crossroads and your destination is to the left and by mistake you turn right, the further you travel along the wrong road the further you will move away from your destination. It is not easy to turn back, to change your mind. Sometimes, you have to in order to survive."
Document:Project BrexitComment24 June 2017DavidProject Brexit: "Doomed to Failure"
Document:Rachel Reeves needs to develop some decent ideas very quicklyblog post25 May 2023Richard MurphyRachel Reeves is a person out of time, out of ideas, and right now with no answer to any question that might reasonably be asked of her. It's very depressing.
Document:Richmond Park prospective candidate: I would vote against Article 50 in ParliamentStatement4 November 2016Christian WolmarStatement by Labour Party prospective parliamentary candidate Christian Wolmar who aims to win the 2016 Richmond Park by-election
Document:Sunak likes the single market. So why doesn't Labour?Article5 March 2023William Keegan"I had many criticisms of Thatcherism and its impact on unemployment and social harmony, but one thing Margaret Thatcher got right was the importance of the EU single market and attracting Japanese, German and other firms to the UK. All this is now up for grabs by Starmer and his team."
Document:The Brutal Legacy of Bloody Sunday is a Powerful Warning to Those Hoping to Save BrexitArticle19 March 2019Patrick CockburnWhat we are seeing is the two most divisive issues in modern British history coming together in a toxic blend: these are Brexit and the Irish question.
Document:The Centre Blows Itself Up: Care and Spite in the ‘Brexit Election’Article13 January 2020David GraeberAt the 'Brexit Election' of 2019, the anti-Semitism accusations weakened Labour immensely. But it was the – ultimately successful – campaign by the 'Centrists' to force Jeremy Corbyn to reverse his position on Brexit that really ensured their party’s electoral disaster.
Document:The Challenge of Brexit to the UKstrategy document2 January 2018Chris Donnelly"So, if we consider what qualities and characteristics we need in those whom we select for leadership today, in a period of rapid and profound change, in all sorts of institutions – government departments, big companies, the NHS - the conclusion is that we need to look for people who have abilities that suit a wartime environment"... Leadership understands that in a period of tumultuous change you cannot control, you have to command..."
Document:The Dreamings of Dominic CummingsArticle24 October 2019James MeekFor Dominic Cummings the whole Brexit crisis may be a venturesome trial with disposable vessels: voters, the Conservative Party, the United Kingdom. If it doesn’t work out, there’s always California, and the rest of the solar system.
Document:The Price of Peaceblog post6 November 2018Craig MurrayIt is not possible to understand the current state of play in Brexit negotiations, without understanding that those effectively driving the Tory Party position do not view a hard border with Ireland as undesirable. They view it as a vital achievement en route to rolling back power sharing and all the affirmative measures which brought peace to Northern Ireland, in an affirmation of the glory and power of unionism.
Document:The Real Reason Theresa May’s Brexit Has FailedArticle2 March 2019T. J. ColesSo, the choice faced by ordinary British people is between a neoliberal EU supported by millionaires like Kenneth Clarke or an ultra-neoliberal Brexit supported by multimillionaires like Jacob Rees-Mogg. Meanwhile, ordinary working-class people pay the price for these elite games, as usual.
Document:The great con that ruined BritainArticle3 April 2016Peter HitchensPeter Hitchens, the repentant Thatcherite, has second thoughts about privatisation: if it’s all been so beneficial, why do so many of the containers that arrive in British ports, full of expensive imports, leave this country empty?
Document:Theresa May's Misconduct In Public OfficeArticle9 March 2019David Wolchover
Joshua Silver
Theresa May's Misconduct in Public Office offence arises from what is alleged to have been her wrongful activation on 29 March 2017 of Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union
Document:Was EU Tax Evasion Regulation The Reason For The Brexit ReferendumBlog post26 September 2017Josh HamiltonThe EU's new anti-abuse measures coming into force in 2019 would tighten up restrictions on UK-based intermediaries that take part in off-shoring and tax avoidance, of which Britain is a global leader
Document:What is the Plan - the Plan is to have no PlanArticle10 July 2018John S WarrenThe Brexit political mess we are now in, and the deep divisions and rancour that have been created were foreseeable and inevitable: it is a complete, shambolic mess. And be in no doubt: a 2nd Scottish Referendum will now require only 50% + 1 vote. Nothing else is sustainable now.
Document:Where we go from here - Britain after BrexitArticle28 August 2016Anthony BarnettAnalysis of the so-called "Brexit" referendum result and prognosis for the future of the UK by a "passionate European" who wants to "keep the European flame alive".
Document:With Brexit, the UK has achieved the gold standard of self-harmArticle12 June 2022William KeeganEvents in the foreign exchange market forced the UK off the gold standard in 1931, under what was by then the National Government. The Labour politician Sidney Webb famously declared afterwards: “Nobody told us we could do that.” Brexit, too, is reversible.
Document:Would-be German chancellor Scholz jumps the gun on EU expansion eastward, which may provoke more states to follow the UK and exitArticle15 August 2021Paul NuttallOlaf Scholz is a possible candidate for Chancellor of Germany at the September 2021 German parliamentary election. He has warned Russia to expect further European integration and expansion into Eastern Europe. Will this encourage more countries to follow the UK and leave the European Union?
Many thanks to our Patrons who cover ~2/3 of our hosting bill. Please join them if you can.


References