Exit the Brexit?

 Brexit

“It's been four-and-a-half years since the British people voted to take back control of their money, their borders, their laws, and their waters, and to leave the European Union. And earlier this year we fulfilled that promise and we left on January the thirty-first.” -Former British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson on December 24, 2020.

In 2016, Britain decided to leave the European Union (also known as the EU) but actually left the trading bloc in 2020 after a transition period to allow enough time to agree to alternative trade deals. This event was known as Brexit. Today I will be answering the question: “Should Great Britain exit the Brexit?” –or in other words, should it rejoin the EU. The answer to this question is no, Britain should not exit the Brexit. We will be exploring this in three points: first, the history of Britain and the EU; second, the benefits for Britain to stay separate; and finally, the international impacts of this decision.

To understand Britain and the EU’s relationship, we first have to know what the EU is. Britannica defines it as an, “International organization comprising of 27 European countries and governing common economic, social, and security policies.” The EU offers free trade with no tariffs, sanctions, or duties imposed between member nations. The EU accepted Britain's application in 1973, and Britain played a key role in the Union for many years, greatly strengthening the other countries. However, the British people had been asked to vote on leaving the EU countless times, but until 2016, it was decided to stay. In 2016 about 52% of citizens voted to leave, shocking much of the world.

 You may be wondering, why did Britain leave? For many reasons. One reason is immigration. Under EU law, Britain could not prevent citizens from other EU countries coming and living anywhere in the UK. Immigration from all over Europe to Britain sent unemployment rates up as well as housing costs. After Brexit, net migration fell to around 34,000. Another concern is cost. It is estimated that a membership to the EU would cost the UK an estimated 15-billion pounds. That is about 6% of Britain's GDP. However the biggest reason Britain left the EU and should stay separate is National Sovereignty. Even the citizens that voted to stay could agree that the EU drained power from the parliament. On topics where the EU has been

granted authority — like competition policy, agriculture, and copyright and patent law — EU rules override national UK laws. According to The Week, Attorney General Suella Braverman said the new Brexit Freedoms Bill would be “key to us taking charge of our regained sovereignty.” It will mean the country can move away from “outdated EU laws” that resulted from “unsatisfactory compromises within the EU, some of which the UK voted and lobbied against – but was required to adopt without question.” For these reasons it is imperative that Britain remain separate from the EU.

Lasty, we need to observe the impact that not exiting the Brexit will have. Due to Brexit, the UK has been able to focus on itself in the past few years. Boris Johnson stated in the Daily Mail that the UK is “coming out of Covid faster than virtually any other European country” due to the successful vaccine rollout. “We were only able to do so because we chose to forge our own path as an independent United Kingdom.” The future also holds promise for even stronger US-UK ties. US economist Andrew Hunter said, “There may well be an attempt on the UK side at least to foster a closer economic relationship with the US to make up for the loss of ties with the EU, and a comprehensive US-UK trade deal would have the potential to provide a modest boost to both economies.” As you can see, now that Britain is independent from the EU, it will be able to make more decisions without EU restrictions. This will have many positive implications worldwide.

Today, I hope I have shown you why Britain should not exit the Brexit– through the history, the benefits of staying separate, and the impacts of this decision. Brexit has and will continue to benefit Britain and its ties with the US.

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