The endorsement by the EU of the UK Withdrawal Agreement is the final step enabling the UK to return to being a sovereign state and a free agent on the world stage, this happened on the 29th January 2020.
For 47 years, the UK has seen a European Economic Zone the EEC, similarly based on the North American Trade Association ( NAFTA ) turn from being a market based structure, to one that has morphed into a Political Structure, salami slicing away the powers and sovereignty of the European Nation States through one “Treaty” after another, thereby giving to itself powers, control and in the end domination by unelected bureaucrats from Brussels, peddling the lie nation states are still valued and they are simply “pooling” their sovereignty for the greater good!
Even yesterday, when Nigel Farage the Brexit Party MEP tried to conclude his leaving statement, his microphone was disconnected, as the presiding officer objected to the Brexit Party waving the British Flag – national Flags have been banned from the European Parliament, (funny for a place that says the nation states are valued) the authoritarian grip on Europe has been getting firmer and firmer.
Americans should also be worried about where the EU is going, now that the UK has left the room. Once the US encouraged and supported UK membership of the Bloc as a way of investing in an English speaking country to gain access to Europe, but that was before the more malign and worrying nature of the EU was clearly visible. Germany is sucking the markets of Europe dry, whilst building a fortress around the remaining members states to protect their backyard from all kinds of competition. Now apparently Germany regards us as a “competitor” we always thought we were one, but now we understand that we were probably more a captive, running a massive trade deficit with Europe.
The new President of the EU a Mrs Ursula Von Der Leyen is the former Defence Minister of Germany and if you look throughout the key roles in the EU, Germans are filling more and more of these key positions. Despite there being 27 nations, key role representatives from the other countries are few and far between, the whole edifice of the EU is essentially a German-Franco project, where Germany rewards countries for their co-operation by dishing out lucrative official positions. Holland and Eire are the two countries recently favoured to buy their loyalty and keep their silence, a dark veil of authoritarianism is indeed sliding over the continent.
During the tortuous Brexit fight following the 2016 Referendum, the British had the opportunity to have a third General Election (in almost as many years) where FINALLY the Will of the People was emphatically expressed. The people voted to Leave – for a second time. Since the 2016 Referendum, all those who wanted to remain in the EU had given the impression that the UK´s decision to leave was headed by liars, xenophobes, the uneducated and those having some kind of mental deficiency, yet the case for remaining was weak. The pressure to try and force a further Referendum – to try and reverse the Leave Vote or create some kind of (BRINO) ´Brexit in Name Only´ has fortunately been avoided, by Boris Johnson the leader of the Conservative Party promising to honour the decision of the British people and to get Brexit done.
His brave and principled Manifesto pledge, saw millions of left wing voters move to support the right wing and vote for a leader and a party that would stand by their word. The consequence of Boris Johnson promising to “Get Brexit Done” moved the whole chess game. Whereas the failed and weak Theresa May Government could barely muster a majority (and no majority without the support of the Northern Irish DUP party), Boris Johnson, by promising to deliver what the people had voted for – he achieved a MAJORITY of 80 Seats. This majority was more than enough to drive through any policy for the next five years of government, made possible by millions of voters crossing the political divide in exasperation at the Labour Party and the extreme left wing zealot Jeremy Corbyn, who has been turning the party into an unelectable communist cabal, a leader who had no view on Brexit and no policies to match and consequently fluffed the election by a mile.
I was asked a while ago how was it possible that Theresa May barely gained a majority following her election yet Boris Johnson declared such a massive majority at his election, yet they were both Conservatives? The reasons are clear to understand. Firstly the people did not trust Theresa May to deliver Brexit fully as she was a “remainer”, so a light touch departure was her objective (BRINO). Boris Johnson on the other hand declared at the outset that he was a “Leaver” and Campaigned as such and fought to get the Referendum honoured in full, that we would leave completely. Additionally, the Labour party were so incompetent and confused on the issue, as Corbyn was a Leaver(by instinct), the Communist Party Membership were Remainers and the working classes living in Labour Constituencies were majority Leavers, so Labour could not decide which side to back, so thought it would hedge its bets and back neither – when what the people (both left and right) wanted was a decisive position. It was a gamble that did not pay off for Labour, nor did it pay off for the Liberal Democrats who campaigned to ´remain´ against the wishes of the Referendum and their Party Leader lost her seat , despite boasting she could become Primeminister – in the end she was out of a job and her party crushed and Labour lost yet again.
The Brexit process may have seemed messy to those outside of the UK, but for the British this has been a perfect exercise in ´democracy´ and democracy is messy. The British have always had a belief that the majority will wins out, whether you agree or not, if that is what the majority says it wants we all agree despite our differences. We have this view when fighting against Kings and Puritan Parliaments, the people in the end choose. This is how we have a peaceful society and little street rioting, unlike in France – we prefer the ballot box! With Brexit the same principle applied. In the end, even ´remainers´ voted for the Conservatives and their “leave” position because they wanted to uphold the majority will, knowing that if the majority will was frustrated, civil war or social breakdown could come next. The British understand the power of democracy, many of us saw that the EU had contempt for it, forcing other countries to vote again and again in Referenda if the EU were unhappy with the result, e.g. both Eire and Holland had to vote twice to force them to vote “correctly” in national Referenda this is the way of the EU – this was never going to be a tactic that would work in the UK, we prize our sovereignty and democracy too highly.
The US now has a great opportunity to join with the UK in combining the strength of the First Largest Economy with that of the Seventh largest economy. If the UK and USA worked more closely together their combined economic value would be 24.5 Trillion $, with China at 15 Trillion $, and Japan at 5.36 Trillion $ a merger of our two countries in a tight economic relationship would be a powerful message to the rest of the world. The combined GDP of Europe without the UK´s contribution becomes 13.5 Trillion. The British hope that the US will regard the UK´s exit from the EU as a once in a lifetime opportunity for the two flag bearers of free trade and prosperity and the rules based system, to combine forces to push the world into a fairer, more open trading environment, using trade to lift people out of poverty. With the combined strength of our two nations both the soft and hard power of the US and the UK can be a force for good in the world – we could look to a new era where Chinese dominance is not a given, where the law of the jungle is not our future and where democracy is preserved for the future of our children.
Brexit is bursting with opportunity, the United Kingdom extends our hands to our US cousins to forge a more solid and enduring economic and cultural association, respecting our joint history, our language, our free market philosophy and respect for the rule of law and democracy to help make the world a safer more successful environment for everyone.
The views expressed here are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Susquehanna Valley Center.
Nothing contained here should be considered as an attempt to aid or hinder the passage of any legislation.