BREXIT: Great Britain and European Union

Great Britain has always been a semi-detached member of European Union. In a referendum
held on 23rd June in 2016 the question poised before British citizens was should UK remain a
member of European Union or leave- the majority voted for leaving the Union.

Britain has been debating the pros and cons of membership in a European community of
nations almost from the moment the idea was broached. (It held its first referendum on
membership in 1975, less than three years after it joined.) In 2013, Prime Minister David
Cameron promised a national referendum on European Union membership with the idea of
settling the question once and for all. The options it would offer were Remain and Leave, and
Mr. Cameron was convinced that Remain would win handily.
On June 23, 2016, as a refugee crisis made migration a subject of political rage across Europe
and among accusations of lies and fraudulent tactics on the Leave side, Britons voted for a
hazily defined Brexit by 52 percent to 48 percent.

Britain has had reservations over several aspects of treaties of European Union and has used
the opt out clause when it comes to the Schengen agreement (which allows for passport free
travel zone) or the single currency Eurozone.
The UK formally left the EU on 31 January 2020, but there is still a lot to talk about and months
of negotiation to come.
While the UK has agreed the terms of its EU departure, both sides still need to decide what
their future relationship will look like. While the UK has agreed the terms of its EU departure, both
sides still need to decide what their future relationship will look like.

This will need to be worked out during the transition period (which some prefer to call the
implementation period), which began immediately after Brexit day and is due to end on 31
December 2020.
During this 11-month period, the UK will continue to follow all of the EU's rules and its trading
relationship will remain the same.

Reasons for BREXIT:

Welfare system: In the British system, welfare is easy to gain access to welfare claimants’ in
Britain do not have to contribute before receiving benefits. Therefore, the incentive for
residents of less prosperous countries, particularly East Europeans to come to Britain rather
than stay in their home countries or go elsewhere in Europe.
Economic reasons: Euro is not the only currency used by Eurozone members but also by other
non EU members as currencies. UK wants to ensure countries outside Eurozone are not in a
materially disadvantageous position. UK wants safeguards where steps towards creating a
financial union will not be imposed over non-Eurozone members. UK also does not want to
contribute to Eurozone bailouts.
Immigration: Restricting access to in –work and out of work benefits to immigrants. Ministers
want to stop those coming to UK from claiming certain benefits until they have been resident
for certain number of years, this goes against the regulation set by European Union treaty.
Question of Sovereignty: European Union’s ambition to forge an “ever closer union” of people
of Europe is being resisted by UK. UK doesn’t want to be drawn into further political
integration. It intends getting back its parliamentary sovereignty and giving greater control and
ability to its Parliament to block E.U legislation.
Opposes move toward creation of Common E.U army: deeper integration calls are being duly
resisted by UK.
Agricultural sector: UK agriculture sector is comparatively smaller and if BREXIT takes place
then it would benefit the consumers by having lower prices where food commodities are
concerned. Not being part of EU would lead to free trade. Being part of EU has resulted in
higher prices paid by the consumer. Also higher contribution to EU budget where a substantial
amount is reserved towards subsidies enjoyed by E.U farmers but lower receipts to UK.