Developments in the United Kingdom post Brexit

There has been a spate of developments that have taken place in the United Kingdom since it broke away from the European Union on 31 January 2020. The country is now standing at a point when it can rebuild and reshape itself to adapt with the future business and technological requirements. The Prime Minster of the country, Boris Johnson, while addressing the country on the eve of the Brexit withdrawal had asked his countrymen to consider the event as a new beginning and not as an end. He further urged them to come forward to consider the moment as an opportunity and as hope for a better United Kingdom. The country, however, will remain under most of the European Union regulation for a further period of eleven months during which time it will undertake suitable actions and enact new regulations to independently manage its affairs.

The winds of change started to blow into the United Kingdom right after the Benn Act was passed by the British parliament. The Benn Act had its primary objective of ensuring that United Kingdom did not leave the European Union without an appropriate deal to protect the interests of businesses on both sides. This has put to rest much of the anxiety in the country. Prime Minister Boris Johnson, in his first term, had come to office riding on the poll plank that he will meet the erstwhile Brexit deadline of 31 October 2019 with or without a deal. This stance which was hailed by many to put an end to the ongoing Brexit turmoil, made several others uneasy, especially those who were rooting for a with-deal Brexit. If it were otherwise, many of the businesses in the country would suffer from unwanted consequences of the same and would incur massive losses.

The passage of the act thus ensured that Prime Minister Johnson will not be able to pull Britain out of European Union without a deal. The second event which aided the change in sentiments in the country was the victory of Boris Johnson for a full second term in the general elections which were held on 12 December 2019. The Prime Minister, before the calling of the general elections, had negotiated a draft Brexit deal with the representatives of the European Union but lacked the necessary legislative strength in the parliament to turn it into a law. This had been a contentious issue with his predecessor governments who were unable to pass draft Brexit deals in the British parliament on account of non-majority consensus. This had become the primary reason for the delay in the actual Brexit departure even after three years had elapsed since its announcement, leading to much of the turmoil.

The electoral victory of Boris Johnson brought about the first signs of economic revival in the United Kingdom. The country, for the past three years, had showed acute reluctance to respond to numerous regulatory measures as well as monetary policy initiatives enacted by the government and the Bank of England, respectively. It came as the stimulus the British economy was desperately looking for. The election victory cleared the air of uncertainty that was impacting growth for so long. The British people and businesses were now more certain than before about where the economy was heading to and how best to respond to it. The businesses, which had withheld much of their future capital investments, now started to come out and make those investments. The people who were reluctant to spend on account of a gloomy and uncertain economic environment were now coming out and spending more cash than they did until a few months ago. Immediately after the election results a heightened state of activity was noted across the retail sector with black Friday registering record sales across multiple retailers and the housing market showing signs of revival in price improvements across the country.

On the day when Brexit happened and went into the history books, not all was gloomy in the country and several economic indicators had already changed their directions for the better. The British economy started picking up at a much faster pace than could have been anticipated with several important economic indicators now growing at record levels. The prices in the housing sector of the country started picking up at a much faster pace than in the last one year. The manufacturing activity of the country began stabilising after months of negative growth. The various indices of manufacturing growth, service sector growth, construction sector growth all started looking up while even the number of mortgage deals in the country which were negotiated and agreed upon, post Brexit, started increasing. High number of mortgage deals usually signify the confidence of the people about their future and of them willing to make investments for better lives based on that confidence. Even the future expectations of people regarding their well-being in the next twelve months were at the highest as gauged by respected economic research house like IHS Markit, which keeps a constant eye on the health of the British economy and reports on its various parameters on a regular basis.

As the Prime Minister has rightly pointed out, this is a new beginning for United Kingdom. The country would do good if it were to cease this opportunity to transform itself into the leading economy in the world, which would stand atop every measure of development and welfare. The country has strong foundations in enterprise. It was once the most dominant economic power in the world with trading activities in every part of the world. The country also has strong diplomatic and economic relations with major economic powers in the world with the likes of United States of America and many of the prominent South East Asian countries. United Kingdom has already initiated diplomatic parleys with many of these countries with United States of America announcing that a trade deal is in works which will make good the losses from exiting the European Union several times over. In other major announcements, the present government has stated its intentions to increase its public expenditure to the tune of £1 trillion within the next couple of years. This move will not only put the country on a high growth trajectory but will provide massive employment opportunities and spur development in remote and less than developed areas of the country.