British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak defended Brexit as a “huge opportunity” on the third anniversary of the historic break with the European Union, marked Tuesday in gloom in the United Kingdom, between social crisis and growing regrets.
The International Monetary Fund added to the recent flood of bad news on Tuesday: according to its latest forecast, the country will be the only major economy to suffer a recession this year, with its economy shrinking by 0.6%. Even Russia at war and under sanctions is expected to grow.
For months, the UK has struggled with double-digit inflation and social unrest. On Wednesday, strikes unprecedented for 10 years are expected, in education and transport in particular.
Three prime ministers succeeded each other last year, Northern Ireland is politically paralyzed as London tries to convince Brussels to reconsider the post-Brexit status of the province. Despite promises of border controls and successive anti-immigration plans, illegal crossings of the Channel are constantly increasing – more than 45,000 migrants last year.
The Brexiters’ promises of regained freedom seem a long way off, and the time has now come for “Bregret”: opinion, long divided, is now leaning against Brexit.
According to an Ipsos poll published on Monday, 45% of Britons believe that Brexit is going less well than expected – compared to only 28% in June 2021. They are 9% to think the opposite.
Early Brexiter, Conservative Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who marks his 100th day in Downing Street on Thursday, has nevertheless worked to defend the record of leaving the European Union.
“We have made huge strides in harnessing the freedoms offered by Brexit to address generational challenges,” he said in a statement. “I am determined to ensure that the benefits of Brexit continue to empower people and businesses across the country.”
The Downing Street press release stresses the “huge opportunity” of leaving the EU, in particular “for the growth of the British economy”. He cites the creation of free ports, areas considered outside the customs territory of the country and therefore benefiting from advantageous taxation, and the prospects opened up, according to him, by post-Brexit deregulation.
Labor shortages
No official celebration is planned to mark the anniversary. In Scotland, on the other hand, where the separatists in power denounce a “disaster”, a pro-European march is planned.
January 31, 2020 marked the end of 47 years of UK membership in the European Union and, following Boris Johnson’s landslide election victory, the conclusion of almost four years of political heartbreak following the shock of the 2016 referendum. .
Then began a nine-month period of transition with, in extremis, a free trade agreement brandished like a Christmas present by Boris Johnson to avoid a “no deal” synonymous with sudden rupture and economic chaos.
Three years later, the economic damage is there, although the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine have considerably worsened the situation.
According to the public budget forecasting body OBR, leaving the EU will reduce the size of the UK economy by around 4% in the long term.
The United Kingdom has distanced itself from its main economic partner, from where it imports a large part of the food it consumes. Labor shortages have been aggravated by the difficulty of bringing in European workers.
However, there is no question of going back, even for the Labor opposition, which is considerably ahead in the polls less than two years from the next legislative elections.
Anxious to shed his anti-Brexit past, Labor leader Keir Starmer says a return to the EU is not on his agenda as the issue has been settled, but wants to improve relations with Brussels.
The latter remain poisoned by the Northern Ireland file. London is trying to secure a post-Brexit status readjustment and end the political deadlock that is clouding preparations for the 25the anniversary of the Northern Ireland Peace Agreement. In April 1998, he ended three decades of conflict between communities.