Divided UK, inconclusive election, holding up Brexit

LONDON: Lucy Harris thinks Britain’s decision to leave the European Union is a dream come true. Nick Hopkinson thinks it’s a nightmare.

The two Britons – a “leave” supporter and a “remainer” – represent the great divide in a country that stepped into the unknown just over a year ago, when British voters decided by 52% to 48% to end more than four decades of EU membership.

They are also as uncertain as the rest of the country about what Brexit will look like, and even when it will happen. Since the shock referendum result, work on negotiating the divorce from the EU has slowed to a crawl as the scale and complexity of the challenge becomes clearer.

Harris, founder of the pro-Brexit group Leavers of London, says she is hopeful, rather than confident, that Britain will really cut its ties with the EU.

“If we haven’t finalised it, then anything’s still up for grabs,” she said. “Everything is still to play for.”

She’s not the only Brexiteer, as those who support leaving the EU are called, to be concerned. After an election last month clipped the wings of Britain’s Conservative government, remainers are gaining in confidence.

“Since the general election I’ve been more optimistic that at least we’re headed towards soft Brexit, and hopefully we can reverse Brexit altogether,” said Hopkinson, chairman of pro- EU group London4Europe. “Obviously the government is toughing it out, showing a brave face. But I think its brittle attitude towards Brexit will break and snap.”

Many on both sides of the divide had assumed the picture would be clearer by now. But the road to Brexit has not run smoothly.

Since the June 8 snap election, Prime Minister Theresa May have lost her ability to hold together a party split between its pro-and antiEU wings and government ministers have been at war, providing the media with a string of disparaging, anonymously sourced stories about one another. Much of the sniping has targeted Treasury chief Philip Hammond, the most senior minister in favour of a compromise “soft Brexit” to cushion the economic shock of leaving the bloc.

The result is a disunited British government and an increasingly impatient EU.

EU officials have slammed British proposals so far as vague and inadequate. The first substantive round of divorce talks in Brussels last week failed to produce a breakthrough, as the EU’s chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, said Britain must clarify its positions in key areas.

The prospect of tumbling out of the bloc – with its frictionless single market in goods and services – and into a world of tariffs and trade barriers has given Britain’s economy the jitters. The pound has lost more than 10% of its value against the dollar in the last year, economic growth has slowed and manufacturing output has begun to fall.

In the meantime, there is little sign the country has heeded May’s repeated calls to unite.