I had planned to spend the Christmas holidays working on my own science fiction novel, “Discovery Protocol“. But, i wanted to write something about Brexit. I also know that the Brexit Affair will go down in history as one of the greatest, psychodramas of all time. It tells the story of a failing UK political elite that sacrificed a nation’s future to save itself from political extinction. It’s the ultimate in political crimes thrillers, as it’s filled with suspense, intrigue and deception that changed a nation’s destiny. To some, the Brexit Affair could be viewed as an old-style, cold war spy thriller to destabilize a continent. Whereas, others might view Brexit as a political horror show to enslave a nation with endless red tape. But the Brexit Affair tells the story of the United Kingdom departure from the European Union, a social and economic tragedy to scare the world.
What is the European Union?
The European Union is a geopolitical entity that covers most of the European Continent. Just after World War 2, Sir Winston Churchill called for a United States of Europe as they needed a mechanism to prevent future European Wars. In the 1950s, The European Coal and Steel community was formed. This allowed several European nations to work together, economically and politically. The founders’ members were Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. In the 1957, Treaty of Rome created the European Economic Community (EEC) or “Common Market” that started the process.
The United Kingdom joined the European Communities in 1973 along with Demark and the Republic of Ireland. In 1992, the Maastricht Treaty was signed and the EEC evolved into the European Union. In 2004, ten more countries joined the European Unions with two more countries joining in 2007. The European Union own currency, the Euro was launched in 1999, with physical coins and bank note appearing in 2002. The European Single Market was introduced on the 1st January 1993. It was designed to promote economic growth and stability, whilst improving product quality and availability. Currently, they are over 450million consumers in the single market and it’s the largest trading block in the world, perfect for UK business growth and a great move for an integrated society with a future to surpass Churchill`s vision of peace.
European Union Benefits includes
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- More choice, stable prices and improved legal standards for citizens.
- Greater security and opportunities for travelers, businesses and markets.
- Freedom to live, work and retire in EU nations.
- Improved economic stability, growth and harmonized standards for all.
- Deeply integrated financial markets.
- Stronger presence for the EU in the global economy.
- Tangible sign of European Identity.
If the European Union is so great, why leave?
For the Conservative Party in the UK, its own euro sceptics had come to dislike the EU and its long-term strategy. The UK Labour Party also had its own euro sceptics with similar views. But both political parties were concerned at the rise of UKIP in the UK. As UKIP had its own agenda that threatened both political parties’ existence. In 2016, the EU Referendum was David Cameron’s attempted to stop the UKIP threat to the Conservative Party. Like many in the UK political class, he believed the UK would vote to remain in the EU. He also hoped that the EU debates, that had haunted his party for decades would be finally resolved, but he was tragically wrong.
During the EU Referendum campaigns, there was two political groups. The “Leave” campaign was promoting to Leave the EU. The other group was promoting the benefits of Remaining in the EU. In my opinion, the Remain team campaign strategy was wrong. They didn’t properly engage with the UK population to prove the positive benefits of EU membership. Whereas, the Leave Campaign used advanced social media analytics to target and promote their message to the UK electorate. How and why, they did is another techno crime thriller story for another day. There also seemed to be a lot of external interference supporting the leave messages, a mysterious cabal of interested parties that had their own private agendas. The leave campaign also developed lots of slick slogans including “Take back control” of our laws, borders and money. These slogans were very clever and effective and changed the view of the UK population.
On the 23rd June 2016, the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union (52% v 48%).
Brexit Analysis
But what is taking back control of our laws. Well, according to the EU voting records (Facts). The UK government said yes to new regulation 2466 times between 1999 & 2016. They only said No, 56 times and abstained 70 times. The UK government was instrumental in developing new EU rules and regulations and they won 95% of the time. So why object to rules you helped to create, that’s a mystery or was it the New EU Anti-Tax Avoidance deadline of the 1st January that the backers of Brexit were scared off.
Take back control of our borders. Well, the UK wasn’t in the EU Schengen Program and we could have closed the UK borders at any time. With the discovery of the new COVID19 variant in December 2020. Many EU countries closed their borders to all UK traffic and this annoyed many Brexiters, i had to smile at this little fact.
Taking back control of our Money. Well according to the Leave Campaign Bus, the UK paid the EU £350million per week. But with the rebates, the real figure was about £250million per week, but the £350million value had already stuck in people minds. The Romulan Tal Shiar would have been proud of this little deception.
The Brexit Effect
On the 24th June 2016, the day after the EU Referendum vote. David Cameron resigned as prime minister. On the 13th July 2016 Theresa May was elected UK prime minister. In March 2017, the Theresa May government triggered the Article 50 process, which was the formal process for the UK withdrawal from the European Union. The following month Theresa May planned a snap general election, which didn’t go as planned and led to a hung parliament. Her only solution was to form a government with the DUP. During her premiership of the UK, she tried to get her withdrawal agreement though parliament three times without success. She was forced to resign as Prime Minister on the 27th March 2019. The Brexit Effect had claimed another politician’s career.
Boris Johnson took over as Prime Minister on the 24th July 2019. Johnson went onto win the UK General Election in December 2019. This time, the conservative party had won with a large majority. Johnson’s election slogan was to “Get Brexit Done” and the formal negotiations for a free trade deal with the EU started in early 2020. Thou, the governments negotiating objectives were secret and that just hindered the UK preparations for the UK exit from the EU. The Cameron government had never planned for defeat in the EU referendum.
To many around the world, Brexit is viewed as disaster for the UK. To some, it’s going back in time to age of the quill. If you could write a book about Brexit, it would be similar to William Shakespeare’s, “Comedy of Errors”. How can you be global Britain, when your nations foreign secretary doesn’t understand the importance of Dover, when it comes to trade. I work in international trade, the EU Customs Union and Single Market made UK- EU trade easy.
Brexit Pandora’s Box
Successive UK governments have failed to properly invest in local communities the UK. The Institute of Fiscal Studies report makes interesting reading (IFS Link). Too many, the EU referendum vote was simply a protest vote against the establishment. As in their eyes, the rich had got richer and the poor had been left behind. Its only now, that the UK government is now talking about levelling up across the UK.
The European Union has been investing in the UK for decades, they have spent billions of pounds in building new infrastructure and supporting local communities in the UK. Please see MYEU. UK and simply type in your UK postcode to see what the EU has done for you. The EU have also invested in infrastructure right across the European Union assuring that it’s a great place to work and live, that’s a freedom the UK has now lost. The EU Referendum and the following political psycho dramas would look great in any spy novel.
The Brexit Effect also leaves the door open for Scottish Independence or even a United Ireland, then what about Wales. But too many, the Conservative government has sacrificed the country to save the conservative party from extinction. The UK was told that leaving the UK would cut red tape, but the new UK-EU trade deal will actually increase red tape right across the UK economy and beyond.
My International Trade Experience. (Pre-Brexit)
In my consulting past, i have helped to set up new UK based subsidiaries for Japanese parent companies. Then the UK was viewed as the gateway to Europe. These new UK companies would sell directly to EU clients. Historically, our shipments would be imported through Southampton, customs cleared and then delivered to the UK distribution warehouse, where the clients original orders would then be fulfilled. They would sell thousands of products each month, as 85% of their business came from mainland Europe.
With the new EU-UK Trade Deal from 2021 onwards. The company will now be an exporter and their EU clients, the local importer of record. They will now have to process hundreds of customs entries and create a lot of additional trade documentation. All of this adds a lot of costs, which can make the product uncompetitive. In this situation, it doesn’t make sense for my old company to be in the UK as its now outside the EU Single Market and Custom Union. They might aswell wait until the lease on their building expires and relocate to Germany, which is what i know other UK companies are planning.
The EU Single Market and the EU Customs Unions made trade easy, it opened the door to 450million consumers. In the EU, everyone works to the same standards, that cuts down costs and red tape. It makes the product cheaper; everyone wins. The UK Government Brexit negotiation strategy was disastrous, they didn’t seem to have a plan or even understand how the EU actually worked. The UK government also overestimated its importance to the EU. They also should had focused on trade, but instead they chose UK sovereignty to protect the MP`s political futures and not the countries future.
Brexit UK-EU Trade Deal Comment.
As part of the EU Referendum vote and in the later UK general elections. The UK was told that a free trade deal would give the UK, the exact same benefits. Without, any of the costs or national obligations. That was a UK political promise that was promoted to the UK population to win their votes. (Ref Politico Link)
On the 24th December 2020, the new EU-UK Trade Deal was revealed to the world. This deal will make the UK poorer; it will reduce the UK global influence and will damage UK security. The young have suddenly lost access to the Erasmus program, a scheme which allowed the young to study and live in Europe. Erasmus enabled many different European nationalities to integrate and learn about each other culture and that`s the basis of the European Union structure.
This trade deal is the first deal in history, which raises barriers to trade, data and social integration. This trade deal will also cause issues for (JIT) Just in Time supply chains that support UK and EU manufacturing. The UK population have suddenly lost social rights and legal protections, whilst it gained extra costs and red tape just to travel to the EU. If i want to ride my BMW GS in Europe, I’ll now need extra health insurance and additional insurance documentation.
The new UK-EU trade deal is far from perfect, there are massive gaps in key areas. But it’s better than the No Deal Option. This new Trade Deal is valued at £660 Billion pounds, which is less than the current UK-EU trade on the UK old membership. It might be possible to build on this trade reduction deal. But in my opinion, it would have been better to stay in the EU. (God, I wish time travel was possible).
Time Travel
Over the years, i have written science fiction, technology and espionage short stories as a hobby. But i have never written a political or a time travel thriller. But the concept of time travel has always fascinated me. If i had the ability to go back in time, where would i go and what would i do. Would i change the past, to save the future.
Then, you have to think about the grandfather paradox. The paradox is actually very simple. It comes from the idea if that a person who travels back in time before their grandfather had children and then kills him. It would make the travellers own birth impossible and that traveller simply won’t exist in any timeline. So, it’s probably not a good idea doing that, but what about watching history being made.
So, if time travel was possible, then i would go back in time to watch.
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- UFO Crash near Roswell, New Mexico 1947.
- Find out the truth about President Kennedys assassination in Dallas, Texas, 1963
- The UK Cabinet Room (When Brexit was being planned and stop it!)
I`m glad to hear that SpaceX is now planning on colonizing Mars. I`m also happy to hear those new spaceports are going to be built around the UK, that’s progress in my eyes. So, i would love to travel forward in time, say 100 years and see the progress of our worlds space industry as that’s where the future of humanity lies.
My Brexit Conclusion
The world is changing and the UK does need strong alliances to work together to protect society and our environment. Being a member of the European Union would have been useful. But Brexit has also exposed the story of how successive UK governments put their own interests first. Brexit has exposed the vast inequalities across the UK and yes, the EU referendum was a protest vote for some of the UK electorate. The current UK government is only now starting to talk about levelling up the country, so what they been doing for the last decade. Whereas, the EU had been quietly investing in the UK. The only winners from Brexit are the elite, the secret cabal, who quietly wanted to leave the European Union.
The European Union was designed as a mechanism of peace to prevent future European conflicts. In the last 30 years, the EU has grown from 6 to 27 member states, that’s not bad, so they must be doing something right. But the EU is all about hope for a better, fairer and safer future for its citizens. The EU is simple the world biggest and best trading bloc. Its internal systems like the single market and customs union made my job easy. But the EU is more than just trade, it’s about people, nationalities, culture coming together and building a better society for all.
On the 01st January 2021, i won’t be a citizen of the European Union anymore. I will suddenly feel a lot smaller, as i won’t be a proud member of the European project anymore. The UK needs a new way of thinking. Its needs a new political party that meet the needs of tomorrow generations. The era of leavers and remainers is over and the era of rejoiners is just beginning.
Update February 2022.
Brexit really isn’t going to plan. Lots of exporters are complaining about the additional red tape at the borders for shipment going into Europe. This raises their costs, which are then passed on the end users. Then there are the Northern Ireland issues, all of which were predicted and the UK government simply ignore them as it wasn’t political convenient.
Update March 2022
Recent events in Ukraine have proved the value of the European project. Ukraine was invaded because they had announced to the world that they wanted to join the EU and NATO. They wanted to be part of something better, they wanted to become part of an integrated Europe where the quality of life for its people is continuing to improve. Brexit was never a good idea for the UK, Europe or the whole world. The UK will have to change its focus and start to support the European Project again as collective cooperation in defence, energy security and trade is better than being on your own in a changing world.
References and Links
UK Spaceports: – Sutherland Spaceports. Cornwall Spaceport.
Time Travel Links: – UFO Roswell 1947 President Kennedy Assassination 1963.
UK Political Parties. Conservative. Labour Liberal Democratic SNP Greens. DUP
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