Britain Stumbles Toward an Exit From the EU

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Three years after British voters narrowly voted to leave the European Union in a 2016 referendum, Boris Johnson assumed the office of prime minister amid a political environment characterized by anger, turmoil and confusion. But with no clearer a strategy on Brexit than his predecessor, Theresa May, Johnson will struggle to actually deliver on his promises before the already extended deadline for the U.K. to leave the EU on Oct. 31.

Brexit has already been a disaster for the country’s two main political parties. The referendum outcome immediately brought down the Conservative government of former Prime Minister David Cameron, who had called for the vote in the first place. His successor, May, has been felled by her inability to get the withdrawal agreement she negotiated with Brussels through Parliament, mainly due to opposition by extremist Brexiteers within her own Tory ranks. For his part, Johnson has promised to do what May couldn’t and arrive at a Brexit deal that a majority of Parliament can agree on—or to crash out of the EU by the October deadline with no deal in place, if that proves to be impossible.

Anti-Brexit campaigners’ placards outside the Houses of Parliament, London, Jan. 28, 2019 

The issue has been similarly disastrous for the opposition Labour party, which has struggled under the leadership of Jeremy Corbyn to find a winning position on Brexit. Support for Labour has fallen since its better-than-expected finish in snap elections called by May in June 2017. This has opened up space for the emergence of the singularly focused Brexit Party and the reemergence of the Liberal Democrats, who have called for Britain to remain in the EU. They placed first and second in recent elections to the European Parliament.

The uncertainty in the U.K. has global implications. London will be eager to negotiate post-Brexit trade deals, beginning with the U.S., to make sure that vital exports are not interrupted. But its leverage to do so will be seriously diminished. Meanwhile, Brexit has put the EU in a particularly awkward position. On one hand, European leaders do not want to antagonize what will remain a key market for many European goods. On the other, they are losing patience with their British counterparts’ inability to confront the hard realities of how to actually deliver Brexit.

WPR has covered Brexit in detail and continues to examine key questions about what will happen next. Will Boris Johnson be able to follow through on his Brexit promises? What are the implications if the U.K. does move forward with a no-deal Brexit? Will even a successful U.K. divorce from the EU further weaken the trans-Atlantic alliance? Below are some of the highlights of WPR’s coverage.