Post-Brexit blues

admin9205 21 février 20213 février 2022

It has been two weeks since the UK left the EU. A last-minute deal was finally signed in Brussels on the 24^th December 2020. Even though the problematic Irish border question had already been resolved, there remained the stumbling-block of access to British waters by EU fishermen. In the end, a quota system, extremely unfavorable to small British fishermen, was agreed on.

Strangely, the other major problem in the Brexit deal, i.e. financial services and the City of London, has hardly been touched upon and remains unclear despite a vague “equivalence system” already in place.

The Brexit agreement therefor, has left some issues to be sorted out later. These include for example, EU law and policing.

Today, a sample of some of the problems to come can be seen in the chaos at the ports of Dover and Calais. Here, long queues of lorries are waiting to pass through custom’s controls.

Another sector experiencing problems is on-line shopping where customers in France, buying from businesses in Britain, have been asked to pay exorbitant custom’s tariffs.

Someone who does not suffer from post-Brexit lives is PM Boris Johnson who claims that will “prosper mightily” from the Brexit deal! Well, politically he has prospered, but will Britain? That is the question!

At AGO, we were devastated when Britain voted to leave the EU nevertheless, we were comforted to learn that our twin Oxford, had voted to remain by a majority of 75%! This has made us all the more determined to strengthen our ties with Oxford and promote a lasting friendship between our two cities.

Written on January 15th 2021 by Veronica Smith, member of AGO.