The 2010’s was indeed a tumultuous time in both British and European politics. Not only did we have the ratification of the Lisbon treaty, along with the Eurozone crisis and the refugee crisis on the mainland, we also had a flurry of political instability in the home nations.
In 2014, Scotland held a referendum on independence and it was a hard fought campaign on both sides of the argument. The result- which was probably swayed over debates on currency and EU membership- was close and highlighted divisions in Scotland. The rise of the UK Independence Party (UKIP) occurred mostly over the course of this decade. This populist sentiment from UKIP would propagate further and act as pressure group for a referendum on UK membership in the EU- leading to biggest challenge the UK government has had to face since the Second World War: Brexit.
June 2016 was marked by the EU referendum, and the shock result being in favour of the UK leaving the EU. Now in 2020, are things looking as if the dust is starting to settle after 3 and a half years of battling through political instability and dare I say-a constitutional crisis.
However, these are merely just the headlines. What I want to do is dissect the current political affairs happening both here in the UK and within the EU. Even though we have now left, there is no changing our geographical proximity to the mainland, which leaves us within the EU’s sphere of influence. Even if we in the UK decide to diverge in drastic ways from our European counterparts- proximity dictates that what is happening over there also matters to us. To paraphrase Boris Johnson on the day of the Leave victory, whilst we have decided to leave the EU, it doesn’t mean we are no longer European.
Here at Politique, I want to chronicle the events and news stories in politics both here at home and within the UK. Every Monday night, starting next week, I plan on posting with an overview of the headlines with analysis from the week before. Stick with us as we plan to cover the divisions here in the UK, and how the EU plans to survive without one of its most influential members.
‘Till next week~ CS
Politique UK 