Brexit is the term derived from the addition of two words -Britain and exit- implying British declaration of abandoning the membership of European Union (EU) which finally came on 23 June, 2016 through a referendum in which 51.9% of British voters exercised their votes in favour of withdrawing from European Union whereas the rest voted against the proposal. The results of the referendum came as a shock to the international community as British who have always been torch-bearers and on the forefront of liberal ethos and inclusive values decided to take this extreme step. Subsequently the results of the referendum entailed the invocation of Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union by UK on 29 March, 2017, setting in motion the formal procedure for the country to leave the EU on, before or after 29 March, 2019.
The issue of remaining in EU has been a bone of discord among the people of Britain so much that it vertically divided them into two sections. As soon as the results of referendum on UK membership of EU poured in, the incumbent Prime Minister David Cameron, unable to stem the tide of popular sentiments had to resign and Theresa May took over as new Prime Minister of UK.
The major developments right from European Communities accession in 1973 until the end of 2015 leading to Brexit can be listed in the following chronological order.
- There has been popular British support for European Community (EC) or European Union membership since EC accession in 1973 until the end of 2015 which was revealed in the United Kingdom European Communities membership referendum of 1975 when two-thirds of British voters cast their ballots for continued membership.
- However an exception occurred in the year 1980, the first full year of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s term of office, when the highest ever percentage of British voters e., 65% opposed the membership.
- The two immediate issues that played a catalytic role in hastening the process of British exit from European Union were “safeguards for non-Euro zone member states” and “immigration crisis arising out of the ongoing conflicts in the Middle East”.
- The UK Independence Party (UKIP), a Euro skeptic political party formed in 1993, emerged a formidable force and secured first place in 2014 European elections, with 27.5% of the total votes. UKIP was the first party since 1910 general election that posed a challenge to the liberal and conservative hegemony in UK political firmament by bagging the largest share of the votes in a nationwide election and in 2015 general elections UKIP registered 12.6% of the total votes. The party persistently spearheaded the leave campaign of EU culminating in success of the 2016 referendum.
Following a leave vote in historic referendum David Cameron, who was the Prime Minister at the time of referendum, spoke of setting in motion Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union immediately which would guide the procedure for future course of action on the part of UK and would facilitate the “two-year time period to negotiate the arrangements for exit.” Theresa May who was elected by the ruling Conservative Party in the wake of the referendum, with a view to formalizing the exit process and removing all obstacles on the way of withdrawal, promised a bill to repeal the European Communities Act 1972 so that existing EU laws can be incorporated smoothly into UK domestic law. In January 2017, she also announced a 12-point plan of negotiating objectives confirming that the UK government has no intention to seek continued membership in the single EU market. But before we wind up the description on Brexit it may be kept in mind that since the terms of withdrawal have not yet been negotiated UK remains a full member of the European Union till date.
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