An IMGlobalWealth.news Report
Britain’s departure from the European Union is returning to Parliament in unusually explicit terms, with MPs set to debate a petition calling on the Government to apply to rejoin the EU.
The debate, scheduled for 12 October, follows a petition attracting 111,687 signatures. It does not constitute a vote on EU membership or trigger negotiations, but it places the question of rejoining formally before MPs a decade after the Brexit referendum.
Britain voted to leave the EU by 51.9% to 48.1% in June 2016, on turnout of 72.2%. Article 50 was triggered in 2017 and the UK formally left on 31 January 2020, before the post-Brexit Trade and Cooperation Agreement took effect in 2021.
The Government, however, has already responded that Britain “will not be rejoining the EU”, arguing instead for closer cooperation with Brussels
The referendum campaign was dominated by arguments over sovereignty, immigration, trade and the financial cost of EU membership. Among its most controversial claims was that Britain sent Brussels £350 million a week, money that could instead be spent domestically. The UK Statistics Authority said presenting the gross figure as money available to spend elsewhere was misleading, because it ignored Britain’s rebate and other receipts.
Ten years on, Brexit’s economic consequences remain politically contested, but the UK’s independent fiscal watchdog continues to estimate a significant cost. The Office for Budget Responsibility currently assumes the post-Brexit trading relationship will leave long-run UK productivity around 4% lower than if Britain had remained in the EU, with both imports and exports around 15% lower.
The House of Commons Library says there is a broad consensus among economists that Brexit has left the economy smaller than it otherwise would have been, although the size of that effect remains disputed.
The Government, however, has already responded that Britain “will not be rejoining the EU”, arguing instead for closer cooperation with Brussels while remaining outside the Single Market and Customs Union.
