Brexit. It's happened. So what happens now?

topic:	Democracy
located:	United Kingdom, USA, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Greece, Portugal
editor:	Gurmeet Singh

Today it happens, finally. The UK will leave the European Union at midnight. Brexit, ladies and gentlemen, has arrived!

The mind tries, it agonises, but in the end it can’t think of a more boring political event given so much fanfare and so much bluster. Indeed, leaving the EU is just an event – anything remotely interesting to do with Brexit is to do with its unforeseen, unintended or unpredictable outcomes.

Firstly, the ethnicity and nationality issue. This has been covered many times, but the sharp rise in racist attacks against Britons of colour, and xenophobic attacks against EU citizens in the UK, are clearly linked to Brexit and the atmosphere it has created.

Brexit may not have been solely about immigration and race, but to deny that it overlaps with some white nationalist concerns is churlish. It is now up to marginalised groups to come together and fight racism and xenophobia together; it’s vital British people of colour stand up with white EU citizens in the UK, and vice versa. Not least because the media and government will try to play different groups off one another.

Secondly, the complicated parts. Trade, law, security, alliances. Over the past few years, we’ve had a kind of Saturday Night Live version of politics, where the most senior figures across governments have spoken in comically simple terms about the most complex issues. An example: a British trade deal with America will be easily secured, and more beneficial to the UK than trade with the EU. This claim has been repeated over and over again, and when clarification or justification has been sought, there have been repeated mentions of a ‘special relationship’ between the UK and US. As if it’s self-evident that the US will treat the UK fairly, and that the glamour of a Trans-Atlantic trading partnership makes up for the simplicity of a UK-EU one.

Thirdly, the NHS. This has been the big-ticket policy of all British parties in the 2019 election. All said they would work to protect the NHS, including the Conservatives. The NHS now does indeed look up for grabs to the highest bidder.

Finally, social malaise. It might be a bit difficult to predict or describe, but I do think there will be a definite downturn in the British public’s mood in the coming months, once they realise that the government cannot deliver all it promised with Brexit. It might lead to increased crime and violence, it may even lead to the radicalisation of one sort or another, but it’s almost inevitable that there will be drop-off in enthusiasm for Brexit once the project is fully underway.

These are of course not the only issues to do with Brexit. It’s too big an issue to cover in a simple commentary. PhD theses will be written about its minutest details; a commentary can in no way suffice to cover it. I will just make one final, personal point about it, as this affects me too. Though I have German residency, and my EU rights throughout the transition period, at the stroke of Berlin’s midnight, I too will suddenly lose my EU citizenship.

The British left, or whatever groups constitute it, need to come together and face the reality before it: the right and far-right have won. There is no ‘remain in the EU’ position that will win over the public’s imagination right now. Indeed, the ‘remain’ position may have been the very thing that drove voters away from backing a soft Labour Brexit. The disaster has happened, and there’s no point in magically thinking somehow that everything will be OK, whether that’s with the NHS, workers’ rights, right to remain or whatever else. That will only come by solidarity with one another and facing the reality before us.

I still believe Brexit need not be the end of everything, but the beginning of something. But it can only be that if we come together.

Image: Rudy and Peter Skitterians / Pixabay

Call to Action

People deserve a final say on Brexit - for them and for Europe