With One Misstep, the UK Becomes Exhausted with Nothing to Gain

 With One Misstep, the UK Becomes Exhausted with Nothing to Gain

United Daily News Editorial (Taipei, Taiwan)

January 19, 2019

 Translation of an Excerpt

The UK’s recent political situation is like a lackluster serial TV drama; Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit deal was recently voted down in Parliament with an enormous difference of 230 votes. However, in the subsequent no-confidence vote motion, she escaped defeat with a 19 vote difference. These episodes in fact were all in the expected script; the problem is that with a series of flip-flopping in attack and defense, the UK’s Brexit prospects remain fuzzy just the same.

The chief culprit of everything started with the Brexit referendum cavalierly launched by former Prime Minister Cameron two and a half years ago, pushing the UK to the predicament of Brexit and then retreating to the edge of a dead-end abyss. To make matters worse, British society has become more and more divided because of the Brexit controversy, and political parties have become more and more opportunistic and utilitarian because of Brexit, while the country's prospects have become increasingly fuzzy.

In fact, since the Brexit referendum was adopted two and a half years ago, the UK’s economic situation has been greatly impacted. The UK’s household income has decreased by an average of £900 per household, with economic growth sliding. The exchange rate of the British pound against the US dollar dropped from £1.6 to US$1 two years ago to £1.28 to US$1, depreciating sharply. Leaving aside the impact that has already happened, with Brexit, the UK has to pay the EU a “separation fee” as high as US$50 billion; the UK must raise debts for this payment. Brexit will also reduce the UK's GDP by 3.9% in 15 years.

After escaping defeat in the no-confidence vote, Theresa May is currently prepared to discuss a new Brexit program with the opposition party, in order to seek an opportunity to re-negotiate with the EU. However, at the present, the Labor Party holds a hardened stance, not willing to take part in the dialogue, demanding that Theresa May abandon the option of "no deal Brexit" before it is willing to participate in the consultations. Also because of this, the situation in effect seems to have returned to square one, still groping for an outlet in the labyrinth.

With one misstep, the retreat would end without a final resting place; the UK’s Brexit could be called a bloody lesson in the history of democracy. Theresa May has been undaunted by setbacks, with the goal of achieving a Brexit deal because she felt that her party should respect the popular opinion in the Brexit referendum. The question is, with the disputes and recession emerging out of the two years and a half in the past, if the Conservative Party had made an objective analysis of the gains and losses to the public before the referendum vote, perhaps today the United Kingdom would not have to blindly grope in the labyrinth.

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