BREXIT: The Debate, the Decision, and the Aftermath

The case study is about the controversy surrounding the future prospects of the United Kingdom in the post-Brexit period. In a referendum held on June 23, 2016, Britain decided to exit the European Union and snap relations with the 28-member nations club. Ever since the UK joined the EU, there had been heated debates on the value of its membership in the bloc that had prompted the emergence of a group of euroskeptics in Britain who led the movement for Britain’s exit, or Brexit, from the EU.

The British Prime Minister’s declaration of holding a referendum on the issue of the UK’s membership in the bloc fuelled the agitation by the euroskeptics who wanted to protect their country from the corrosion of its national sovereignty. Britain’s final decision to exit the bloc entailed serious consequences of a slide in the stock markets, a fall in the currency, and a freeze in investments in the short term. It also raised questions in several quarters on how breaking off from the EU would affect the British economy in the long term. Critics contended that the short-term upheaval of Brexit could invite long-term consequences which would lead the country to years of damaging uncertainty. Economists feared long-term damage to the British economy in case the country left the EU Single Market. On the other hand, the Brexiteers were optimistic about the growth prospects of the UK economy after its liberation from what they called the stranglehold of costly bureaucracy and comprehensive regulations imposed by the bloc. .