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A Short History of Brexit summary

Name: A Short History of Brexit
Rating: 4.3 (83 reviews)
Author: Kevin O’Rourke

Kevin O’Rourke

From Brentry to Backstop

4.3 (83 ratings)

29 mins

Topics

UK Politics

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A Short History of Brexit
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What’s in it for me? A Brexit crash course.

In contemporary Britain, there’s nothing that divides the country quite like Brexit. Families are splintered, regions conflicted and political parties in all-out civil war. Finding out how we arrived at such a Disunited Kingdom has never been so important. And that’s exactly what A Short History of Brexit sets out to do.

This book’s central theme is that today’s problems can only be understood through yesterday’s events. Written for the public and not politicians, it explains in accessible language the long- and short-term factors that led up to the June 2016 referendum and the negotiations that followed.

In these blinks, you’ll find out

how the British government has historically viewed European integration;
what the difference is between a hard and soft Brexit; and
why the Irish border emerged as the crucial issue in negotiations.

The UK’s attitude toward European integration has always been ambivalent.

The UK voted to leave the European Union on June 23, 2016. The decision delighted some, horrified others, and shocked many – Europeans and non-Europeans alike. For a great many Britons, a UK inside the EU was the only UK they’d ever known, and leaving the Union represented either a brave new world or a much dimmer future.

But this decision didn’t appear spontaneously like a bolt from the blue. Instead, Brexit’s root causes stretch back decades. And there’s something at the very heart of it: a long-term ambivalence toward tight European integration, stemming from a tradition of disliking supranational institutions.

The EU is supranational, because member states agree to pool some of their sovereignty in institutions like the European Parliament in Brussels and the European Court of Justice in Strasbourg. This causes tensions in every country because some politicians and members of the public perceive it as giving away national power to Brussels bureaucrats. But some EU countries have felt this more keenly than others – and historically, this has been the case in the UK.

Just take the creation of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) in 1951. This was the first step toward the establishment of the EU as its members – Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, France, Italy and West Germany – agreed to pool their coal and steel production together and have it administered by a higher authority.

And while the UK was generally in favor of cooperating with its European neighbors, it disliked the ECSC because of its supranational nature.

What exactly didn’t it like? For one, the then-Labour government feared the Community would interfere with coal and steel imports from around the British empire, and they’d be powerless to prevent it. Also, Labour had just paid a king’s ransom to nationalize the coal industry and bring it under government control.

In the end, the UK didn’t become a member of the ECSC. And although this Community didn’t accomplish much, it did set two important precedents: First, closer European integration through supranational institutions; second, a marginalization of British influence within the process of integration.

So British attitudes toward European integration were ambivalent right from the beginning. Central to this feeling was an anxiety over losing national sovereignty – especially over Britain’s trade relationship with its disintegrating empire. And, as we’ll now see, this relationship is crucial to understanding Brexit.

The UK’s history of empire complicated its stance on the European project.

There are a lot of words you can use to describe the British Empire, and “controversial” is definitely one of them. Some Britons are ashamed of their imperial past; others look to it as a golden age and persistent source of national pride.

Even so, after World War II the UK knew imperialism was on borrowed time and transferred power to its colonies fairly peacefully. Many countries who gained their independence from the UK became Commonwealth – a group of equal and independent nations tied together by a shared history. Trade flourished among these countries, which benefited everyone.

Opting out of the ECSC and EEC, Britain pushed for the creation of a European Free Trade Association.

When we last looked at the UK, it had just excluded itself from a customs union with the three other largest European economies. What’s more, it denied itself a valuable position of leadership within Europe. Its politicians recognized this and frantically began trying to improve the situation.

To level the playing field, the British began talks with many European countries – including those in the EEC – about establishing a different organization more suited to their interests: the European Free Trade Association (EFTA).

When the EFTA failed to achieve Europe-wide free trade in 1961, the UK applied for EEC membership.

In the current Brexit negotiations, the British have often been accused of wanting to have their cake and eat it too. This philosophy has been named “cakism” by some sharp commentators. But this isn’t just the attitude of today’s UK government – it’s true of past ones, too.

When it became clear that the UK couldn’t keep its Commonwealth preferences inside the EEC’s customs union, the country set up a different free trade area that gave it both cheaper European trade and the ability to offer advantages to its old empire.

Margaret Thatcher entered office with a pro-integration stance but exited with hostile anti-European attitudes.

In politics, timing is everything. The UK entered 1973 as a newly minted member of the EEC – but its timing couldn’t have been worse.

That’s because a global recession was about to hit, taking the wind out of every nation’s sails.

In 2015, David Cameron promised to renegotiate British EU membership and hold a referendum.

So we’ve examined the UK’s wider history when it comes to its position in Europe. The election of Conservative David Cameron in 2010 is the link between that history and Brexit.

In 2004, the EU expanded into eastern Europe, bringing high levels of immigration to the UK. This caused a backlash among some of the population, and capitalizing on this situation was the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) – an anti-EU, right-wing political movement led by Nigel Farage.

The reasons for Brexit are complex but involve the Great Recession, globalization and austerity.

The British are traditionally known for their pragmatism and levelheadedness, and their country has traditionally been known for its political stability. Although they’ve always had mixed feelings about the EU, the decision to leave was a political shock felt around the world. How can it be explained to future generations?

The truth is, there are many explanations. The first relates to the 2007-2008 financial crisis.

The UK government pushed for a hard-line Brexit.

As we’ve seen, UK politicians have a history of trying to negotiate “cakist” deals. Perhaps worse than this, though, is the current British negotiation position of uncertainty. How can you negotiate with a partner that doesn’t know what it wants?

Many assumed that Britain would seek a soft Brexit. This would involve a less-radical departure from the Union by keeping Britain closely tied to EU institutions. In concrete terms, a soft Brexit would mean the UK remaining inside either the Single Market or the customs union.

The Irish border became a central issue in Brexit negotiations.

When the Republic of Ireland (ROI) gained independence from Britain in 1921, the island of Ireland was divided in two. Most of the island was Catholic and craved independence, and these twenty-six counties became the ROI. But the protestant population in some northern regions wanted to remain in the UK, and these six counties became Northern Ireland (NI). This divide led to decades of violence, as Catholic republicans and Protestant unionists fought each other over the future of the island.

Thankfully, a peace agreement between the groups was signed in 1998. The Good Friday Agreement, as it became known, ended decades of bloody conflict. The UK and ROI agreed that, if the people of Northern Ireland decided they wanted to join the ROI, the region could do so at any time. They also agreed that anyone born in Northern Ireland was entitled to both British and Irish citizenship, and would not have to choose between them.

Theresa May’s Chequers plan seemed to solve many issues but caused division and discontent in her party.

So both sides were committed to an invisible Irish border, and this led to an EU proposal for an Irish backstop. This seemed to be the only way to avoid a hard border in Ireland and respect most of May’s red lines.

But it involved erecting border controls within the UK, to control immigration and inspect goods – and this was controversial at home. To prevent a revolt within her party, May proposed that the backstop be temporary and UK-wide: if part of the UK had to join the customs union, the whole country would join until a frictionless UK-EU trade agreement could be negotiated. In July 2018, May summoned her ministers to the prime ministerial country house, Chequers, to work on this new negotiating stance.

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What is A Short History of Brexit about?

A Short History of Brexit (2019) explains the United Kingdom’s complicated relationship with Europe from a historical perspective. Beginning with post-war anxieties over integration and ending with the chaotic Brexit negotiations, this book tells a tale of economic agreements and political divisions that are shaping Europe as we speak.

Who should read A Short History of Brexit?

Anyone trying to understand the confusing Brexit process
Europeans wanting to understand British-EU history
Leavers and Remainers wondering what went wrong

About the Author

Kevin O’Rourke is a professor of Economic History at the University of Oxford and former research director of the Centre for Economic Policy Research. In 1999 he coauthored the book Globalization and History, and in 2006 coedited The Cambridge Economic History of Modern Europe.

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