‘Bregret’? Many Brits are suffering from Brexit regret

Menon noted that ironically, Brexit began negatively affecting the economy in early 2020 shortly after the U.K. left the EU, but the impact was clouded by the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Industries from farming and fishing to car manufacturing and pharmaceuticals have highlighted difficulties faced as a direct result of Brexit over the past few years.

Now, Menon argued that the opposite is coming to pass, in that many of the U.K.’s current economic problems are not primarily down to Brexit but are shining the spotlight back on its detrimental effects.

“There is absolutely no doubt that Brexit is part of the reason for the rather bad economic figures we see coming out of the U.K., particularly bad in comparative context with other G-7 economies,” he said.

But longer-term factors played a role, and he suggested that a lengthy stagnation in living standards, partly caused by the austerity policies introduced by David Cameron’s government, contributed to the anger unleashed across working-class communities in the Brexit vote.

Brexit being ‘redefined’

Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson won a landslide election victory in 2019 with a promise to “get Brexit done,” touting an “oven-ready” withdrawal agreement he had negotiated with the European Union. That campaign saw hardline pro-Brexit Conservative candidates flip a wave of former “Red Wall” Labour voting constituencies.

Menon highlighted that more than three years on, Brexit is being “redefined” from a cultural, values-based issue that united voters who might otherwise disagree vehemently on the economy, to a primarily economic issue.

“That’s problematic for the government because that Brexit coalition that Boris Johnson put together is united on cultural issues, but very divided on economics, so can’t respond in an effective and coordinated manner, and we see this in the parliamentary Conservative Party,” he explained. 

“There are fights over things that most political parties of the past would be fundamentally united on, i.e. the basics of economic strategy.”

Article source: https://www.cnbc.com/2023/03/03/brits-are-suffering-bregret-but-brexit-is-no-longer-a-priority-data.html