Countdown to Brexit as Britain prepares to cast off from EU

By William James and Elizabeth Howcroft

 

A pro-Brexit supporter holds a placard at Parliament Square on Brexit day, in London, Britain January 31, 2020. REUTERS/Toby Melville

 

LONDON (Reuters) - The United Kingdom leaves the European Union on Friday with a mixture of joy, anger and indifference, casting off into the unknown after nearly five decades and dealing a blow to Europe's attempt to forge unity from the ruins of World War Two.

 

The EU's most powerful leaders, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron, cast Brexit - due at 2300 GMT - as a sad moment that was a turning point for Europe. The EU warned that leaving would be worse than staying.

 

In the United Kingdom's biggest geopolitical upheaval since its post-war loss of empire, it turns its back on 47 years of membership and must begin charting its own course for generations to come.

 

At the stroke of midnight in Brussels, the EU will lose 15% of its economy, its biggest military spender and the world's international financial capital - London.

 

Several thousand Brexit supporters gathered in a park outside the British parliament, many waving British and English flags in the rain as they watched a eurosceptic video history of the United Kingdom's turbulent relationship with the bloc.

 

"This is the moment when the dawn breaks and the curtain goes up on a new act," said Prime Minister Boris Johnson, one of the leaders of the "Leave" campaign in the 2016 referendum. "It is a moment of real national renewal and change."

 

Johnson planned to celebrate with English sparkling wine and a distinctly British array of canapés including Shropshire blue cheese and Yorkshire puddings with beef and horseradish.

 

In Brussels, the Britain's Union Jack was lowered at the EU council building and the bloc's circle of 12 stars on a blue background was removed from outside the British embassy.

 

Leaving the EU was once far-fetched: the UK joined in 1973 as “the sick man of Europe” and less than two decades ago British leaders were arguing about whether to join the euro.

 

But the turmoil of the euro zone crisis, fears about mass immigration and a series of miscalculations by former Prime Minister David Cameron prompted the 52% to 48% vote to leave.

 

ANTICLIMAX?

 

The final parting of the EU's most recalcitrant member is an anticlimax of sorts. Beyond the symbolism, little will change until the end of 2020.

 

By then, Johnson has promised to strike a broad free trade agreement with the EU, the world's biggest trading bloc.

 

"These negotiations certainly won’t be easy," Merkel said, cautioning London that if it deviated from the EU's rules then its access to the bloc's vast single market would be limited.

 

Macron said Britain it could not expect to be treated the same way as when it was part of the club.

 

"You can't be in and out," Macron told the French in a televised address. "The British people chose to leave the European Union. It won't have the same obligations, so it will no longer have the same rights."

 

U.S. President Donald Trump has long supported Brexit. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Britons wanted to escape the "tyranny of Brussels".

 

Some Britons will celebrate and others will weep - but many will do neither.

 

'INDEPENDENCE DAY'

 

For proponents, Brexit is "independence day" - an escape from what they cast as a doomed German-dominated project with a doomed single currency that is failing its 500 million people.

 

They hope departure will herald reforms to reshape Britain and propel it ahead of its European rivals.

 

"Well for three and a half years they’ve been trying to stop it from happening, but we are getting our independence back," Mark Leeds, a 39-year-old butcher, told Reuters beside parliament.

 

Opponents say Brexit is a folly that will weaken the West, torpedo what is left of Britain's global clout, undermine its economy and ultimately leave the United Kingdom a less cosmopolitan set of islands in the northern Atlantic.

 

David Tucker, a pro-European of 75, said he had come to London from Wales to march in the hope that others would keep alive the hope that Britain would one day rejoin the EU.

 

"It is a tragedy," he said. "We were once part of the world's most powerful economic bloc. Now we are just an inward-looking island that is going to get smaller."

 

But Brexit was always about much more than Europe.

 

The referendum exposed deep divisions and triggered soul-searching about everything from secession and immigration to empire and modern Britishness.

 

Brexit has tested the very fabric of the supposedly united kingdom: England and Wales voted to leave the bloc but Scotland and Northern Ireland voted to stay.

 

But after the twists and turns of 3-1/2-years, many voters are simply happy the wrangling is over. "I just wanted to see it done with," said Lee Stokes, a 44-year-old project manager.

 

(Writing by Guy Faulconbridge; Additional reporting by Kylie MacLellan, Andy Bruce, Kate Holton and Andrew MacAskill in London; John Chalmers and Gabriela Baczynska in Brussels; Editing by Catherine Evans)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-02-01

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congrats to all those who campaigned for Brexit

 

now, starts the real hard work

 

Lets not forget the UK was lied to to get us in. Then we had various treacherous Prime Ministers to try and keep the UK aligned with the EU with their various treaties.

 

47 years of lies and betrayals. Finally we are leaving the EU. That's worth celebrating

Let the triggering commence ????

I bid adieu, mon European Union. A cabal of corruption, backhanders and secret meetings. To quote MLK: "Free at last, free at last, thank God Almighty, we are free at last"!

So symbolic. Who'll be next???

 

 

1 hour ago, melvinmelvin said:

 

congrats to all those who campaigned for Brexit

 

now, starts the real hard work

 

But not those who fell in the ditch campaigning for Hard Brexit. Markets not anticipating a kamikaze no-deal trade agreement with the EU. But old grumpies will no doubt plug on during the transitional arrangements which they did not want.

Love the guy interviewed on the BBC yesterday saying excitedly we have taken back control of our money borders and laws great news the Brexit voters cry except the control is not in your hands its in the hands of a few hundred Tory millionaires now with Texas size promises to fulfill not something I would trust but lets see if the poor remain poor or poorer my bet is they do.

Maybe miracles do happen but the impossible may take a little longer a few decades or more for example????  

6 minutes ago, SheungWan said:

But not those who fell in the ditch campaigning for Hard Brexit. Markets not anticipating a kamikaze no-deal trade agreement with the EU. But old grumpies will no doubt plug on during the transitional arrangements which they did not want.

From a hard rejoiner who hasn't bothered to check the baht this morning?

Reap what you sow pal. You LOST. Get over it ????

2 minutes ago, sammieuk1 said:

Love the guy interviewed on the BBC yesterday saying excitedly we have taken back control of our money borders and laws great news the Brexit voters cry except the control is not in your hands its in the hands of a few hundred Tory millionaires now with Texas size promises to fulfill not something I would trust but lets see if the poor remain poor or poorer my bet is they do.

Maybe miracles do happen but the impossible may take a little longer a few decades or more for example????  

Being shafted by our own is still preferable to being shafted by that lot ????

1 hour ago, Somtamnication said:

I bid adieu, mon European Union. A cabal of corruption, backhanders and secret meetings. To quote MLK: "Free at last, free at last, thank God Almighty, we are free at last"!

The Remainers, the deniers, the fools, will still keep up with their agenda both here on TVF and in the international MSM forum. 

For the rest of the UK, yes we are almost free. There’s still a year of probable trickery and deceit from both the EU and our own politicians, but we still need the real patriots to save us from the Remainers inevitable treachery.

Almost free at last.  

FREE AT LAST!!!!!!! Now, back to my somtam.

37 minutes ago, SheungWan said:

But not those who fell in the ditch campaigning for Hard Brexit. Markets not anticipating a kamikaze no-deal trade agreement with the EU. But old grumpies will no doubt plug on during the transitional arrangements which they did not want.

Nor do they actually want to come back and actually live in this earthly paradise they have inflicted on the rest of us. Patriots? My anus.

2 hours ago, Laughing Gravy said:

47 years of lies and betrayals.

At least your current PM can be proud that he was over many years one of those people who constantly spread and produced those lies. 

23 minutes ago, Loiner said:

The Remainers, the deniers, the fools, will still keep up with their agenda both here on TVF and in the international MSM forum. 

For the rest of the UK, yes we are almost free. There’s still a year of probable trickery and deceit from both the EU and our own politicians, but we still need the real patriots to save us from the Remainers inevitable treachery.

Almost free at last.  

Are you living in the UK? If not, why not? It's paradise over there, don't you know?

2 hours ago, Laughing Gravy said:

Lets not forget the UK was lied to to get us in. Then we had various treacherous Prime Ministers to try and keep the UK aligned with the EU with their various treaties.

 

47 years of lies and betrayals. Finally we are leaving the EU. That's worth celebrating

 

hmmm,

 

meaning that you have had 47 years (minus the months BJ has been PM) of totally lousy and partially corrupt political management in the UK?

 

 

44 minutes ago, Loiner said:

The Remainers, the deniers, the fools, will still keep up with their agenda both here on TVF and in the international MSM forum. 

For the rest of the UK, yes we are almost free. There’s still a year of probable trickery and deceit from both the EU and our own politicians, but we still need the real patriots to save us from the Remainers inevitable treachery.

Almost free at last.  

Dom-the-weasel & Gina Miller popped up in multiple interviews yesterday, yet Francois was nowhere to be seen, at least by me.

 

I half expected Bercow to be wheeled out too, c/w with crocodile tears & minus a knighthood.

 

MSM still don't get it ????

40 minutes ago, baboon said:

Nor do they actually want to come back and actually live in this earthly paradise they have inflicted on the rest of us. Patriots? My anus.

I think somebody needs a hug.

1 hour ago, evadgib said:

From a hard rejoiner who hasn't bothered to check the baht this morning?

Reap what you sow pal. You LOST. Get over it ????

I just got 41.2Bht/pound.

12 minutes ago, evadgib said:

Dom-the-weasel & Gina Miller popped up in multiple interviews yesterday, yet Francois was nowhere to be seen, at least by me.

 

I half expected Bercow to be wheeled out too, c/w with crocodile tears & minus a knighthood.

 

MSM still don't get it ????

An interesting take from Tom Harwood, and it is something to which we should be eternally gratefull to Gina Miller for:

 

"If Gina Millier didn’t file and win that case back in early 2017, there would have been no Parliamentary meaningful votes, no defeats, and we would have left with May’s deal, complete with regulatory alignment and a potentially permanent customs union."

 

 

17 minutes ago, vogie said:

An interesting take from Tom Harwood, and it is something to which we should be eternally gratefull to Gina Miller for:

 

"If Gina Millier didn’t file and win that case back in early 2017, there would have been no Parliamentary meaningful votes, no defeats, and we would have left with May’s deal, complete with regulatory alignment and a potentially permanent customs union."

 

 

Miller's precedent should have enabled Tilbrook's case to have succeeded but this wasn't possible in a loaded court. Ironically the ECJ may yet rule in his favour on appeal. 

Do all the 'guest' workers in Britain now have to return to the EU?  Do EU folks on the doll have to leave Britain?

1 hour ago, Loiner said:

The Remainers, the deniers, the fools, will still keep up with their agenda both here on TVF and in the international MSM forum. 

For the rest of the UK, yes we are almost free. There’s still a year of probable trickery and deceit from both the EU and our own politicians, but we still need the real patriots to save us from the Remainers inevitable treachery.

Almost free at last.  

You are the traitor. You are inflicting harm on your own country.

Hundreds of Brexiteers celebrated today as independence day as UK no longer have a seat on the EU table and therefore became a vassal state of the EU.

 

Control is now restored.

48 minutes ago, TheDark said:

Hundreds of Brexiteers celebrated today as independence day as UK no longer have a seat on the EU table and therefore became a vassal state of the EU.

 

Control is now restored.

Bill Cash has launched a PMB calling for 23 June to become a public holiday per annum. I forsee St Nigel filling Bercow's vacancy in the HoL in the next New Years honours list too ????

Congratulations with your emancipation. I hope Denmark will be the next country to leave

When do I get my British passport back? for us who remember the old blue one and if it's not to much trouble a British Driving License 

 

3 hours ago, TheDark said:

Hundreds of Brexiteers celebrated today as independence day as UK no longer have a seat on the EU table and therefore became a vassal state of the EU.

 

Control is now restored.

Now we can become a vssal state of America !

6 hours ago, OneMoreFarang said:

At least your current PM can be proud that he was over many years one of those people who constantly spread and produced those lies. 

Awh bless.

 

You were one of those saying that Boris Johnson is a clown and wouldn't get reelected. Why does it bother you, as you are not British. There is no bigger lie than the entity called the EU and the biggest clowns, are those people who think they are democratic and have an equal voice.

Now the weirdos and misfits are out........ and out of control ????