Britain is working to restore relations broken by Brexit

Brexit gave the British people independence from Europe. But can the value of national sovereignty be quantified and is it worth more than economic stability?

On the morning of David Cameron's resignation as Prime Minister of Britain seven years ago, I wrote a story for News Decoder. Cameron had lost a referendum on Britain's membership of the European Union.

The article was an attempt at rational analysis in a moment of tremendous shock. No fewer than 17.4 million people voted to leave the EU.

One sentence in particular stands out to me now: 'A referendum will seldom settle an issue once and for all.'

So it is proof. Brexit happened, and its ideologues made the harshest secession from the EU they could.

But now Britain is beginning to recognize the damage being done to its economy, and the supposed benefits of Brexit are being seen as hollow.

Can new trade deals bridge the new divide?

A slightly more lenient UK government has already negotiated a new deal with the EU over Irish border arrangements. Over time, there will certainly be more discussions about creating more flexible relations in areas where Brexit has caused particular problems, for example over industrial standards and border controls.

But even if this happens, the effect of Brexit on economic growth and trade will be long-lasting.

British businesses face costly and tiresome bureaucratic barriers to make even small sales to European customers, and European businesses will soon face the same if the UK introduces border controls on goods coming from the EU.

Many companies don't care anymore and have given up.

According to figures from the Financial Times, the performance of British goods exports is now the worst in the G7 group of industrialized countries. The Office for Budget Responsibility, which provides independent advice to the UK government, estimates that 'both exports and imports will be around 15% lower in the long term than if the UK had remained in the EU'.

And John Springford of the Center for European Reform, a London-based think tank, calculates that Brexit would have reduced the size of the UK economy by 5.5% by the second quarter of 2022.

Regaining national sovereignty at the expense of a strong economy

We must not forget that rational economic points such as these did not prevail in the referendum.

Brexit supporters would still argue that the economic damage is a price worth paying for undoing what they saw as a loss of sovereignty caused by EU membership.

The Brexit vote was especially emotional, a protest not only against alleged subservience to Brussels, but also against immigration. More broadly, it played on disillusionment in rural and post-industrial core countries with the establishment “elite” – a sentiment exploited not only by British populists, but also by Donald Trump in the US.

The referendum sparked a period of toxic and chaotic politics in the UK over the terms of Britain's exit from the EU. Three more prime ministers came and went, and only under Rishi Sunak, the fifth Conservative prime minister in seven years, has there been a change in tone, and a willingness to engage more constructively with European leaders.

This change is very limited. It does not mean softening the Brexit rhetoric. Orwell speak is still everywhere in government communications. When long lines of buses recently formed at the port of Dover, delayed by French passport checks, ministers said Brexit had nothing to do with it – which is clearly false.

And Sunak, touting an agreement with the EU to solve the Irish border problems, said the people of Northern Ireland were in an "incredibly special" position as they had access to both the EU and the UK. markets - something previously available to every British citizen. Brexit.