what is brexit 
brexit is a portmanteau of the words british and exit that was coined to refer to the united kingdom s decision in a june 23 2016 referendum to leave the european union eu brexit took place at 11 p m greenwich mean time on jan 31 2020 on dec 24 2020 the u k and the eu struck a provisional free trade agreement ensuring the free trade of goods without tariffs or quotas however key details of the future relationship remain uncertain such as trade in services which make up 80 of the u k economy this prevented a no deal brexit which would have been significantly damaging to the u k economy a provisional agreement was approved by the u k parliament on jan 1 2021 it was approved by the european parliament on april 28 2021 while the deal known as the trade and cooperation agreement tca allowed tariff and quota free trade in goods u k eu trade still faces customs checks this means that commerce is not as smooth as when the u k was a member of the eu ellen lindner investopediathe referendumthe leave side won the june 2016 referendum with 51 9 of the ballot or 17 4 million votes while remain received 48 1 or 16 1 million votes voter turnout was 72 2 the results were tallied on a u k wide basis but the overall figures conceal stark regional differences 53 4 of english voters supported brexit compared to just 38 of scottish voters because england accounts for the vast majority of the u k s population support there swayed the result in brexit s favor if the vote were conducted only in wales where leave voters also won scotland and northern ireland brexit would have received less than 45 of the vote the result defied expectations and roiled global markets causing the british pound to fall to its lowest level against the dollar in 30 years former prime minister david cameron who called the referendum and campaigned for the u k to remain in the eu announced his resignation the following day he was replaced as leader of the conservative party and prime minister by theresa may in july 2016 the article 50 negotiating periodthe process of leaving the eu formally began on march 29 2017 when may triggered article 50 of the lisbon treaty the u k initially had two years from that date to negotiate a new relationship with the eu following a snap election on june 8 2017 may remained the country s leader however the conservatives lost their outright majority in parliament and agreed on a deal with the democratic unionist party this later caused may some difficulty getting her withdrawal agreement passed in parliament talks began on june 19 2017 questions swirled around the process partly because britain s constitution is unwritten and because no country had left the eu using article 50 before a similar move happened though when algeria left the eu s predecessor after gaining independence from france in 1962 and greenland which was a self governing territory left denmark through a special treaty in 1985 on nov 25 2018 britain and the eu agreed on a 599 page withdrawal agreement a brexit deal that touched upon issues such as citizens rights the divorce bill and the irish border parliament first voted on this agreement on jan 15 2019 members of parliament voted 432 to 202 to reject the agreement the biggest defeat for a government in the house of commons in recent history may stepped down as party leader on june 7 2019 after failing three times to get the deal she negotiated with the eu approved by the house of commons the following month boris johnson a former mayor of london foreign minister and editor of the spectator was elected prime minister johnson a hardline brexit supporter campaigned on a platform to leave the eu by the october deadline do or die and said he was prepared to leave the eu without a deal the u k and eu negotiators agreed on a new divorce deal on oct 17 the main difference from may s deal was that the irish backstop clause was replaced with a new arrangement another historic moment occurred in august 2019 when johnson requested that the queen suspend parliament from mid september until oct 14 and she approved this was seen as a ploy to stop members of parliament from blocking a chaotic exit and some even called it a coup of sorts the u k supreme court s 11 judges unanimously deemed the move unlawful on sept 24 and reversed it the negotiating period also led britain s political parties to face their own crises lawmakers left both the conservative and labour parties in protest there were allegations of antisemitism in the labour party and labour leader jeremy corbyn was criticized for his handling of the issue in september johnson expelled 21 mps for voting to delay brexit the u k was expected to leave the eu by oct 31 2019 but parliament voted to force the government to seek an extension to the deadline and delayed a vote on the new deal johnson then called for a general election in the dec 12 election the third general election in less than five years johnson s conservative party won a huge majority of 364 seats in the house of commons out of 650 seats it managed this despite receiving only 42 of the vote due to its opponents being fractured between multiple parties brexit negotiationsbritain s lead negotiator in the talks with brussels was david davis he was a yorkshire member of parliament mp until july 9 2018 when he resigned he was replaced by housing minister dominic raab as brexit secretary raab resigned in protest over may s deal on nov 15 2018 he was replaced by health and social care minister stephen barclay the following day the eu s chief negotiator was michel barnier a french politician preparatory talks exposed divisions in the two sides approaches to the process the u k wanted to negotiate the terms of its withdrawal alongside the terms of its post brexit relationship with europe while brussels wanted to make sufficient progress on divorce terms by october 2017 only then moving on to a trade deal in a concession that both pro and anti brexit commentators took as a sign of weakness u k negotiators accepted the eu s sequenced approach one of the most politically thorny issues faced by brexit negotiators was the rights of eu citizens living in the u k and u k citizens living in the eu the withdrawal agreement allowed for the free movement of eu and u k citizens until the end of the transition or implementation period citizens were allowed to keep their residency rights if they continued to work had sufficient resources or were related to someone who did to upgrade their residence status to permanent they had to apply to the host nation the rights of these citizens were revocable if britain left without ratifying a deal eu net migration while still adding to the population as a whole has fallen to a level last seen in 2009 we are also now seeing more eu8 citizens those from central and eastern european countries for example poland leaving the u k than arriving said jay lindop director of the centre for international migration in a government quarterly report released in february 2019 britain s government fought over the rights of eu citizens to remain in the u k after brexit publicly airing domestic divisions over migration following the referendum and cameron s resignation may s government concluded that it had the right under the royal prerogative to trigger article 50 and begin the formal withdrawal process on its own the u k supreme court intervened ruling that parliament had to authorize the measure and the house of lords amended the resulting bill to guarantee the rights of eu born residents the house of commons which had a tory majority at the time struck the amendment down and the unamended bill became law on march 16 2017 conservative opponents of the amendment argued that unilateral guarantees eroded britain s negotiating position while those in favor of it said eu citizens should not be used as bargaining chips some of the economic concerns included the fact that eu migrants were greater contributors to the economy than their u k counterparts leave supporters though read the data as pointing to foreign competition for scarce jobs in britain the brexit bill was the financial settlement that the u k owed brussels following its withdrawal the withdrawal agreement didn t mention a specific figure but it was estimated to be up to 32 8 billion according to downing street the total sum included the financial contribution that the u k would make during the transition period because it was an eu member state and owed a contribution toward the eu s outstanding 2020 budget commitments the u k also received funding from eu programs during the transition period and a share of its assets at the end of it which included the capital it paid to the european investment bank eib a december 2017 agreement resolved this long standing sticking point that threatened to derail negotiations entirely barnier s team launched the first volley in may 2017 with the release of a document listing the 70 odd entities it would take into account when tabulating the bill the financial times estimated that the gross amount requested would be 100 billion net of certain u k assets the final bill would be in the region of 55bn to 75bn davis team meanwhile refused eu demands to submit the u k s preferred methodology for tallying the bill in august he told the bbc he would not commit to a figure by october the deadline for assessing sufficient progress on issues such as the bill the following month he told the house of commons that brexit bill negotiations could go on for the full duration of the negotiation davis presented this refusal to the house of lords as a negotiating tactic but domestic politics probably explained his reticence johnson who campaigned for brexit called eu estimates extortionate on july 11 2017 and agreed with a tory mp that brussels could go whistle if they wanted a penny in her september 2017 speech in florence italy however may said the u k would honor commitments we have made during the period of our membership barnier confirmed to reporters in october 2019 that britain would pay what was owed the new withdrawal agreement replaced the controversial irish backstop provision with a protocol according to the revised deal the entire u k left the eu customs union upon brexit but northern ireland continued following eu regulations and value added tax vat laws for goods while the u k government collected the vat on behalf of the eu this meant there was a limited customs border in the irish sea with checks at major ports the northern ireland assembly can vote on this arrangement up to four years after the end of the transition period the backstop emerged as the main reason for the brexit impasse it was a guarantee that there was no hard border between northern ireland and ireland it was an insurance policy that kept britain in the eu customs union with northern ireland following eu single market rules the backstop which was meant to be temporary and was superseded by a subsequent agreement could only be removed if both britain and the eu gave their consent may was unable to garner enough support for her deal due to it euroskeptic mps wanted her to add legally binding changes as they feared it would compromise the country s autonomy and could last indefinitely eu leaders refused to remove it and ruled out a time limit on granting britain the power to remove it on march 11 2019 the two sides signed a pact in strasbourg france that did not change the withdrawal agreement but added meaningful legal assurances but it wasn t enough to convince hardline brexiteers for decades during the second half of the 20th century violence between protestants and catholics marred northern ireland and the border between the u k countryside and the republic of ireland to the south was militarized the 1998 good friday agreement turned the border almost invisible except for speed limit signs which switch from miles per hour in the north to kilometers per hour in the south negotiators in the u k and eu worried about the consequences of reinstating border controls as britain had to do in order to end freedom of movement from the eu yet leaving the customs union without imposing customs checks at the northern irish border or between northern ireland and the rest of britain left the door wide open for smuggling this significant and unique challenge was one of the reasons soft brexit advocates cited in favor of staying in the eu s customs union and perhaps its single market the issue was further complicated by the tories choice of the northern irish democratic unionist party as a coalition partner the party opposed the good friday agreement and unlike the conservative leader at the time campaigned for brexit under the good friday agreement the u k government was required to oversee northern ireland with rigorous impartiality that proved difficult for a government that depended on the cooperation of a party with an overwhelmingly protestant support base and historical connections to protestant paramilitary groups arguments for and against brexitleave voters based their support for brexit on a variety of factors including the european debt crisis immigration terrorism and the perceived drag of brussels bureaucracy on the u k economy britain was wary of the european union s projects which leave supporters felt threatened the u k s sovereignty the country never opted into the european union s monetary union meaning that it used the pound instead of the euro it also remained outside the schengen area meaning that it did not share open borders with a number of other european nations opponents of brexit also cited a number of rationales for their position a common thread in both arguments was that leaving the eu would destabilize the u k economy in the short term and make the country poorer in the long term in july 2018 may s cabinet suffered another shake up when boris johnson resigned as the u k s foreign minister and david davis resigned as brexit minister over may s plans to keep close ties to the eu johnson was replaced by jeremy hunt who favored a soft brexit some state institutions backed the remain supporters economic arguments bank of england governor mark carney called brexit the biggest domestic risk to financial stability in march 2016 and the following month the treasury projected lasting damage to the economy under any of three possible post brexit scenarios adapted from h m treasury analysis the long term economic impact of eu membership and the alternatives april 2016leave supporters discounted such economic projections under the label project fear a pro brexit outfit associated with the u k independence party ukip which was founded to oppose eu membership responded by saying that the treasury s worst case scenario of 4 300 per household is a bargain basement price for the restoration of national independence and safe secure borders although leave supporters stressed issues of national pride safety and sovereignty they also mustered economic arguments for example johnson said on the eve of the vote eu politicians would be banging down the door for a trade deal the day after the vote in light of their commercial interests vote leave the official pro brexit campaign topped the why vote leave page on its website with the claim that the u k could save 350 million per week we can spend our money on our priorities like the nhs national health service schools and housing in may 2016 the u k statistics authority an independent public body said the figure was gross rather than net which was misleading and undermines trust in official statistics a mid june poll by ipsos mori however found that 47 of the country believed the claim the day after the referendum nigel farage who co founded ukip and led it until that november disavowed the figure and said that he was not closely associated with vote leave may also declined to confirm vote leave s nhs promises since taking office brexit economic responsethough britain officially left the eu 2020 was a transition and implementation period trade and customs continued during that time so there wasn t much on a day to day basis that seemed different to u k residents even so the decision to leave the eu had an effect on britain s economy the country s gross domestic product gdp growth slowed down to around 1 7 in 2018 from 2 2 in 2016 and 2 4 in 2017 as business investment slumped the international monetary fund imf predicted that the country s economy would grow at 1 3 in 2019 and 1 4 in 2020 instead growth was 1 6 in 2019 but 11 in 2020 gdp rebounded however touching 7 6 in 2021 before slowing to 4 1 in 2022 the u k unemployment rate hit a 44 year low at 3 9 in the three months leading up to january 2019 experts attribute this to employers preferring to retain workers instead of investing in new major projects while the fall in the value of the pound after the brexit vote helped exporters the higher price of imports was passed onto consumers and had a significant impact on the annual inflation rate consumer prices index cpi inflation hit 3 1 in the 12 months leading up to november 2017 a nearly six year high that well exceeded the bank of england s 2 target inflation fell in 2018 with the decline in oil and gas prices but soared after the global covid 19 pandemic rising 8 7 in the 12 months preceding april 2023 a july 2017 report by the house of lords cited evidence that u k businesses would have to raise wages to attract native born workers following brexit which was likely to lead to higher prices for consumers international trade was expected to fall due to brexit even with the possibility of a raft of free trade deals dr monique ebell former associate research director at the national institute of economic and social research forecasted a 22 reduction in total u k goods and services trade if eu membership was replaced by a free trade agreement other free trade agreements were not predicted to pick up the slack in fact ebell saw a pact with the briics brazil russia india indonesia china and south africa boosting total trade by 2 2 while a pact with the united states canada australia and new zealand was expected to do slightly better at 2 6 the single market is a very deep and comprehensive trade agreement aimed at reducing non tariff barriers ebell wrote in january 2017 while most non eu free trade agreements seem to be quite ineffective at reducing the non tariff barriers that are important for services trade june 2017 general electionon april 18 may called for a snap election to be held on june 8 despite previous promises not to hold one until 2020 polling at the time suggested may would expand on her slim parliament majority of 330 seats there are 650 seats in the commons labour gained rapidly in the polls however aided by an embarrassing tory flip flop on a proposal for estates to fund end of life care the conservatives lost their majority winning 318 seats to labour s 262 the scottish national party won 35 with other parties taking 35 the resulting hung parliament cast doubts on may s mandate to negotiate brexit and led the leaders of labour and the liberal democrats to call on may to resign speaking in front of the prime minister s residence at 10 downing street may batted away calls for her to leave her post saying it is clear that only the conservative and unionist party the tories official name has the legitimacy and ability to provide that certainty by commanding a majority in the house of commons the conservatives struck a deal with the democratic unionist party of northern ireland which won 10 seats to form a coalition may presented the election as a chance for the conservatives to solidify their mandate and strengthen their negotiating position with brussels but this backfired in the wake of the election many expected the government s brexit position to soften and they were right may released a brexit white paper in july 2018 that mentioned an association agreement and a free trade area for goods with the eu david davis resigned as brexit secretary and boris johnson resigned as foreign secretary in protest but the election also increased the possibility of a no deal brexit the financial times predicted that the result made may more vulnerable to pressure from euroskeptics and her coalition partners this was evident with the irish backstop tussle with her position weakened may struggled to unite her party behind her deal and keep control of brexit scotland s independence referendumpoliticians in scotland pushed for a second independence referendum in the wake of the brexit vote but the results of the june 8 2017 election cast a pall over their efforts the scottish national party snp lost 21 seats in the westminster parliament and on june 27 2017 scottish first minister nicola sturgeon said her government at holyrood would reset its timetable on independence to focus on delivering a soft brexit not one scottish local area voted to leave the eu according to the u k s electoral commission though moray came close at 49 9 the country as a whole rejected the referendum by 62 0 to 38 0 but because scotland only contains 8 4 of the u k s population its vote to remain along with that of northern ireland which accounts for just 2 9 of the u k s population was vastly outweighed by support for brexit in england and wales scotland joined england and wales to form great britain in 1707 and the relationship has been tumultuous at times the snp which was founded in the 1930s had just six of 650 seats in westminster in 2010 the following year however it formed a majority government in the devolved scottish parliament at holyrood partly owing to its promise to hold a referendum on scottish independence that referendum held in 2014 saw the pro independence side lose with 44 7 of the vote turnout was 84 6 far from putting the independence issue to rest though the vote fired up nationalist support the snp won 56 of 59 scottish seats at westminster the following year overtaking the liberal democrats to become the third largest party in the u k overall britain s electoral map suddenly showed a glaring divide between england and wales which was dominated by tory blue with the occasional patch of labour red and all yellow scotland 