Is the UK justified to leave the EU?

Submitted by: Anna Killeen

Submitted to: Claire Gilsenan
Date: 24th October 2019

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On the 23rd of June 2016, the British population gave their vote, in a Referendum, that
would leave the future of their country unknown to everyone. The results of the
Referendum were 51.9% to leave and 48.1% to stay with the European Union
(BBC.com, n/d). In my opinion the UK are most definitely not justified to leave the
EU as I consider the referendum to be oblique and misleading due to the deficiency of
detail and realistic information provided about Brexit. We saw an instant hit to the
worldwide economic market when American Shares dropped by 3.6%. I believe, the
United Kingdom are not justified to leave the European Union as it is going to affect
every single country inside the EU, and not in a positive way. From their dominance
in the EU market to their dominance in the European Hub, the UK have a huge
influence on their surrounding neighbors. It is my understanding, from reading
different articles and reviews on the British Exit, that the voters in this referendum did
not examine the Referendum as they should have and gave no thought as to what the
long-term consequences of Britain leaving Europe would be. These consequences
include a threat to the existence of multinational companies in Britain, and most
importantly the effect on their own economy. It is for these reasons I think that the
UK are not justified to leave the EU.

From my research, the lack of education provided to the British population had a large
influence on the Referendum. I suspect that if the Brits had a better understanding of
the Referendum and the facts surrounding Brexit, there would be a chance the vote
would have gone against leaving the EU. According to researchers at the University
of Leicester, if more than 3% percent of the British population had received Third
Level Education, the United Kingdom would more than likely still be in the EU. After
a vast amount of study, researchers found that an absence of higher education was a
‘predominant factor’ in how they voted (Independent.co.uk, 2017). Otto English, a
journalist for the Independent UK, campaigned on the streets of Lewisham, South
London handing out flyers on the referendum. From thinking they were already an
independent country to not knowing whether ‘Remain’ meant to stay or leave the EU,
it was clear to English that the Brits did not even understand what they were voting
for. From a survey carried out in 2015, the results showed that 69% of the population
had no interest in politics and about 59% did not know the name of their own prime
minister, who at the time was David Cameron (English 2019). It’s evident the lack of
education had a considerable influence on the Brexit Referendum.

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If Britain leave the EU it will have devastating effects on both Multinationals and the
British market. The impact of Brexit on Multinationals is something no one can
predict the outcome of. The UK is a popular country for Multinational organizations
primarily due to its low corporation tax rate of 20% which is the lowest in the G20
(the world’s 20 largest economies), and also the huge potential to diversify into a
plethora of different industries and its large platform of more than 500 million
consumers across Europe (Government UK, 2017). The UK may be the enemy of its
own actions as they put the existence of their real estate in jeopardy. Many start-up
businesses chose the UK as a location to enter into the European market as it’s an
English-speaking country, but now as Brexit looms closer and closer, day by day,
these companies could potentially move to safer and better suited locations such as
Amsterdam, Dublin, etc. Although the consequences of Brexit on Multinationals are
unknown, the influence these American companies have on both the EU and British
market is substantial and will undoubtedly have some impression on both markets. It
is of no illusion to the British population that the impacts of Brexit will remain with
them into the foreseeable future.

We see other effects of Brexit on the British economy coming into play as car sales
drop, banks consider moving to safer locations in addition to migrants moving back
home which will inevitably threaten sectors such as agriculture, hospitality, food
processing and the long-term sustainability of social care and the NHS (Taylor, G.
2017). It will become impossible for people to save money as it is projected that
Brexit will generate zero-bound interest rates. While we do not see any of these issues
affecting Britain as of now, it will unquestionably have negative implications to the
future of Britain as a country.

In conclusion, I am now of the impression that Britain are not justified to leave the
European Union as it will have repercussions such as disheartened persons due to
their uneducated vote on the referendum, the loss of Multinational companies and the
devastating effect on the British economy. As Charlie Powell stated “We have many
more years of dealing with Brexit ahead of us; UK businesses are going to be feeling
the effects for a very long time. We need to win back allies and build our reputation.
We will need a new agenda and vision to reinvigorate the country” (Powell, 2019).

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 References

BBC, n/d, UK votes to LEAVE the EU,

https://www.bbc.com/news/politics/eu_referendum/results , viewed 16 October
2019

Independent.co.uk, 7 August 2017, Brexit caused by low levels of education,

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/brexit-education-higher-
university-study-university-leave-eu-remain-voters-educated-a7881441.html ,
viewed 16 October 2019

Independent.co.uk, 22 January 2019, The British public still have no idea what they
voted for with Brexit- it's not elitist to admit it,
<https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/brexit-theresa-may-leave-voters-remain-
eu-referendum-campaign-deal-a8740526.html viewed 20 October 2019

United Kingdom, Department for International Trade, 2017, Why oversees

companies should set up in the UK,
<https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/why-overseas-companies-should-
set-up-in-the-uk/why-overseas-companies-should-set-up-in-the-uk>

Taylor, G. (2017) Understanding Brexit: Why Britain Voted to Leave the European
Union. Bingley: Emerald Publishing Limited (Society Now). Available at:
<http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=e000xww&AN=1542620&s
ite=ehost-live> (Accessed: 23 October 2019).

Powell, C. 2019, Does Brexit matter to Multinationals, Forbes

<https://www.forbes.com/sites/brianpeccarelli/2019/05/20/does-brexit-matter-to-
multinationals/#4d51b9296078> viewed 22 October 2019.