Economics
It’s Europe That Really Wins the Brexit Brinkmanship
The outcome for Brussels exposes the myths around what Britain was going to achieve as the government misread the EU.
This article is for subscribers only.
Early in the morning of June 24, 2016, as the U.K. awoke to the news that a majority had voted to quit the European Union, leading “Leave” campaigner Nigel Farage hailed what he said would “go down in history as our independence day.”
Two-and-a-half years later, the terms of the exit deal struck with the EU make clear that Britain will remain tethered to the bloc for the foreseeable future. And rather than a knock-out blow to undermine the European project, Brexit has only served to galvanize the EU and its 27 remaining governments. The British side couldn’t even unite its top ministers.