I haven’t blogged for quite a
while. Brexit Limbo sapped my enthusiasm, not to mention the seeming
pointlessness of expressing a measured opinion in a time of polarised debate. But
with the UK’s departure from the EU due to begin in earnest late on Friday this
week I feel ready to start writing again, not just on economics but on anything
that takes my fancy (you have been warned!).
As for Brexit itself, I’m neither
happy or too sad. I voted Remain in the 2016 Referendum because the risks of leaving
a powerful trading bloc after decades of integration look considerable when
compared to any proposed benefits. Not surprisingly, therefore, I won’t be
rejoicing with the pro-Brexit enthusiasts as they dance around Big Ben or whichever
alternative percussive devices are available. Yet I won’t be crying into my
favourite high strength Belgian beer, either. This is partly because, like it
or not, Brexit respects the outcome of the Referendum. I always opposed a
second vote, which smacked of telling people that their vote only counted if it
delivered the ‘correct’ (i.e. pro-Remain) choice. In addition, however, I have
always been a rather reluctant European, a pragmatist rather than a Europhile.
I was only 16 when the UK joined
the European Economic Community and to be honest not that interested (my social
hinterland being somewhat wider than that of today’s kid’s army of wannabe
Greta Thunbergs). By the time I went to university the 1975 Referendum had given solid public support to membership of the ‘Common Market’, any debate
amongst my undergraduate associates on the subject largely confined to whether within
the European fold the UK would steer more toward the Social Market or Social
Democracy.
Thatcherism then totally upset
the apple cart by demolishing the UK’s post-war settlement, with those like me opposed
to a de-regulated free-for-all turning enthusiastically to the EU to safeguard
minimum standards, notably in the realm of individual employment rights at a
time when collective rights were being watered down. But this often created as
many tensions as it solved. UK business culture and the legal system never
really gelled with continental norms, creating frictions that tested the guiding
EU principle of subsidiarity to the limit. Moreover, anybody who has sat
through EU deliberations on policy matters would surely attest the clash
between the plain-speaking British empiricist culture and the esoteric philosophical
language favoured by representatives of some of the other powerful member
states.
As my experience of such matters
developed, my inclination leaned firmly toward a Europe consisting of trading relations
between independent nation states. But it was difficult to swim against the
prevailing tide of my pro-Maastricht contemporaries who increasingly took an almost
Panglossian view of all things European to argue that nirvana lay in full-blown
economic and monetary union and closer, not looser, political integration.
My underlying reservations nonetheless
grew stronger in the early 2000s. Having initially been persuaded of the merits
of the Euro currency, it became apparent that the institutions and rules
governing the eurozone were more likely to stifle than support economic growth
and employment (a view reinforced by the subsequent turmoil experienced by several
member states after the 2008 financial crisis). The UK had been wise to remain
outside. Then in 2004 came EU enlargement. This in itself made sense. But I seriously
doubted the wisdom of extending the principle of freedom of movement of labour
to a bloc of countries with such a wide divergence of income levels. I remain
convinced that the resulting mass migration of EU labour to the UK is the main
reason why Vote Leave won the Referendum in 2016.
As a pragmatic Remain voter, I would
prefer a reformed EU to Brexit. But we are where we are and the imperative now is
to make the most of Britain’s post-Brexit future. Some fellow Remainers, especially
the most ardent Europhiles, will doubtless be tempted to run a rhetorical Re-join
campaign. I would rather they campaign instead for a Better Britain.
