The fifth anniversary of Brexit arrived with a quiet unease. The Union Jacks, once so proudly waved, seemed to droop a little in the January chill. The cheers had long faded, replaced by a low hum of debate and recrimination. As Anand Menon, head of the U.K. in a Changing Europe think-tank, had pointed out, the impact had been profound, the divisions around Brexit now a permanent fixture in the political landscape.
Five years ago, the moment of departure had been fraught. Flags, tears, and a sense of a leap into the unknown. Now, the unknown was the present, and its contours were proving difficult to navigate. But the real story, whispered in the corridors of power and debated in hushed tones in Westminster pubs, wasn’t just about the economic and social aftershocks. It was about the near-collapse of the Johnson administration.
The official narrative focused on the complexity of Brexit itself: the intricate trade deals, the tangled web of regulations, the sheer logistical challenge of disentangling the UK from the EU after nearly fifty years. This narrative, however, masked a deeper truth. What had almost brought the government to its knees wasn’t the complexity, but the implacable opposition within Parliament.
It wasn’t just about the EU flags and the tears of the Remainers. The resistance was more strategic, more deeply rooted. Opposition parties, sensing an opportunity, seized upon Brexit, not necessarily out of genuine concern for the EU project, but as a lever to undermine Johnson’s leadership. They weaponized parliamentary procedure, exploiting every loophole, every amendment, every procedural quirk to obstruct and delay.
The debates weren’t about the best path forward for Britain, but about the balance of power within Westminster. Each vote became a referendum on Johnson’s authority. Every concession was seen as a weakness. The government, with its wafer-thin majority, was constantly on the brink, forced to fight for its survival on every single issue, Brexit-related or not.
The world watched as the British Parliament, that venerable institution, demonstrated its true power. It wasn’t the executive branch, with its mandate from the people, that held ultimate sway. It was Parliament, with its intricate web of checks and balances, that could bring a government to its knees. The Brexit fiasco, therefore, revealed a fundamental truth: the institution of Parliament, in all its messy glory, possessed a deterrent power far greater than the government of the day. It was a lesson etched in the political landscape, a lesson that would shape British politics for years to come, a lesson far more significant than the intricacies of any trade deal.
5 years after Britain left the EU, the full impact of Brexit is still emerging
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