Economy
Brexit:
was the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union
Steps:
● growing popularity of the UK Independence Party, as well as pressure from
Eurosceptics in his own party, persuaded the prime minister David Cameron to
promise a referendum if he was reelected
● referendum on continued EU membership was held on 23 June 2016
○ Remain: Cameron, Tony Blair, Theresa May, Liz Truss
○ Leave: Rishi Sunak, Boris Johnson
● 51.9% share of the vote, for leaving (England except London, Wales)
○ Northern Island, Scotland against leaving
○ David Cameron resigned as Prime Minister (Theresa May)
● withdrawal, originally scheduled for 29 March 2019: two years for preparations
● Difficult political situation (snap election, hung parliament): Delayed
● subsequent general election was held in December 2019:
○ Boris Johnson won: hard-brexit campaign
● ratified the withdrawal agreement
● UK left the EU at 31 January 2020
Impact:
● Two-thirds of the British people think Brexit has damaged the economy
● vast majority of economists also agree
● Trade:
○ Brexit led to a complete revaluation of trading links with the European
Union, and created huge economic uncertainty
○ reintroduce significant barriers to trade between the UK and its trading
partner
○ trade performance has suffered considerably
○ negative impact on export, with particularly large impacts on smaller firms
● Migration:
○ to end free movement
○ restricted labour supply
○ negative impacts on the flexibility of the UK labour market
● Investment:
○ relatively low level of business investment in the UK pre-Brexit
○ at least in part responsible for the particularly poor performance since 2016
○ 10% lower than it would otherwise have been