The Brexit Deal

IMPLICATIONS OF BREXIT

Michael Roberts’ Blog | December 29, 2020

The UK finally leaves the European Union on 31 December, after 48 years of membership.  The initial decision to leave, made in the special referendum back in June 2016, has taken over four tortuous years to implement.  So what does the deal mean for British capital and labour?

For British manufacturers, the tariff-free regime of the EU’s internal market has been maintained.  But the British government will have to renegotiate new bilateral treaties with governments across the world, whereas previously they were included within EU deals.  People will no longer be able to work freely in both economies by right, all goods will require significant additional paperwork to cross borders and some will be checked extensively to verify they comply with local regulatory standards.  Frictionless trade is over; indeed, that’s even between Northern Ireland and mainland Britain with a new customs border across the Irish Sea.

Behind Britain’s Brexit mess: A push to destroy workers’ rights

by John Wojcik

People’s World | September 11, 2019

Pro-Brexit and anti-Brexit protesters shout at each other opposite the Houses of Parliament in London, March 14, 2019. | Matt Dunham / AP

LISBON, Portugal—Britain’s version of Donald Trump, right-wing Prime Minister Boris Johnson, was handed a major defeat Monday when his second try at calling an election to solve the Brexit mess was rebuffed.

Labor and left forces in Britain say his call for a “snap election” is nothing more than an attempt to crush the opposition Labour Party, whose leader Jeremy Corbyn has been pushing for a deal to exit the European Union with measures that will support job creation and labor rights in Britain. Johnson wants a “no-deal” exit from the EU so his ruling Tory Party can be free to undermine further the standard of living of British workers.

March 29: The Brexit day that never was

by Al Neal

Peoples’ World | March 29, 2019

Remain in the European Union supporters wear blindfolds as they take part in a protest event organized by the People’s Vote Campaign. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn justified his party’s vote against Prime Minister Theresa May’s deal by calling it a “Blindfold Brexit” because of the lack of a political outline for future EU-U.K. relations | Matt Dunham / AP

LONDON—As the sun broke through the few scattered clouds this morning, the people of Britain woke up to Brexit day…or at least what was supposed to be the U.K.’s official withdrawal date from the European Union after 46 years of membership.

Instead, the island is shrouded in uncertainty with a lame duck prime minister shuffling toward her own exit from power at the same that she has failed to deliver her country’s exit from the EU. A day three years in the making, after Britain voted to leave in June 2016, has now come, but lawmakers here still have no clear path forward on when, or even if, the country will leave the EU.

Yanis Varoufakis condemns ‘toxic’ campaign for a second EU referendum

Morning Star | November 02, 2018

In 2015 as Greece’s finance minister Yanis Varoufakis meets with then chancellor George Osborne in Downing Street

FORMER Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis condemned the “toxic” public campaign for a second referendum on British membership of the European Union today.

The economist, who served under the left-wing Syriza government in 2015 when it confronted the EU over enforced austerity politics, accused anti-Brexit campaigners of dumping left politics.

Brexit and the EU Implosion: National Sovereignty — For What Purpose?

by Samir Amin

Mrzine | 08 August, 2016

The defense of national sovereignty, like its critique, leads to serious misunderstandings once one detaches it from the social class content of the strategy in which it is embedded.  The leading social bloc in capitalist societies always conceives sovereignty as a necessary instrument for the promotion of its own interests based on both capitalist exploitation of labor and the consolidation of its international positions.

Today, in the globalized neoliberal system (which I prefer to call ordo-liberal, borrowing this excellent term from Bruno Odent) dominated by financialized monopolies of the imperialist triad (the United States, Europe, Japan), the political authorities in charge of the management of the system for the exclusive benefit of the monopolies in question conceive national sovereignty as an instrument enabling them to improve their “competitive” positions in the global system.  The economic and social means of the state (submission of labor to employer demands, organization of unemployment and job insecurity, segmentation of the labor market) and policy interventions (including military interventions) are associated and combined in the pursuit of one sole objective: maximizing the volume of rent captured by their “national” monopolies.

Brexit and the EU Implosion: National Sovereignty — For What Purpose?

by Samir Amin

Mrzine | 08 August, 2016

The defense of national sovereignty, like its critique, leads to serious misunderstandings once one detaches it from the social class content of the strategy in which it is embedded.  The leading social bloc in capitalist societies always conceives sovereignty as a necessary instrument for the promotion of its own interests based on both capitalist exploitation of labor and the consolidation of its international positions.

Today, in the globalized neoliberal system (which I prefer to call ordo-liberal, borrowing this excellent term from Bruno Odent) dominated by financialized monopolies of the imperialist triad (the United States, Europe, Japan), the political authorities in charge of the management of the system for the exclusive benefit of the monopolies in question conceive national sovereignty as an instrument enabling them to improve their “competitive” positions in the global system.  The economic and social means of the state (submission of labor to employer demands, organization of unemployment and job insecurity, segmentation of the labor market) and policy interventions (including military interventions) are associated and combined in the pursuit of one sole objective: maximizing the volume of rent captured by their “national” monopolies.

Is this the end of Europe as we know it?

by Abayomi Azikiwe

Pambazuka | 07 July, 2016

The potential for other states within the EU to withdraw from the bloc is a major worry for the imperialist states. The priority for African and other developing countries should be removing their vulnerabilities from the international capitalist system in order to achieve sustainable growth and development based on the interests of the majority of the world’s population.

Since the June 23 vote on whether the United Kingdom (UK) would “Leave” or “Remain” within the 28-member-state European Union (EU), uncertainty has accelerated not just in London but throughout the international community. The vote to Leave the EU by 52-48 percent of the electorate in England signaled the worsening of the already existing political crisis in relations between the UK and states on the European continent.

France And Germany Push For Tighter EU Integration

Morning Star | 28 June, 2016

FRANCE and Germany’s foreign ministers demanded closer integration and more control from Brussels yesterday in the wake of Britain’s vote to leave.

France’s Jean-Marc Ayrault said that the British decision “could help Europeans become aware that Europe needs to come closer together.”

He and Germany’s Frank-Walter Steinmeier suggested a common European prosecutor for terrorism and organised crime, an international coastguard and joint border-guard units.

Brexit: ‘just the tip of the iceberg’, says Greenspan

A Journal of People Report

The verdict was delivered. The world was shocked. And then came the epiphany.

Britain has voted for ‘Brexit’, as it is being called, notwithstanding the warnings from economists, experts, businessmen and political leaders.

How would Brexit effect the economy of Britain?

Alan Greenspan, the chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve during the 1987 stock market crash and the bursting of the dot-com bubble, told CNBC, in an interview, “There’s nothing like it, including the crisis — remember October 19th, 1987, when the Dow went down by a record amount 23 percent? That I thought was the bottom of all potential problems. This has a corrosive effect that will not go away”.

Pandemonium and Upheaval as World Responds to UK’s Brexit

by Nika Knight, staff writer

Common Dreams | 24 June, 2016

The world reacts in shock and dismay as United Kingdom votes to exit the European Union. (Photo: Nicolas Raymond/flickr/cc)

 In the wake of Britain’s unprecedented vote to leave the European Union on Thursday, the initial wave of reaction was tumultuous: Prime Minister David Cameron resigned, global markets plunged, and right-wing leaders across Europe cheered—stoking fears that other nations may hold similar referendums to depart the EU in the future.

“The British people have made the very clear decision to take a different path and as such I think the country requires fresh leadership to take it in this direction,” Cameron announced to the press on Friday. “I do not think it would be right for me to be the captain that steers our country to its next destination.”

At one stage the prime minister appeared close to tears, The Independent reports.