Britain — No Longer Taken Seriously?

It goes without saying that the EU sees Brexit somewhat differently than the UK. The EU would seem to be making the point that it will not be dictated to by Britain, and the divergence of opinions is growing. This is serious as it could have major implications on Britain’s EU exit negotiations.

Dr. Oliver Daddow, Assistant Professor in British Politics and Security at the School of Politics and International Relations, at the University of Nottingham, and Professor Gavin Barrett, Jean Monnet Professor of European Constitutional and Economic Law at University College Dublin, join the program.

Dr. Daddow says that the UK subscribes to a conspiracy theory that the EU somehow wishes them wrong. Thus Theresa May has perhaps an easy time in “continuing a [anti-EU] narrative, particular in Eurosceptic media circles…. I don’t think that the EU wishes to ‘stitch Britain up’ in a way that Theresa May suggests.” Professor Barrett agrees; ‘I think that the idea that the EU wishes to interfere with the UK elections is rather silly, they have no more interest in seeing Jeremy Corbyn in power than they do Theresa May…. It’s good box office to bash the other member states.”

Professor Barrett makes the point that Theresa May has not yet taken on the right wing, more Eurosceptic wing of her party, and that she has an election to win. “Of course, campaigning is done in poetry but governing is done in prose…. At the end of the day, Britain is going to have to compromise, it’s going to have to negotiate, and that will involve hard compromises and that will not be popular with the Tory ‘Right.’” Dr. Daddow says that Theresa May’s attempt to take firm control of the centre could be seen as a way to concentrate control in very few hands, and this could be dangerous, as it can damage contesting voices being heard.

Host John Harrison suggests that what is happening is that Britain is reversing not just to a 1970s anti-foreign line, but way back to the days of ‘Rule Britannia,’ and the Europeans are thinking, ‘who do they think they are!’ The host also suggests that Brits are now realizing that they will not actually be able to enjoy the benefits of the EU after they have left; that the proverbial penny is dropping, and that May’s strategy may be to try to make a scapegoat out of the EU. Dr. Daddow comments that it would have been nice to have more information available before the referendum to have given people more of a base upon which to base their judgments. “None of the UK’s major partners thought that it would be a good idea for the UK to leave, but when you look at the [media] coverage, almost none of that international opinion came through.” Both guests agreed that perhaps the one major benefit of what is happening now is an increase in public awareness about what Brexit actually means, and this may eventually lead to Britain joining the EU again in the future.

In the second part of the program, the situation in France is discussed. Emmanuel Macron’s statement that: “The integrity and unity of the EU will never be compromised” is discussed in terms of the UK elections and Brexit negotiations. Dr. Daddow comments that Macron’s commitment to the Franco-German alliance says a lot about how the EU is going to unfold during Brexit, and post-Brexit. Professor Barrett agrees and adds that the unity of the EU is actually in Britain’s interests. Dr. Daddow, however, points out that it is not in the EU’s interests to make life for the UK nice and cosy outside the EU, “…it would be ridiculous on the EU side for it to set a precedent where a country can keep all the benefits of EU membership whist being outside. Sometimes in the UK media that is presented subversly…” The view that some hold in the UK that it is to Britain’s benefit if the EU breaks up, is also discussed, as is the downgrading of the benefits of membership of the EU. As Dr. Daddow says: ‘The playing to the domestic galleries always comes first in UK politics.”

In the last few minutes of the program, Professor Barrett talks about the price of integration. “The price of integration is the same for all members States. They give up a certain degree of sovereignty, and you pool decision making power, in exchange for which you can create a single market, and you can have much more power in the world. I think it was Financial Times journalist who said that: ‘what Britain is doing is that it is chasing the chimera of sovereignty and in the process actually losing real power.” A discussion follows on the tendency to have a jolly good war in Europe to solve differences.

There are many more themes which are both relevant and possibly rarely discussed in the media discussed in this program, too many to mention in this brief text for the web. So please listen to the show!

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