BREXIT: WHAT IS IT AND HOW HAS IT EVOLVED? - OPINION

By Ameesh Doobaree

This article contains an opinion of mine, so please take into consideration that these are my views.

We all heard this before. Brexit. Deals, backstops, borders, Barnier, trade, May, extensions, the EU, Article 50, it’s all too similar. But what exactly is this. In this article, I will show you that there is more to Brexit that meets the eye.

Before all that, let’s just talk about Brexit itself. Brexit is actually a simple term: Britain’s exit from the EU. But talks for over 2 years have proved that it’s much more complicated than that. Let’s all go back to the start of this, before talks even began. The Prime Minister was David Cameron. And out of the blue, he triggered a vote on if we should stay in the EU. No-one truly knows why, and a few were fairly annoyed with another vote. For the long months of campaigning, it was always clear to see that Cameron was on the side of staying in the EU. At the time of this vote, we were already in the EU, but Cameron wanted to put a vote up anyways. But if he already had his ways, why did he need to hold a vote? Furthermore, as you all know, on the 23rd June 2016, we voted to leave the EU. Right after hearing this, David Cameron resigned! This is because he had no idea on what we were going to do next. This is why I believe that David Cameron was not a great Prime Minister. I believe that he held an unnecessary vote that quite a few people had enough of, got an opinion that he didn’t expect, then wimped out because he didn’t think ahead for the country’s future, which in essence is what the PM is supposed to do.

After Cameron’s resignation, it was a chaotic mini General Election. There were many contestants for the role, but most people really cared about 2 people in particular: Andrea Leadson and Theresa May. When it turned out that she won the election, May got to work on the 23rd March 2017. She was given a 2-year deadline: we expected to leave on 23rd March 2019. But of course, we didn’t. It was supposed to be just 1 smooth road which might have a few tiny bumps on the way to Brexit. It turned out to be many, many roads, with often stops at the Houses of Commons for a deal-check, only to be rejected by a great difference. It has many steep bumps, some nearly pushing us off the cliff on the way to Brexit. But MPs refused. They told here to keep working on a deal which will make everyone happy: the EU, the MPs and the population. But with so many different opinions, it was near or definitely impossible to make everyone happy. But the MPs kept telling her to go back to Brussels. And the EU told her to go back to the UK. And they kept pushing her back and forth until the deadline. After this, she was blamed for this. But she couldn’t with everyone screaming in her ear. So, she had to extend Brexit to 12th April 2019. But with the deadline coming in hot, she has been asking the EU to give her more time. With the EU refusing, she has even turned to the Leader of the Opposition, Jeremy Corbyn, for help.

And this is where we are today. All that was just brief summary of Brexit over the last 3 years. And I must rest assure, we ought to hear much, much more of the Brexit havoc. This could be like it always has: it could continue to dominate the news channels everyday for the next 5 years or so. But no-one truly knows what will happen next. All we can do now is embrace it and hope for the best.