The poll conducted by YouGov showed that the state of “regret” for leaving the European bloc had reached record levels, as the results showed that:
Only 9% of Britons see leaving the European Union as a “success” rather than a “failure”. 62% of those polled saw it more as a failure than a success (including 37% of former Brexit supporters).
Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage admitted last week that “Brexit has failed, the economy has yet to see the benefits”.
He said ‘the country hasn’t really benefited from the exit’, blaming ‘unhelpful’ Conservative politicians who are ‘mismanaging the exit from the bloc’, as he described it. While the public opinion firm’s data and survey results indicate that most people “agree with this assessment”.
The same data indicates that 75% of Britons believe that “Brexit could have been a success, but its implementation by these governments and/or previous governments made it a failure”.
Most people who see Brexit as a failure think it was doomed from the start. Fifty-six percent said Brexit would always be a failure and there was nothing any government could do to make it work.
It comes as UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is under pressure to renegotiate his Brexit deal amid warnings that the UK car industry faces an ‘existential threat’ without change, putting thousands of jobs at risk. hazard. But the government insists the country sees the benefits of Brexit.
The reasons for the change in attitude
For her part, Amy Verdon, professor of political science and founding director of the European studies program at the University of Victoria, says: The British voted by a narrow margin in favor of leaving the European Union, but at the over time, these preferences have not been stable. . Even before the referendum result, it was unclear if the majority wanted to leave, and they said in statements exclusive to ‘Sky News Arabia’ that:
The European Union was once a big deal for UK citizens, and today that has changed (referring to the growing percentage of those who think it was a mistake to leave the European Union). Everyone understood that leaving the European Union would not be easy, but very few people realized that leaving the European Union would be very difficult. Citizens realized too late that the political elites were unable to handle Brexit well. There has been political turmoil, not only up to the UK’s departure, but also since the EU’s departure. The situation is unstable (there were three prime ministers last year). There is also the feeling that the political class has not been able to maintain the unity of the country. Part of this decline in political capacity is partly due to the need to show strong leadership when a lot of things change.
And the Academy specializing in European studies adds: “It is clear today that leaving the European Union means that there are more difficulties in exchanges… there is more paperwork (administrative obstacles )… there is enough evidence to know that the United Kingdom was better in the European Union than abroad.” .
And the UK left the European Union on January 31, 2020. This was before COVID-19 was declared a pandemic on March 11, 2020. At that time, it was unclear whether the economy world politics was about to change.
After lockdowns ended and with economies starting and given the disruption of industrial production and transport, the UK was highly dependent on the outside world, and so when the world opened up, the UK had difficulty getting the goods he usually had before the pandemic, and it was difficult to make out the amount of shortage of goods and services in the UK due to Corona and its repercussions and the impact of Britain’s exit from the European Union, according to Verdon.
However, last year it was clear that the UK was experiencing a shortage of supermarkets, unlike the EU.
Since COVID-19, there has been another change that the professor of political science, founding director of the European studies program at Victoria University, points out, it is the geopolitical change due to the war in Ukraine:
It is becoming clear that geopolitical changes mean that it is better for friendly neighbors (European countries) to be close to each other. The United Kingdom was one of the top two countries in the European Union before Brexit in terms of military power. With the UK outside the EU, both sides (UK and EU) need each other in a changing world. The two have to find other ways to get closer.
One of the main reasons Britons left the EU was related to values. Today, countries are faced with changing global values ​​on pluralism, the rule of law and global security challenges. But Verdon stresses that the differences between the various European partners are not so great. So worrying about these small differences is not helpful.”
“special relationship”
“Does this reality pave the way for London’s return?” Amy Verdon, professor of political science and founding director of the European Studies program at Victoria University, responds by saying: “It’s actually a difficult question. Political upheaval in the UK as well as in the European Union After the UK referendum result, the departure is absolutely devastating and has consumed a lot of political energy over the period 2016-2020.”
Given the difficulty of getting a deal between the UK or the EU, it seems impossible to think of a way for both sides to want the UK to join the EU. It is very likely that if the UK wants to apply for membership, it will only be allowed if it fully agrees to join all aspects of the EU (euro, Schengen, etc.). The UK will not be able to accept all of these things; Because there is no clear view in Britain. When the United Kingdom was still part of the European Union, the United Kingdom was granted a special status, and it will no longer obtain this position.
Instead, she adds, the UK should have a “special” relationship with the EU. It may be in the same way as Norway or Switzerland, but the exact content of this “special” relationship will be different from what Norway or Switzerland have; Because Norway is part of a number of policies that the UK will not be part of (the single market for example). But perhaps the UK will cooperate more closely in the area of ​​police, justice and security cooperation. This is an undefined area and will gradually evolve over time.
Britain’s absence .. a controversial issue
For her part, Elizabeth Carter, an academic specializing in European affairs, assistant professor at the University of New Hampshire, underlines in exclusive statements to “Sky News Arabia” that:
There are a host of reasons why Britons regret leaving the EU, firstly it is of course a divisive issue and therefore ‘not everyone regrets it’. One of the reasons for regret is the deterioration of the British economy, which some attribute to the worsening of its consequences due to Britain’s exit from the European Union.
“In the European Union, the UK had a seat at the table, and was a leading voice in one of the most important political bodies in the world… People now regret that the UK is now isolated, voiceless at the table, and seen as a country withdrawn into itself”.
Brexiteers say they want to restore British sovereignty. But those who regret leaving argue that Britain has gone from a leader steeped in global politics to a country that has turned inward. Many Britons do not identify with this closed and withdrawn United Kingdom.
According to Carter, “Another big regret is associated with the wider post-Brexit economy, particularly the weakness of the pound, when there were a host of factors putting pressure on the UK economy (Corona, then the war in Ukraine, rising energy costs and (inflationary) stress These pressures, of course, coincided with Brexit.”
She adds: “The extent to which the citizen blames Brexit for economic problems very much depends on the political bias of the individual (…) But the fact remains that Britain is worse off (…) In recent months they have been in the economic and political background”.
Are you back in London?
But she doesn’t think that fact means London will be looking to join the EU anytime soon, justifying it by saying: “There’s a feeling that leaving the EU was the will of the people, and that should be respected (at least this is true of many Tories who did not support Britain’s exit from the European Union).
She concludes her remarks by saying: “I think it will still be a long time before Britain considers having a referendum to join the European Union (..) One of the things that could encourage them to reconsider something little could be the way in which the various countries of the United Kingdom (i.e. Scotland and Ireland) confront the North) with the question of Britain’s exit from the European Union “.
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