5 years after Britain left the EU, the full impact of Brexit is still emerging

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has promised to “reset” relations with the EU after years of acrimony. But rejoining the bloc remains a distant prospect. (AP)
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Updated 31 January 2025
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5 years after Britain left the EU, the full impact of Brexit is still emerging

  • People and businesses are still wrestling with the economic, social and cultural aftershocks of a decision that divided the country
  • British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has promised to “reset” relations with the EU after years of acrimony

LONDON: Five years ago Friday, two crowds of people gathered near Britain’s Parliament — some with Union Jacks and cheers, others European Union flags and tears.
On Jan. 31, 2020 at 11 p.m. London time – midnight at EU headquarters in Brussels — the UK officially left the bloc after almost five decades of membership that had brought free movement and free trade between Britain and 27 other European countries.
For Brexit supporters, the UK was now a sovereign nation in charge of its own destiny. For opponents, it was an isolated and diminished country.
It was, inarguably, a divided nation that had taken a leap into the dark. Five years on, people and businesses are still wrestling with the economic, social and cultural aftershocks.
“The impact has been really quite profound,” said political scientist Anand Menon, who heads the think-tank UK in a Changing Europe. “It’s changed our economy.
“And our politics has been changed quite fundamentally as well,” he added. “We’ve seen a new division around Brexit becoming part of electoral politics.”
A decision that split the nation
An island nation with a robust sense of its historical importance, Britain had long been an uneasy member of the EU when it held a referendum in June 2016 on whether to remain or leave. Decades of deindustrialization, followed by years of public spending cuts and high immigration, made fertile ground for the argument that Brexit would let the UK “take back control” of its borders, laws and economy.
Yet the result — 52 percent to 48 percent in favor of leaving — came as a shock to many. Neither the Conservative government, which campaigned to stay in the EU, nor pro-Brexit campaigners had planned for the messy details of the split.
The referendum was followed by years of wrangling over divorce terms between a wounded EU and a fractious UK that caused gridlock in Parliament and ultimately defeated Prime Minister Theresa May. She resigned in 2019 and was replaced by Boris Johnson, who vowed to “get Brexit done.”
It wasn’t so simple.
A blow to the British economy
The UK left without agreement on its future economic relationship with the EU, which accounted for half the country’s trade. The political departure was followed by 11 months of testy negotiations on divorce terms, culminating in agreement on Christmas Eve in 2020.
The bare-bones trade deal saw the UK leave the bloc’s single market and customs union. It meant goods could move without tariffs or quotas, but brought new red tape, costs and delays for trading businesses.
“It has cost us money. We are definitely slower and it’s more expensive. But we’ve survived,” said Lars Andersen, whose London-based company, My Nametags, ships brightly colored labels for kids’ clothes and school supplies to more than 150 countries.
To keep trading with the EU, Andersen has had to set up a base in Ireland, through which all orders destined for EU countries must pass before being sent on. He says the hassle has been worth it, but some other small businesses he knows have stopped trading with the EU or moved manufacturing out of the UK
Julianne Ponan, founder and CEO of allergen-free food producer Creative Nature, had a growing export business to EU countries that was devastated by Brexit. Since then she has successfully turned to markets in the Middle East and Australia, something she says has been a positive outcome of leaving the EU.
Having mastered the new red tape, she is now gradually building up business with Europe again.
“But we’ve lost four years of growth there,” she said. “And that’s the sad part. We would be a lot further ahead in our journey if Brexit hadn’t happened.”
The government’s Office for Budget Responsibility forecasts that UK exports and imports will both be around 15 percent lower in the long run than if the UK had remained in the EU, and economic productivity 4 percent less than it otherwise would have been.
Brexit supporters argue that short-term pain will be offset by Britain’s new freedom to strike trade deals around the world. Since Brexit. the UK has signed trade agreements with countries including Australia, New Zealand and Canada.
But David Henig, a trade expert at the European Center for International Political Economy, said they have not offset the hit to trade with Britain’s nearest neighbors.
“The big players aren’t so much affected,” Henig said. “We still have Airbus, we still have Scotch whisky. We still do defense, big pharmaceuticals. But the mid-size players are really struggling to keep their exporting position. And nobody new is coming in to set up.”
A lesson in unintended consequences
In some ways, Brexit has not played out as either supporters or opponents anticipated. The COVID-19 pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine piled on more economic disruption, and made it harder to discern the impact of Britain’s EU exit on the economy.
In one key area, immigration, Brexit’s impact has been the opposite of what many predicted. A desire to reduce immigration was a major reason many people voted to leave the EU, yet immigration today is far higher than before Brexit because the number of visas granted for workers from around the world has soared.
Meanwhile, the rise of protectionist political leaders, especially newly returned US President Donald Trump, has raised the stakes for Britain, now caught between its near neighbors in Europe and its trans-Atlantic “special relationship” with the US
“The world is a far less forgiving place now than it was in 2016 when we voted to leave,” Menon said.
Can Britain and the EU be friends again?
Polls suggest UK public opinion has soured on Brexit, with a majority of people now thinking it was a mistake. But rejoining seems a distant prospect. With memories of arguments and division still raw, few people want to go through all that again.
Labour Party Prime Minister Keir Starmer, elected in July 2024, has promised to “reset” relations with the EU, but has ruled out rejoining the customs union or single market. He’s aiming for relatively modest changes such as a making it easier for artists to tour and for professionals to have their qualifications recognized, as well as on closer cooperation on law enforcement and security.
EU leaders have welcomed the change of tone from Britain, but have problems of their own amid growing populism across the continent. The UK is no longer a top priority.
“I completely understand, it’s difficult to get back together after quite a harsh divorce,” said Andersen, who nonetheless hopes Britain and the EU will draw closer with time. “I suspect it will happen, but it will happen slowly and subtly without politicians particularly shouting about it.”


Oscar-winning actor Gene Hackman and his wife and dog found dead in their New Mexico home

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Oscar-winning actor Gene Hackman and his wife and dog found dead in their New Mexico home

SANTA FE: Oscar-winning actor Gene Hackman, his wife and their dog were found dead in their New Mexico home, authorities said Thursday.
Foul play was not suspected, but authorities did not release circumstances of their deaths and said an investigation was ongoing.
Hackman, 95, was found dead with his wife Betsy Arakawa and their dog when deputies preformed a welfare check at the home around 1:45 p.m., Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Denise Avila said.
The gruff-but-beloved Hackman was among the finest actors of his generation, appearing as both villains, heroes and antiheroes in dozens of dramas, comedies and action films from the 1960s until his retirement in the early 2000s.
He was a five-time Oscar nominee who won for “The French Connection” and “Unforgiven” 21 years apart. His death comes just four days before this year’s ceremony.
The couple’s home is in a gated community just outside New Mexico’s capital city. Hackman moved to the area in the 1980s, where he was often seen around town and served as a board member of the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum in the 1990s, according to the local paper, The New Mexican.
Aside from appearances at awards shows, he was rarely seen in the Hollywood social circuit and retired about 20 years ago. His was the rare Hollywood retirement that actually lasted.
In his later years, he wrote novels from the hilltop ranch that provided a view of the Rocky Mountains.
An email sent to his publicist was not immediately returned early Thursday.

Austria is getting a new coalition government without far-right election winner

Updated 27 February 2025
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Austria is getting a new coalition government without far-right election winner

Three parties announced Thursday that they have reached a deal to form a new centrist Austrian government, five months after an election was won by a far-right party that later failed in an attempt to form an administration.
A statement from the conservative Austrian People’s Party, the center-left Social Democrats and the liberal Neos said they agreed on a program for a coalition after the longest post-election hiatus in post-World War II Austria.
The country’s politicians broke a record of 129 days to form a new government that dated back to 1962.
New People’s Party leader Christian Stocker is expected to become chancellor.


Zelensky invited to special EU summit on support for Ukraine

Updated 27 February 2025
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Zelensky invited to special EU summit on support for Ukraine

BRUSSELS: EU Council President Antonio Costa on Thursday said he had invited Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky to the special summit of EU leaders on March 6, to discuss future support to Ukraine.
“The EU and its member states are ready to take more responsibility for Europe’s security,” Costa said in invitation letter to EU leaders.
“We should therefore be prepared for a possible European contribution to the security guarantees that will be necessary to ensure a lasting peace in Ukraine.”
Costa, who chairs the EU summits, said he aimed for decisions that would make the EU “better equipped to deal with immediate and future challenges to its security.”


Russian and US diplomats meet in Turkiye for talks on repairing ties

Updated 27 February 2025
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Russian and US diplomats meet in Turkiye for talks on repairing ties

  • The delegations will also include officials from the State Department and Russian Foreign Ministry

ISTANBUL: Russian and US diplomats met in Turkiye on Thursday for talks to resolve disputes over the work of their respective embassies in Washington and Moscow, a first test of their ability to reset wider relations and work toward ending the war in Ukraine.
The Kremlin last year described relations as “below zero” under the administration of Joe Biden, who backed Ukraine with aid and weapons and imposed waves of sanctions on Russia to punish it for its 2022 invasion.
But his successor, President Donald Trump, has upended that policy and moved swiftly since taking office last month to open talks with Moscow, pledging to fulfil his repeated promise to bring a quick end to the war.
The talks in Istanbul follow a phone call between Trump and President Vladimir Putin on February 12, and a high-level diplomatic meeting in Saudi Arabia six days later.
The Russian team arrived in a black Mercedes van for the start of the meeting at the gated residence of the US consul general in Istanbul. Russian state TV said the talks were expected to last five to six hours.
Ukraine and its European allies are worried that Trump’s rapid rapprochement with Moscow could lead to a deal on ending the war that sidelines them and undermines their security. Trump says he wants to end the bloodshed with an early ceasefire.
Putin this week tempered expectations of a quick deal, saying it was essential to rebuild trust between Russia and the United States before anything could be achieved.
The two countries have expelled diplomats and limited the appointment of new staff at each other’s missions in a series of tit-for-tat measures over the past decade, leaving their embassies thinly staffed.

Narrow focus
The US State Department said Thursday’s talks would cover issues such as staffing levels, visas and diplomatic banking.
“To be clear, there are no political or security issues on the agenda. Ukraine is not on the agenda,” a State Department spokesperson said on the eve of the meeting.
“The constructiveness of these talks will become apparent very quickly; either issues will get resolved or they won’t. We will know soon if Russia is really willing to engage in good faith.”
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the outcome of the meeting “will show how quickly and effectively we can move.”
He acknowledged that Russia had “created uncomfortable conditions” for USdiplomats in Moscow, in what he said was retaliation for Washington’s treatment of their Russian counterparts.
The talks, despite their narrow focus, are an initial step in a process that could have profound implications for the whole Russia-US relationship in areas such as nuclear disarmament and economic cooperation.
Both sides have said they see potential for lucrative business ventures. Putin said this week that Moscow would be ready to invite the US to enter joint projects to tap rare earth deposits in Russia and in the parts of Ukraine that it has claimed as its own territory.
The US delegation in Istanbul was led by Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Sonata Coulter, and the Russian team by Alexander Darchiyev, head of the foreign ministry’s North America department.
Darchiyev is seen as front-runner to be Russia’s next ambassador to the US, a post that is currently vacant.


Pro-Palestinian protesters force their way into Barnard College building, injuring an employee

Updated 27 February 2025
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Pro-Palestinian protesters force their way into Barnard College building, injuring an employee

NEW YORK: Pro-Palestinian protesters wearing kaffiyeh scarves and masks pushed their way into Barnard College’s Milbank Hall, which houses the offices of the dean, and assaulted a school employee Wednesday, according to the school.
The protesters later left Milbank Hall in the night “without further incident,” Barnard President Laura Rosenbury said in a statement.
“But let us be clear: their disregard for the safety of our community remains completely unacceptable,” she said.
The school had warned that if the students were not gone by 9:30 p.m. officials could be forced to take “additional, necessary measures to protect our campus.”
The student group Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine said on the social platform X that protesters dispersed after the administration agreed to meet with them Thursday afternoon.


The demonstrators demanded amnesty for all students disciplined for pro-Palestine action; a meeting with Rosenbury and Dean Leslie Grinage; and reversal of the expulsion of two students, according to the group.
“WE WILL NOT STOP UNTIL OUR DEMANDS ARE MET. FREE PALESTINE,” it posted on X earlier in the day.
An employee was sent to the hospital after being assaulted by the protesters, Robin Levine, Barnard’s vice president for strategic communications said in a statement, without offering further details.
The protesters also encouraged other people to come on campus without identification, Levine added.
“Barnard leadership offered to meet with the protesters — just as we meet with all members of our community — on one simple condition: remove their masks,” she said earlier in the evening. “They refused. We have also offered mediation.”
Videos posted by the student group showed people wearing masks and kaffiyeh scarves chanting in a hallway. Some banged on drums, while others held megaphones.
Palestinian flags were hung on the walls and slogans such as “Barnard funds genocide” and “Free Palestine” were scrawled on the walls.