Euroskeptics like Boris Johnson, who have bet their entire political future and that of the United Kingdom on the Brexit card, have since shown that they have no plans in the face of the new reality it has provoked. The years of division and resentment that this debate has produced in the country, however, have led Conservatives and members of the Labor Party to bury their heads in the sand, like ostriches. The government of Rishi Sunak – itself a staunch defender and since the first hour of leaving the European Union – limits itself to promising that it will flaunt all the freedoms acquired with the decision, without specifying any of them. Even Labor Keir Starmer, aware of the flow of votes that Johnson has won from the left in the north of England with his anti-European populism, does not want to move the hornet’s nest. He reduces his speech to ensuring that the opposition makes “Brexit” work when it comes to taking power, on the assumption that the country could benefit from leaving the EU if done right.
Citizens, businessmen and, long before that, economic experts, have already realized the economic disaster that led to the most momentous decision taken by a generation in the United Kingdom. Two out of three Britons, according to the latest polls, would like to repeat the referendum. They don’t agree to set a date, and are divided between those who would like a new consultation and those who prefer to wait a few years. The poison that a debate that has paralyzed the country for almost six years has introduced into family relationships and friendships weighs on memory. But there are few who deceive themselves. Brexit has hit UK exporting and importing companies drastically, has significantly reduced business activity in the country and has tied the hands of many companies, unable to hire the workers they need and at the pace they need.
The pandemic, the crisis in the supply chain, the war in Ukraine and its impact on the price of energy have been key factors in triggering inflation -10.7% – and triggering a cost-of-living crisis and with the country officially in recession. But the reason for understanding why the G-7 economy suffers more from the global situation and why it is beginning to be seen as the “sick man of Europe” is evident to anyone who wants to see it. Brexit is the factor that makes the difference, the self-induced mistake that has increased the disadvantage compared to other nations.
The Conservatives have been in power for 12 years now and polls are starting to show that citizens see them more as the problem than the solution. On the Labor side, we understand the political tactics that hide the choice not to address an issue that remains taboo, but if their leader aspires to make the voters enthusiastic again, he cannot avoid the elephant in the room that threatens to weigh down the economy for more than a decade.
The UK has lessons to learn from the post-Brexit era. Getting out of denial is not a first step because it implies that London is already addressing what place it wants to have in Europe (and the EU needs it as an ally, as seen in Ukraine) and is willing to honor the commitments it has signed. But it is unrealistic to reopen the Brexit melon: it is more urgent for the country to seek a certain internal stability and then see what role it can play in its relationship with Europe.
