History of the UK Case research on Why Britain left European Union
Written by Ignatius F. N. Nusa and Mohammad Yusuf
Abstract
This research is a literature study that analyzes Britain's decision to leave the European Union in 2016 including the related factors and Britain's social-economy policy particularly due to either being a part of the EU or not. Britain, even though got a lot of advantages during its membership didn’t urge the Prime Minister, David Cameron rule out his appointment. The referendum voted on June 23, 2016, decided Britain to leave the EU.
Preamble
Britain was a part of the European Economic Community (EEC) in 1973. EEC was a multinational organization in European which was aimed to integrate European countries into the economy. EEC was built by some countries which at first want to accommodate coal and steel after world war 1951. They were Belgium, Germany, France, Italy, Luxemburg, and Holland—commonly known as European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC). They made up the EEC through the Treaty of Paris. The UK at first refused to join EEC due to President Charles de Gaulle’s decision.
Seeing the advantages of joining EEC, some European countries joined this multi-country organization. Denmark and Ireland merged in 1973; Greece together in 1981; Spain and Portugal together in 1986; East Germany—after reuniting with West Germany, joined in 1990.
All member countries gathered in Maastricht, Holland, and signed Maastricht Agreement on February 7, 1992. It was the new era of European Country (EC) members. The agreement prompted the birth of the European Union and European pillar structure which are the European Community (EC), Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP), and Justice and Home Affairs. One of the important policies triggered through the Maastricht agreement is the single currency enforcement of the Euro.
Some countries joined the partnership: Austria, Finland, and Sweden joined in 1995; the Czech Republic, Estonia, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Slovenia, and Slovakia joined in 2004; Bulgaria and Rumania joined in 2007; and Croatia in 2013.
The European Union is a form of partnership in the political economy of European countries. They have their own currency, Euro. They aim to have a single market where traders buy and sell goods and services very easily. EU has three institutions: European Parliament, European Union Council, and European Commission.
The Brexit
Brexit means Britain's exit. It is a term to call Britain which is no longer a European Union member. It occurred due to the referendum held by Britain when David Cameron was the prime minister. On that day, June 23, 2016, as much as 51.9% of British people chose to separate, and the remains chose to stay. That was why Ms. Cameron resigned a day later. The Minister of Home Affairs, Theresa May replaced him in 2019. Now, Boris Johnson is Britain's Prime Minister
Brexit now made a new era for Britain to face structural changes—on February 1, 2020, Briton officially left the EU. That they are not a part of UE, forces them to be independent in making policy. The fact that they didn’t gain advantages of a member of the EU now, will be the most challenging. For example in Economy: trading of goods and services, and traffic: ease of traveling between countries.
Factors that made Britain leave the European Union
STATE CENTRIC OPINION
Britain promoted the belief that each country remains the main axis in shaping and processing government strategies with other countries or parties. Facing EU policy complicating Britain's government, Britain made their own way. It was a critical attitude to EU policy that inhibited the members to make their own policies.
Even though a country had officially given authority to international institutions, a country still has its own supreme authority and independence. Briton, for example, protested and criticized the Schengen Area policy of the EU. Schengen Area signifies a zone where 26 European countries, abolished their internal borders, for the free and unrestricted movement of people, in harmony with common rules for controlling external borders and fighting criminality by strengthening the common judicial system and police cooperation.
Through the implementation of the European single market policy, the flow of workers, goods, and services could move freely throughout the member states of the European Union. In addition, the Open Door Immigration Policy required the United Kingdom to widen its border security for immigrants so that these immigrants could enter freely and permanently in Great Britain.
Schengen Area covers most of the EU countries, except Ireland and the countries that are soon to be part of Romania, Bulgaria, Croatia, and Cyprus. Although not members of the EU, countries like Norway, Iceland, Switzerland, and Lichtenstein are also part of the Schengen zone. Basically, it’s about the easy way to travel among countries in Europe. For non-EU nationals, just need the Schengen visa that gives non-EU nationals easy access to most of Europe.
Picture: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-13194723
Britain protested the Schengen zone due to some reasons. First, the UK is a group of archipelago countries. Britain objected to that policy. That made Britain get into trouble if they obey that policy. Some situations which are arms and human trafficking are inevitable if Briton appeases.
Second, Briton referred to the Amsterdam agreement which was signed on October 2, 1997. It included the revision of the Schengen agreement and the Maastricht agreement. They referred to the goals of the Amsterdam agreement that prioritize citizens' rights and job creation. Employment is still the responsibility of national governments but it remains the responsibility of the entire community of the European Union.
Instead of refusing the Schengen area, Briton refused some policies in the Maastricht agreement. Briton refused to use Euro when Tony Blair was the prime minister. International cooperation is voluntary; which does not force every country to comply.
BRITON FACED ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL PROBLEMS AS THE EU PARTNER
Britons faced economical and social problems when they were a part of the EU. It was an astonishing reason because Briton had been given a lot of advantages during that time as an EU partner. After becoming an EEC member, Britain slowly began to catch up. Gross domestic product per person has grown faster than Italy, Germany, and France in the more than 40 years since. By 2013, Britain became more prosperous than the average of the three other large European economies for the first time since 1965.
The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Briton showed significant improvement since it joined EEC.
Picture: What has the EU done for the UK? | Financial Times (ft.com)
https://www.ft.com/content/202a60c0-cfd8-11e5-831d-09f7778e7377
What did the British people think about Brexit that made them leave?
Brexit is also actually a critic of the welfare state view. A country had a purpose to bring prosperity and welfare to its citizens. That cannot be changed or determined by market mechanism and integration as what happened in Europe.
When Britain was a part of the EU, Briton contributed to the EU in many aspects: trade, displacement, etc. The UK contribution value in 2015 was the second-highest compared to other member countries. That was the third-highest based on the population.
The economic crisis in Europe, which particularly occurred in 2008-2009, was considered to be Brexit support. At the time, UK economic growth slowed to 6% in 2008-2009. The European Union failed to resolve the economic crisis so that the GDP of all EU countries declined, including Britain. That caused many problems for Britain. They faced a high case of unemployment. The unemployment of all EU reached 27 million in 2013 and the UK had the fourth-highest cases of men.
Apart from unemployment, the migrant crisis is one of the problems facing Britain. The migrant could come from the EU countries or not. For example, migrants who came from Poland were estimated to be 250.000 from May 2004 to June 2006. The total of migrants—either from the EU country or not EU country in 1997-2004 reached 300.000-500.000 migrants came to Britain.
Vulnerable Persons Resettlement or VPR was launched in January 2014 and has helped those in the greatest need, including people requiring urgent medical treatment, survivors of violence and torture, and women and children at risk was that one Briton complained. Britain set to admit 20.000 refugees from Syria in 2015. The decision had an impact on state spending on providing public services.
Prof. Mark Whiteley of the University of Essex told that the protests, demonstrations, riots, coups, and civil wars that began in 2010 across the Middle East and North Africa is known as the Arab Spring, created new waves of immigration into Europe what the EU including Britain tackled mistakenly.
The European Union's policy in regulating migration to European Union countries makes it necessary for British workers to compete with the market. Based on the CER report, this phenomenon has a positive impact on British citizens themselves (such as an increase in the minimum wage), but Britons see this phenomenon from one perspective, as more and more immigrants enter the UK, the competition is getting tougher, and this results in increased unemployment for British citizens. Furthermore, the EU ruled control over national boundaries that provide free movement of people and goods.
Even though Britain got disadvantages, it could be denied that Britain got advantages too. Patrick Minford, a professor of Cardiff Business School who has long been one of the most outspoken economists backing Brexit, said in late February that EU membership had benefited the British economy by freeing trade. What will happen depends on what Britain does facing they are no longer a part of the EU.
THE POLITICAL SITUATION SURROUNDING THE REFERENDUM IN BRITAIN GOVERNMENT
Domestic politics was one that influenced the referendum. When Tony Blair and Gordon Brown were Britain's prime ministers (1997-2007), the UK showed interest to prompt integration around the EU countries. The UK approved the Social chapter of the EU treaty and pushed for an EU meeting to approve the constitution in Rome. UK through PM Gordon also signed the Lisbon treaty in 2007.
UK policy under the two prime ministers from the labor party prompted anti-EU groups to push for a referendum from the conservative party. European Union policies seemed to rob Britain of sovereignty. Conservatives rejected the European constitution and the Lisbon treaty was considered a copy.
Britons chose David Cameron as the Prime Minister and Nick Clegg as the vice minister in the 2010 General election. PM Cameron had proposed the referendum when he was the leader of the Conservative including the referendum on the European constitution and the Lisbon treaty.
Besides that, there were some factors that influenced the political situation—between pro-EU and anti-EU in Britain. First, there were some officials who supported Brexit. Boris Johnson, Britain's Prime Minister now, encouraged Brexit. Ms. Johnson, who was the Major of London, and Michael Gove protested the immigrant policy by the EU that Scottish Parliament got the power to deal with immigration.
The second factor was the media: newspapers, opinions, and news printed digitally or manually in Britain. Some famous media such as The Daily Mail, the Daily Mirror, the Observer, The Sunday Telegraph, The Sunday Times, The Financial Times, and The Sun.
All of those newspapers campaigned for Brexit. The Sun, Britain's most-read print newspaper, came out for Brexit in mid-June, arguing: "We must set ourselves free from dictatorial Brussels. Throughout our 43-year membership of the European Union, it has proved increasing greedy, wasteful, bullying, and breathtakingly incompetent in a crisis."
The third factor was some issues related to the referendum campaign. That issued those opinions discussing the comparison pro-Brexit or pro-EU, immigration, and UK financial issues as a member of the European Union.
The comparison issue
That showed a model of the EU referendum polls suggests. Leave is probably leading Remain, but not by much. (In 72.82% of simulations, Leave the EU led Remain in the EU.) This was predicted and observed by the Huffington Post.