“What we don’t know is what usually gets us killed”. The rallying cry for the Remain campaign was the economic instrumentalism of EU necessary for Britain’s future and the loss of independence (the paranoia created by Leave campaign) was tacitly accepted. In a sense, remaining with EU came across as a necessary evil for Britain. Naturally the spirit of the public would be to break away. In the country-side, the benefits of EU never percolated and under-investment in public and educational infrastructure led to jobs going to immigrants. Though immigrants added a net positive contribution to the British economy, they came to be seen as the ills of EU. While the real reason being an indifference by London to look beyond itself. Consequently the majority of the countryside voted to leave the EU.
The decision has been made, the will of the people has been ascertained. Whether it was prudent or it fell victim to rhetoric & tyranny of the mob, is for the future to decide. But as days pass, the sense of euphoria is subsiding. The leave campaign has toned down its rhetoric, its leader has declined to be the next PM and answers to Britain’s problems are still unknown. The leading banks have started searching for alternative sites in Paris & Frankfurt to shift offices as London risks losing its pride.
EU is staring at a Euro 7 billion hole in its budget, as Britain which contributed about 20% of its GDP would no longer be there. Painstaking trade negotiations between Britain and individual EU members are on the anvil, while EU risks facing a Domino effect with more member nations looking to go down the Brexit road. The noises from Holland are already ominous. The Brexit might eventually turn out to be the most significant politico-economic event deciding Europe’s future and the question that may eventually come to haunt is was the method of exercising freedom was right and were there better alternatives which weren’t imagined.
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