When questioned on the benefits of leaving the European Union, committed Brexiteers frequently reply with: “We got our sovereignty back – now our government can make its own decisions again.” Sounds convincing, but when they are probed further on which particular EU-free government decisions have so far greatly benefited the UK, their answers are often less assured, recently along the lines of: “You just wait – ten years, maybe twenty, then you’ll see.” Twenty years! That wasn’t quite the perception famously – or now infamously – spun by Boris Johnson in his “Get Brexit Done” and “oven-ready deal” days of 2019. It already seems so long ago, but the repercussions continue.
To be fair to those still bullish Brexiteers, it may be that way down the line, although some of us won’t be here to see it, the benefits of the monumental decision to leave will become apparent. And there is the fu rther possibility that sometime in the intervening years, a brave government may bow to revised public opinion and campaign to take us back. Who knows? Meanwhile, regardless of any long-term, potential benefits of Brexit, what are the downsides, to date, of leaving the EU? What do we miss most?
Most obviously, surely, it’s travel and access. As a member of the EU, the UK invested part of its sovereignty in people’s ability to travel and work in other member countries, and in businesses to trade freely. It worked both ways, in both directions. All that has changed. Mile after mile tailbacks of stationary trucks waiting for hours to cross the Channel, young people without the opportunity of living, learning and working in mainland Europe, and frustrated holidaymakers moving at snail’s pace at airport passport control queues are all clear evidence. Smaller issues, such as unstocked supermarket shelves, stripped of European produce, or the exasperating problem of simply trying to send or receive items through the post, can be infuriating for us all individually. But on a far wider basis, farming, fishing and other industries continue daily to count the cost of Brexit. So, for now at least, it remains “Au revoir, EU” – gone but not forgotten.
