Brexit Britain – A World Turned Upside Down!

Photo by Tim Reckmann

Since the EU referendum in June 2016, Britain has tumbled from one extreme to another. Positions have hardened. Any compromise solution has become increasingly unlikely. The move by Prime Minister Boris Johnson to suspend Parliament is only the most recent development in a string of drastic events. While legal in itself, the clear attempt to side-line Parliament in a decision of national importance goes completely against long-held democratic conventions, intensifying further the deep division across British society. A world turned upside down!

Observing the debates in the UK over recent months, it has been clear to me how discussions have become more and more emotional. Whether people are in favour of leaving the EU or whether they support remain, their positions have become like a religion to them beyond any rational argument. Brexiteers dream about a glorious future for Britain despite the clear evidence that Brexit will damage the British economy. Remainers praise the free movement inside the EU, totally oblivious of the fact that free movement only applies to EU citizens. That the EU itself has completely failed in preventing the death of hundreds of refugees in the Mediterranean through its Fortress Europe policies to the outside does not seem to register. A world turned upside down!

Unsurprisingly, the Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn’s plea to focus on tackling increasing social inequality falls on deaf ears. His compromise solution of pursuing Brexit in order to honour the outcome of the referendum, while retaining a Customs Union with the EU so that the economic damage of Brexit is limited, fails to convince British voters. During canvassing sessions prior to the local elections in May 2019, it happened on numerous occasions that at one door the person exclaimed that she would never vote for Labour considering how the party betrays the referendum result. Several houses further on the response was that a vote for Labour was totally out of question, considering how the party had failed to secure a second referendum with the objective of staying in the EU. A world turned upside down!

Jeremy Corbyn himself has increasingly come under attack. ‘I will never vote for this racist’ shouts an elderly gentleman at the door. ‘He is truly evil!’ When I look at him questioningly he clarifies that he does not refer to Nigel Farage, the leader of the Brexit Party, but Jeremy Corbyn. And this, when it is generally known that Corbyn has been a life-long activist for the oppressed, discriminated and marginalised. A world turned upside down!

On yet another occasion, 6 June the day of commemorating D-Day, the Allied landing in Normandy during World War Two, I am told that the German Chancellor Angela Merkel is the new Hitler, which needs to be combatted through Brexit. ‘Look at today’s celebrations, this is what we can do as an independent country.’ When teaching European integration at the University of Nottingham, I had always been astonished about the lack of knowledge in British society when it comes to the EU and its institutions. Combine this ignorance with emotions and a glorification of World War Two and you get a toxic mix beyond any reason. A world turned upside down!

And while the Brexit saga rolls on, social inequality in Britain becomes ever more dramatic (see Labour’s woes over Brexit or No Brexit: don’t lose sight of the real problem - inequality). A Labour government led by Jeremy Corbyn is Britain’s best chance to fight against social inequality, rectifying years of redistributing wealth from the bottom to the top of society under Conservative-led governments. And yet, against the background of Brexit the chances of a Corbyn government are slowly fading away. A world turned upside down!


Andreas Bieler

Professor of Political Economy

University of Nottingham/UK

Andreas.Bieler@nottingham.ac.uk

Personal website: http://andreasbieler.net

31 August 2019