Topic : Brexit

Submitted To : Sir Shafqat Ullah Khan

Submitted By : Shamir Yar Gondal

Reg. No : 04092013040

Department : Economics

Class : Bs Morning -1 (B)

Subject : Introduction to Law

Dated : 26-12-2020
Table of Contents : -

 Introduction……………………………………..

 Background…………………………………….

 Law and Brexit………………………………..

 Impacts………………………………………......

 Conclusion………………………………………
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BREXIT

Introduction :-
Brexit is a combination of two words i.e “British” and “Exit”.It is
the withdrawal of the United Kingdomm (UK) from the European Union (EU) and the European
Atomic Energy Community (EAEC or Euratom) on 31 January 2020. To date, the UK is the first
and only country formally to leave the EU, after 47 years of membership.
In 2015,the UK Parliament initiated the legal basis for the Brexit
Referendum in accordance with the European Union Referendum Act and election manifesto
of the Conservative Party. It was announced by Prime Minister of UK, David Cameron that in
case of re-election of Conservative Party into the government, they will hold a referendum to
determine peoples’ perspective on continuation of UK’s EU membership.Hence,after coming
into power as a result of 2015 general elections,in the mid of 2016 the government held a
referendum widely known as the Brexit referendum in which 51.9% electorate decided in favor
of UK leaving EU.Post-referendum ,PM David Cameron and Chancellor
George Osborne resigned from their respective positions and were
replaced by Theresa May as PM and Philip Hammond as Chancellor. In
January 2017,Theresa May announced implementation of a 12-point plan
of negotiation objectives and discontinuation of UK membership in the
European Single Market. On 29 March 2017, the British government
formally began the withdrawal process by invoking Article 50 of
the Treaty on European Union with permission from Parliament.
On 17 October 2019, the British Government and the EU agreed on a
revised withdrawal agreement, with new arrangements for Northern Ireland. The withdrawal
was originally scheduled for 29 March 2019. It was delayed by deadlock in the British
Parliament after the June 2017 general election, which resulted in a hung parliament in which
the Conservatives lost their majority but remained the largest party.The deadlock was resolved
after a subsequent general election held on 12 December 2019.In that election, Conservatives
who campaigned in support of a "revised" withdrawal agreement led by Boris Johnson won an
overall majority of 80 seats with Johnson declaring that the UK would leave the EU in early
2020.After the December 2019 election, the British Parliament finally ratified the withdrawal
agreement. The UK left the EU at 11 p.m. GMT on 31 January 2020. This began a transition
period that is set to end on 31 December 2020,during which the UK and EU are negotiating
their future relationship.During the transition,the UK remains subject to EU law and remains
part of the EU customs union and single market. However, it is no longer part of the EU's
political bodies or institutions.
Many effects of Brexit depend on how closely the UK will be tied to
the EU,or whether the transition period ends without terms being agreed (a "no-deal
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Brexit").The broad consensus among economists is that Brexit will likely harm the UK's
economy and reduce its real per capita income in the long term,and that the referendum itself
damaged the economy.
Following Brexit, EU law and the EU Court of Justice no longer
have supremacy over British laws or its Supreme Court, except to a temporary extent.

Background :-
United Kingdom was not a participant of Treaty of Rome (1957)
which was the basis for creation of European Communities (EC). The EC consisted of European
Atomic Energy Community (EAEC), European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) and European
Economic Community (EEC). During 1963 and 1967,UK applied for
the membership of the European Economic Community (EEC); but
the proposal was vetoed both times by the then President of
France ,Charles de Gaulle, stating that UK harbors deep-seated
hostility to any pan-European venture and is incompatible with
Europe due to its various economic practices, ranging from
agriculture to working practices.It was only after he relinquished
office in 1969 that UK made a 3rd and successful attempt at joining
the EEC.
The first ever national referendum on issue of UK continuing in the
EEC was held in 1975 by the Labour Party government. At that time, there was political
disagreement among the ranks of the Labour Party over the issue and at a party conference
held on April 26,1974;the members had voted 2:1 in favor of departure from EEC. Due to
division of cabinet between pro-European and anti-European ministers,PM Harold Wilson had
to suspend the constitutional convention of cabinet collective responsibility thus allowing the
ministers to campaign publicly.The notion of exiting from EEC was supported by 7 out of 23
cabinet members.However, the national media and all major political parties strongly
supported the notion of UK continuing with the EEC membership. The public referendum was
held on June 5,1975 and the voters were asked to vote yes or no to the question: “Do you think
UK should stay in the European Economic Community?”.With the exception of Shetland
Islands and Outer Hebrides,all the administrative counties and regions voted with yes with the
67.2% turnout in favor of staying.Thus UK continued to be a member of EEC.PM Cameron,
while addressing the House of Commons on February 22, 2016,announced that the
referendum would be held on June 23, 2016. He also talked about the possibility of triggering
the Article 50 process in case of leave vote which further involves two-year time period for
negotiating the terms of exit with the EU.There were two official groups campaigning for the
referendum; Vote Leave was campaigning for leaving the EU and the group supportive of
remaining in EU was Britain Stronger in Europe. The results were declared on June 24 with
Leave decision securing a simple but decisive majority of 51.9%.
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Law and Brexit :-

On 29 March 2017, the British government formally began the
withdrawal process by invoking Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union with permission
from Parliament.In compliance with the TEU, the UK gave formal notice to the European
Council of its intention to withdraw from the EU to allow withdrawal negotiations to begin.
The process of leaving the EU was initiated by a
referendum held in June 2016 which favoured British withdrawal from the EU by a 4% margin
(52% to 48%).In October 2016,the British prime minister,Theresa May, announced that Article
50 would be invoked by "the first quarter of 2017". Invocation of Article 50 occurred on 29
March 2017.This means that the UK was scheduled to cease being a member of the EU at the
end of 29 March 2019 Brussels time (UTC+1), which would be 23:00 on 29
March British time.This was extended by two weeks to give the Parliament of
the United Kingdom time to reconsider its rejection of the agreement on
withdrawal conditions, particularly in the House of Commons.The UK was
due to leave the EU at the end of 12 April 2019 (24:00 Central European
summer time; 23:00 British summer time), however a further 'flexible'
extension was granted until 31 October 2019 after talks at the European
Council meeting on 10 April. After another extension in October 2019 and subsequent
negotiations,a withdrawal agreement was negotiated in late October 2019 and ratified by both
parties in January 2020: consequently the UK left the EU at 23:00 on 31 January 2020 and
entered the transition period. The first ever invocation of Article 50 of the Treaty on European
Union was by the United Kingdom, after the Leave vote in the 2016 referendum on the United
Kingdom's membership of the European Union.When David Cameron resigned in June 2016, he
stated that the next prime minister should activate Article 50 and begin negotiations with the
EU.At the time of the invocation of Article 50,the United Kingdom had been a full member state
of the European Communities/European Union since its accession on 1 January 1973, some
forty-four years earlier.

Article 50 provides an invocation procedure whereby a member can notify

the European Council and there is a negotiation period of up to two years, after which the
treaties cease to apply with respect to that member—although a leaving agreement may be
agreed by qualified majority voting. In this case, 20 remaining EU countries with a combined
population of 65% must agree to the deal. Withdrawal from the European Union is the legal
and political process whereby an EU member state ceases to be a member of the Union. Article
50 of the Treaty on European Union (TEU) states that: "Any Member State may decide to
withdraw from the Union in accordance with its own constitutional requirements".
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Impacts :-
Post-Brexit referendum, there was uneasiness in UK’s economic and political
scenario which also affected the EU and the international community.Pre-referendum UK
treasury had warned against the strong negative impact of Brexit on UK’s trade.The future
economic forecasts show positive signs w.r.t. UK attractiveness for foreign direct investment
(FDI).The risk management experts expect UK economy to remain impervious to after-effects of
Brexit.They have stated that the long-term scenario is highly favorable for the UK.According to
remainers,entry of potential investors into Europe through UK would be highly beneficial for
national economy hence it is imperative that UK continues on as the member of the EU.
Economists expect that Brexit will have damaging immediate and longer
term effects on the economies of the UK and at least part of the EU27. In particular,there is a
broad consensus among economists and in the economic literature that Brexit will likely reduce
the UK's real per capita income in the medium and long term,and that the Brexit referendum
itself damaged the economy.Studies found that Brexit-induced
uncertainty,reduced British GDP, British national income,investment by
business,employment and British international trade from June 2016
onwards.The British government's own Brexit analysis, leaked in January
2018,showed that British economic growth would be stunted by 2–8%
over the 15 years following Brexit,the amount depending on the leave
scenario.Economists warned that London's future as an international
financial centre depended on passport agreements with the
EU.Brexit caused the European Union to lose its second-largest
economy, its third-most populous country, and the second-largest net contributor to the EU
budget.Brexit will result in an additional financial burden for the remaining net
contributors,unless the budget is reduced accordingly.The UK will no longer be a shareholder in
the European Investment Bank, where it has 16% of the shares.

Brexit poses challenges to British academia and research, as the UK is

likely to lose research funding from EU sources; see a reduction in students from the EU; find it
harder to hire researchers from the EU; and British students will find it harder to study abroad
in the EU.The UK is currently a member of the European Research Area and likely to wish to
remain an associated member following Brexit. The British government has guaranteed funding
for research currently funded by EU.
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Concerns have been raised that Brexit might create security problems for
the UK,particularly in law enforcement and counter-terrorism where the UK could use the EU's
databases on individuals crossing the British border.

Conclusion :-

Post-Brexit, probably UK will have less “global soft power”, it

previously used for promoting progressive changes and tackling global issues e.g.
climatic changes, humanitarian aid reforms, and corruption.It is presumed that post
Brexit,UK will be even more influential because of shifting focus from the EU to the
global arena. Generally, the impact of UK on EU policies was progressive as it was strong
supporter of adoption of an open and liberal trading system, elimination of agricultural
subsidies and provision of efficient, poverty-focused humanitarian aid and exit of UK will
be diminution of an influential voice from the EU.Overall, Brexit threats are far greater
as compared to the opportunities.The UK government faces a massive task of effective
implementation of the peoples' decision and preparation for future outside the EU. A
feasible future strategy is required to limit the impending detrimental effects of Brexit
on development and making full use of the available opportunities. Finally,the outcome
of the Brexit referendum is a stark warning to those stake holders,who have benefited
from globalization and technological advancement over the last couple of decades, that
these progressive benefits should be equally shared with communities and citizens of
both rich and poor countries otherwise bear the future consequences.

Sources :-
 https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?
title=Special:CiteThisPage&page=Brexit&id=996311763&wpFormIdentifier=titleform
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
United_Kingdom_invocation_of_Article_50_of_the_Treaty_on_European_Union
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Withdrawal_from_the_European_Union#Procedure
 https://books.emeraldinsight.com/resources/pdfs/chapters/
9781787146792-TYPE23-NR2.pdf
 https://www.researchgate.net/publication/
320383611_Brexit_A_review_of_impact_on_future_of_United_Kingdom_outside_the
_European_Union