Last June’s Brexit vote in great britain threw a spanner into the works of British and international politics. David Cameron’s unwise decision will mean the Britain will once again become a lone player on the international political field. This new found independence will come with a price, the secret will be to try and reduce what the country will pay for it.
Cameron's folly
Despite voices of concern David Cameron decided to call the Brexit vote to silence a vocal minority within his own Party. Nobody expected the NO vote to win, not even Nigel Farage’s openly nationalistic UKIP Party which would later give moral support to the Republican candidate during the American presidential campaign.
But like the Americans with #Donald Trump Cameron discovered that in electoral matters there is no sure thing. The result eventually led to his resignation and current Prime Minister Theresa May has been left to negotiate the terms for Britain’s exit from the European.
She and the country are now discovering that this is no simple matter.
Costs of the vote
The success of the High Court appeal over Brexit revealed that no thought had been given before the vote to what Brexit would mean and its eventual costs. The decision by the High Court angered many who had not realized that the vote was not binding and that the decision would always belong to Parliament. In addition, Scotland and Wales were angered by the vote as they were decidedly pro Europe and voted to remain in the Union and some in Scotland have called for another secessionist vote.
Recently this mix of unexpected developments was made more confusing by reports from the unelected House of Lords that they will demand certain conditions to the proposed law in order for it to become law.
Yesterday European legislators also told Britain that they could not expect London to remain the financial hub of the European Union and the transfer of important institutions to other capitals will not only be a severe blow to Britain’s economy, but also a bigger blow to its prestige.
The future
Britain was a major player on the international stage for centuries, but the end of the Second World War saw it become a support player of the United States in its Cold War with the Soviet Union which has now been replaced by the much subtler struggle with Vladimir Putin’s Russia which replaced it.
The British decline coincided with its decision to end its colonial empire. Although this was replaced by the British Commonwealth which Queen Elizabeth oversees with great zeal, the end of the Empire had a great impact on Britain’s economic and military power.
Theresa May will now have to negotiate strongly to ensure that Britain keeps its voice in international politics, but it will not be easy. It will now have to negotiate the diffidence of its ex European partners and the inconsistencies of Donald Trump to form diplomatic partnerships.
In his turn Donald Trump will undoubtedly look to Britain for its support, but it will not be the deciding factor that could give decisive contributions to negotiations that were possible when in the EU. This too is another cost of Brexit that nobody anticipated.