The Brexit brunt

So, Boris Johnson is now the British Prime Minister — a third in a little over three years. Both of his predecessors and Tory party colleagues, David Cameron and Theresa May, have borne the Brexit brunt. While Cameron stepped down soon after the Brexit referendum result was announced, May failed to get parliament to ratify an exit deal with the EU despite being in the office for about three years. The tricky mandate to deliver on Brexit now rests with Boris who — while closing out his victory speech on Tuesday — reiterated his pledge to “get it done”.

A Herculean task awaits Boris in his new role. He must persuade the EU to revive talks on a withdrawal deal — something that the 27-nation bloc is unlikely to yield to — or else lead Britain into the economic uncertainty of an unmanaged departure. The new 10 Downing incumbent is pretty vocal about his strategy: he would ramp up preparations for a no-deal Brexit in a bid to force EU negotiators to make changes to the withdrawal agreement — that has thrice failed to get parliament’s nod during May’s term as PM. For Boris, leading Britain out of the EU on October 31 is a ‘do-or-die’ affair. Many lawmakers — including pro-EU rebels in the Conservative Party itself — are vowing to block Boris trying to take Britain out of the EU without a deal.

Brexit without a deal — something that anti-EU hardliners would like to see — is feared to undermine global growth, rock financial markets and weaken London’s position as global financial centre. Such could be the chaos and confusion in that event. That Britain has been in a spin since the ‘yes’ vote on Brexit 37 months ago has no two opinions. The prevailing uncertainty underscores the perils of unchecked populism that brought about a ‘Leave’ vote. Unfortunately though, populist sentiments are being fanned the world over ever more to create nationalistic and sub-nationalistic groups for achieving political purposes.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 25^th, 2019.

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