Though many experts are pessimistic about Brexit, Simon Hix (LSE) believes the United Kingdom can develop a healthy relationship with the European Union going forward.
This post gives the views of the authors, not the position of LSE Brexit or the London School of Economics. The Continent is an LSE-Sciences Po student-led initiative aiming to make expert opinion a more significant part of online and social media in Europe.
Simon Hix is the Harold Laski Professor of Political Science and Director of Research at the London School of Economics & Political Science and a Fellow of the British Academy.
I agree with Simon Hix that the UK should respect the referendum result and leave the EU. However I am less optimistic about the future based on what has happened since the referendum. The attitude of the government, parliament and the way in which EU citizens living in the UK are being treated and the attitude towards Ireland have lead many of us living on the continent to think ‘good riddance’. In fact it has made me ashamed of my country. Also if you speak to everyday people in France and Belgium their opinion is that the UK is leaving Europe (not just the EU)
The UK and England in particular needs have a long hard reflection about what kind of country it wants to be and work towards a consensus. Then it can perhaps start to develop a new relationship with the EU .
Thank you for a balanced viewpoint.
The IFO Policy Brief – http://www.econpol.eu/sites/default/files/2019-01/EconPol_Policy_Brief_12_Brexit.pdf – suggests we have some allies in Europe who are keen to see mutual development from Brexit into the future rather than the mutual destruction that our MPs and European colleagues seem to be heading for.
Wow! A lot of wishful thinking here. The history of the ECSC to EEC to EU with the wavering UK is not encouraging for a warm blanket welcome by the current EU, especially as our Brexit threatens to strain the bonds of the EU itself. Lets forgive and forget has never been the EU’s position. You forget history and how long it took the original members to accept us. It will take as long again, and, as before, it will come with conditions.
Had the European parliament NOT grown into a beaurocratic monster that is more concerned about its own longevity instead of the interests of its member states, there would probably never have been a “referendum “in the UK and everything would have carried on as before 2016.
1.1 Over-concerned with procedure at the expense of efficiency or common sense.
‘the scheme is overly bureaucratic and complex’
That added to the appalling way in which our “parliament” has conducted itself since 2017 leaves us where we are. One half of the house of commons wants to ignore the result from the referendum and use Brexit as a means of trying to make political gain instead of representing the people who put them in place. The other half won’t pull together to deliver the leave result that their party brought on themselves in the first place.
The EU government want to punish the UK so that no other countries will think about trying to escape. And at the end of the day it will be the general public who will be hit the hardest by whatever the outcome the “POLITICIANS” dump on us..