What is Brexit, exactly? Britain + exit = Brexit. The historical decision of Great Britain to leave the European Union, fueled by immigration – 13% of the United Kingdom’s population is made up of immigrants which affects their health care, education and wages, in which the UK wants control over its borders and whether they allow refugees from Syria or immigrants from Romania into their country. They suffer from non-conformity – the United Kingdom is only one of two countries who refuse to adopt the Euro (the European Union’s common currency), and they dislike the massive amount of funds it takes to become a member of this union – $16.3 billion in 2014 (Criss, 2016).
What does this mean for the holidays? Well, according to BBC, the holidays are too soon after Brexit to really make a significant impact. Britain first needs to file an Article 50 which will start the two-year exit process, but until then, legal matters stay the same. During the Christmas season there are numerous holiday markets (much like Christkindl), where vendors from all over Europe come to sell goods. These vendors can be affected if Britain decides to impose visas or permits, resulting in the vendors not setting up at the largest markets in England. While this affects those particular vendors, who will most likely set up at other European holiday markets, it may increase the amount of local vendors. However, current immigrant stallholders don’t fear their welcome at these markets and feel that the market is a “sign of human friendship” (BBC News, 2016).
Immigrant workers are not the only ones to suffer, though. The British pound hasn’t quite recovered since Brexit earlier this year. This caused fears that prices would increase on imported goods – however, according to an article in MailOnline, that’s not entirely the case. Putting Christmas dinner on the table will actually be slightly cheaper than it was last year due to supermarket price wars. However, these savings are only on a few key ingredients and were announced after Britain received news that there was a shortage of dairy products due to a collapse in supply from British farms (London, 2016).
Brexit isn’t all visions of sugar plums with it’s two year waiting period and cheaper turkeys, though. There were, and still are, serious matters to be addressed – such as Scotland seeking its independence from the UK, for the second time this decade.
References:
Criss, D. (2016, June 2o). The non-Brits guide to Brexit. CNN. Retrieved from http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/20/world/non-brits-guide-to-brexit-explainer-trnd/index.html
London, B. (2016, November 13). Quitting Brussels gives us cheaper sprouts! The cost of Christmas dinner has gone DOWN despite fears that Brexit would bump up prices. Mail Online. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-37751820
N.p. (2016, November 13). Christmas markets: Will Brexit have any affect? BBC, News. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-37751820
bjf25,
I’m not quite sure what you mean by what happened to Germany. While, Germany had a bit of an adjustment to make with a large increase in immigration, they welcomed them with “open arms”. According to a BBC article, Germany has a “significant skills gap” and a lower birth to death ratio (Hill, 2014).
I do agree, though, that the United Kingdom lacked any sort of commitment to the European Union. The European Union is actually trying to work with the remaining countries to ensure no one else leaves. Apparently the UK is trying to work out an agreement with the EU to have as much access as possible to the single market, but refused to accept any of the inconveniences associated with the membership. This in turn could lean other countries to leave is they are able to keep their economy similar – which obviously the EU wants to avoid at any cost (Martin & Nsar, 2016).
References:
Hill, J. (2014, November 3). Germany struggles to adapt to immigrant influx. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-29686248
Martin, M. & Nasr, J. (2016, November 11). French PM: Europe At Risk Of Collapse; France, Germany Must Lead. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/europe-risk-collapse-france-germany-lead_us_582dfcace4b030997bbe1368
Looking at Brexit, from the viewpoint of other Europeans, some feel that England has never fully committed to the EU. They didn’t change their currency, there were regulations that they haveb”t adopted and now they have voted to close their borders because they don’t want what happened to Germany to happen to them.
England being a island, they have an island mentality and are of and by themselves. They are extremely resourceful and will come through this with flying colors.
Hi,
I found your article to be really interesting. I also came across Brexit and its negative affects in my research as well. I come articles that discuss how Brexit is affecting nations that do business with the UK such as India and Japan. What their situation have in common are the negative impact that Brexit has on their businesses which operate in the UK. For example the UK raised its salary threshold to where any non-EU workers making under £35,000 will be deported. Laws such as this can ultimately cause foreign companies to relocate, leaving tens of thousands foreign and British workers unemployed. Then Britain will have an unemployment issue.
References
Bilefsky, D. (2016, November 7). Hopes for U.K. Trade Deal With India Hit a Snag: Immigration. Retrieved November 10, 2016, from http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/08/world/europe/uk-britain-india-theresa-may-narendra-modi.html?rref=collection%2Ftimestopic%2FGreat%20Britain&action=click&contentCollection=world®ion=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=8&pgtype=collection&_r=0
Edwards, J. (2016, September 05). You should read Japan’s Brexit note to Britain – it’s brutal. Retrieved November 14, 2016, from http://www.businessinsider.com/japan-brexit-note-to-britain-2016-9
Hi,
I found your article to be really interesting. I also came across Brexit and its negative affects in my research as well. I come articles that discuss how Brexit is affecting nations that do business with the UK such as India and Japan. What their situation have in common are the negative impact that Brexit has on their businesses which operate in the UK. For example the UK raised its salary threshold to where any non-EU workers making under £35,000 will be deported. Laws such as this can ultimately cause foreign companies to relocate, leaving tens of thousands foreign and British workers unemployed. Then Britain will have an unemployment issue.
References
Bilefsky, D. (2016, November 7). Hopes for U.K. Trade Deal With India Hit a Snag: Immigration. Retrieved November 10, 2016, from http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/08/world/europe/uk-britain-india-theresa-may-narendra-modi.html?rref=collection%2Ftimestopic%2FGreat%20Britain&action=click&contentCollection=world®ion=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=8&pgtype=collection&_r=0
Edwards, J. (2016, September 05). You should read Japan’s Brexit note to Britain – it’s brutal. Retrieved November 14, 2016, from http://www.businessinsider.com/japan-brexit-note-to-britain-2016-9 Edwards, J. (2016, September 05). You should read Japan’s Brexit note to Britain – it’s brutal. Retrieved September 05, 2016, from http://www.businessinsider.com/japan-brexit-note-to-britain-2016-9