Brexit : a tale of exit over voice

Abstract

On the 23rd of June 2016, the UK electorate voted narrowly to leave the EU having joined in 1973, over 43 years earlier. The new UK Government took until March 29, 2017 to deliver its Article 50 notification letter which began the formal process of withdrawal. This was followed by the decision by PM May to call a UK general election on June 8, 2017. The general election did not lead to the expected outcome of an enhanced majority for the Government. Rather, PM May found herself facing a hung parliament when she lost the majority won by PM Cameron in May 2015. This forced her to negotiate support from the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) of Northern Ireland which has formally agreed to vote with the Government on major issues including the laws related to Brexit (UK Gov, 2017). The lengthy timespan between the referendum and notification enabled the EU to overcome its shock and begin to prepare for the world of EU27. The heads of government met informally in September 2016 in Bratislava to establish a road map for the future development of the Union minus the UK (EU, 2016). This was followed by the issuing of negotiating guidelines and directives in April and May 2017 (EU 2017). This paper analyses the key elements of the negotiating process, the issues to be addressed including the attitudes of the two parties and the position of financial services in these negotiations. By definition, the subject matter of the paper is a moving target given the uncertainty of UK politics and the dynamic nature of the Brexit negotiations.