Daily Times

June 24, 2016 shall be remembered as the day when the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland officially became a highly polarised “disunited kingdom”. The politics of disunity between the “Remain” and “Leave” campaigns for the referendum on the European Union’s (EU) membership ended in a societal divide never witnessed previously. The moment the results for leaving the EU were announced by a narrow margin of just three to four percent, senior officials of the Scottish and Northern Irish governments called for leaving the UK through a referendum, and eventually reintegrating with the EU. Not only this, British Prime Minister David Cameron also announced his resignation, which paved way for Leave campaign leader Boris Johnson to be the next potential leader of the disunited confederation. The result also led to calls for no-confidence motion against Labour Party’s popular chairman Jeremy Corbyn who pushed for remaining in the EU.

However, the politics played out by centre and far right leaders such as Johnson, Michael Gove and Nigel Farage played a pivotal role in swinging the vote. Their rhetoric and fear based politics through rightwing media confused the average Joe of the British society who voted to leave without realising the ramifications. It was only after the announcement of the decision that some people realised the blunder they had committed.

On the financial front, the global stock markets including those based in London, New York, Mumbai, Karachi, Hong Kong and Tokyo plummeted, and 200 billion sterling pounds were wiped off in just a few hours from London’s FTSE Stock Exchange alone. The referendum’s result also crashed the sterling pound against other currencies with an all time low figureagainst the dollar since 1985. In the coming weeks and months, the aftershocks of Brexit are likely to be seen with property prices tumbling down and uncertainty regarding the economy being a major concern. It may supercede the global financial crisis of 2008 should things get worse such as the potential breakup of the UK.

Coming back to the referendum, the most interesting thing to note was that the majority of younger generation below the age of 30 voted in favour of EU membership, while the older generation above the age of 50 voted for leaving it. While monitoring the social media including Facebook and Twitter, it was also revealed that the majority voted in favour of the membership and calls were being made for either another referendum or leaving the UK itself. An online petition in the British parliament has already crossed the required figure of 100,000 for a debate regarding a second referendum. Moreover, the people of London that comprised 75 percent of the Remain bloc in the city’s voter list have also demanded for an independent state by wishing to be part of the EU, thus, leading to a truly polarised state with fears of dividing the centuries old confederation that ruled the world at one point in history.

Why pushing for a EU membership and not a separate entity? It’s because the EU offered greater benefits for immigrants and business-oriented people. Since joining the union in 1973, the UK attracted thousands of immigrants from the EU states and other parts of the world. As a single economic market and supranational state, the EU was responsible for legislating and implementing economic reforms that benefited the people within the union’s domain. Many imports from the EU and local products were sold at subsidised rates that ensured economic stability. Furthermore, thousands of British companies had close relations with the EU states, which benefited the British economy. Freedom of movement was also ensured that allowed British citizens to live freely within the union’s domain.

However, all this shall have to be renegotiated under a two-year process that may not be completely possible given the current volatile political situation. It is hoped that the British society takes the right course of action in the future and prevent any efforts for disintegration. The EU is the hallmark of federalism and by leaving it the UK may have committed a great blunder. *