Brexit: What Have We Learned So Far?

What has Brexit come to mean?

This lecture will explain how the Brexit deal the UK and the EU ended up with came to be. It will then investigate the new relationship between the United Kingdom and the European Union, put in place by the Trade and Cooperation Agreement of December 2020.

Finally, the lecture will look to the future, to elucidate what Brexit will go on to mean for politics and public policy within the United Kingdom.

A lecture by Anand Menon

The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website:

0:00 Introduction
0:19 Outline
2:03 A50 - an early stumbling block Brexit is in the courts with Miller before departure has even formally been notified - med to how Brexit will be a legal and constitutional minefield TITLE VI
6:07 Imitation is the highest form.....
9:08 Government divided
12:54 Parliament cannot find a way through May's deal, First Meaningful Vote
19:33 Scotland: independence not surging
22:25 A majority in Northern Ireland support the Protocol but MPs do not
23:19 Though EU access has benefits (fuel supply)
24:06 But NI trust in UK gov has drained
35:23 EU trade has suffered
46:59 2. Public opinion remains divided: In hindsight, do you think Britain was right or wrong to vote to leave the EU?
50:32 And next?

[williammcelroy]

As a Northern Irish man, the ignorance of the general British population around NI has always been truly breath-taking. The Brexit referendum illustrated this very nicely when NI's EU border was never truly considered. One had to assume that we were not valued as part of the UK and consequently many Northern Irish people have woken up to this fact. I hope that our transition toward a unified Ireland is peaceful as I do not wish to see the bloodshed my parents witnessed and still fear everyday.

[micmack]

I would just like to take a moment to thank UKIP, the DUP and the Conservatives for single handedly guaranteeing a unified Ireland an independent Scotland and the final destruction of the crumbling Façade of the British Empire. We really couldn’t have done it without you guys.

[medialies]

who knew that just over a year after this lecture the situation is now 10X worse in almost every level

[SirAntoniousBlock]

Brexit is going brilliantly, soon Scotland will be independent and Ireland reunited. 🥂

[coastwalker]

Having left the EU we now have no excuses for not holding our elected politicians to account as they cannot blame the EU for everything in the same way that they could not blame everything on the Russians or the Americans or the Chinese in the past. I have my doubts anything will change.

[valinorkortirion]

The irony is that the UK agreed to all the rules it considered frustrating at the end. Blaming the EU for things the UK agreed to when the rules were put in place is problematic.

[andreask]

I do not share his optimism that Brexit gives an opportunity to make the UK less unequal. The very same mechanisms that led to the high inequality in the UK, also compared to other european countries, can now work without being constrained by pesky EU regulations. Workers rights as an example.

[johnpatterson]

We ‘non-experts’ saw the Northern Ireland problem. It was very hard not to see it.

[wombataldebaran]

Living in Germany, a land that got literally chopped in two and had different economic systems running in both halves for decades (something that very much still affects us to this day), I am surprised how small our economic disperacy looks in comparison to the UK. That is kinda scary tbh

[eoinj]

The government of the Republic of Ireland is paying the cost of Erasmus scheme for North of Ireland students who had lost access to the scheme thanks to Brexit. Seems Dublin cares more about NI citizens than London.

[olmostgudinaf]

"The EU was integrated in every part of our lives" (or someting to that effect).
Of course, but *that was the whole frikkin' point!*

The Brits, including many so-called Europhiles, tend to forget that the EU is more than just a trading block. It has always been, first and foremost _a peace project._ It managed this not by treaties and military alliances, but by _integrating the economies_ together. Thus making sure that trying to harm your neighbour will come and bite you in the posterior.

That integration also brough about an unprecended economic prosperity whilst maintaining high quality standards AND high standards of life, including environmental and workers' rights protection, but that was a _side effect, _ not the goal.

This, I believe, is the main reason why the British (more specifically, the English) never quite understood it. For us, everything is a zero sum game. For me to win, somebody must lose. For me to climb up, I must push someone down. The idea that _everybody can win_ and that _I can climb higher if I help you up, too_ is a totally alien concept.

[AO__]

Who'd have thought that leaving a club would mean no longer having access to all the facilities that the club offered.

[bapsmcginty]

Never thought I would spend an hour listening to a political/economic lecture. I was riveted. Well done sir, concise and informative.

[alicianieto]

I'm confused from the get-go. The two year period was meant as a mandatory minimum, and allowed for as many deferrals as needed... in the end it was Uk who chose not to extend it further...

[zvikaso]

Freedom of movement is weird only for the narrow minded. Is the freedom of movement between London and Liverpool weird? What about the freedom of movement between New York and Texas? Same here. As a proud European, the free movement between Paris and Berlin is exactly the same as moving between London and Liverpool...

[Dennis-grex]

So they needed brexit to learn that there’s a lot of inequality in the UK…that’s an expensive lesson.

[OrcusMaximus]

"Brexit will haunt us for years to come"
So true, and so glaringly obvious back in 2019. Anyone who believed the Get Brexit Done slogan was a fool.

[TheEvertw]

The lecture is absolutely great. When answering the questions, I think it false to raise hope that the UK government will use its freedom to make the country more productive and/or more equal. Quite the opposite is happening, and it is likely that will continue.

"EU did this ...", "EU did that ...".
"EU made it difficult to leave", "EU has inveigled itself in our national life", etc.
All of this presentation stems from the premise that EU is an external agent. As if UK wasn't a part of it. For 47 years.

[jacksheppard]

There's nothing about 'Levelling Up' that couldn't have been done in the EU. Indeed, leaving has just stopped the limited amount of investment in deprived areas in the UK that the EU was able to do. The EU budget is very small compared to the UK government budget. Something like 150, 000 million vs 800, 000 million.