- Brexit, it's all anyone in the UK is talking about right now. But what on earth is it,
and how does it work? Do you know what, I think it was best summed up by British actor
Danny Dyer, when he said this.
- So here it is guys, Brexit explained, in 13 words.
Welcome to Eat Sleep Dream English.
If you haven't met me before, my name is Tom, and I teach fresh, modern British English
so you can take your English to the next level, and achieve your life goals, whatever they
may be. Today, we're looking at Brexit, I'm gonna try and keep it short and simple, so
that we can understand it together. Brexit is a portmanteau. Which is when two words
combine to make one word. So we have Britain and exit, you put them together, Brexit. So
Brexit is the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the EU. On the 23rd June 2016, we had
a referendum. 51.9% voted to leave the EU, and 48.1% voted to remain. There was a turnout
of over 70%, which equates to about 30 million people. Now let's just back up really quickly,
Britain is England, Scotland and Wales. And the United Kingdom is England, Scotland, Wales,
and Northern Ireland. Now when we say Brexit, Britain exit, we really are talking about
the United Kingdom. The EU, or European Union, is a political and economic union. Between
28 countries, that collectively decide policies on trade, migration and security. Other countries
in the EU, are Germany, France, Spain, Italy etc. Article 50 is the clause in the 2007
Lisbon Treaty. That says that any member state can withdraw from the EU. Now article 50 was
triggered by Britain when it had its referendum in June 2016. Soon after the referendum, Theresa
May, the British Prime Minister coined this phrase.
- Brexit means Brexit.
- Brexit means Brexit, but what does that mean? It was her way of showing her determination
and pledge to the British people, that she would indeed take Britain out of the EU. Brexit
means Brexit. A Brexiteer, brexiteer, this is a noun. This is someone that is in favor
of leaving the European Union. High profile examples are Boris Johnson, Jacob Rees-Mogg,
and Sir James Dyson. The transition period, is the period of time, between the day that
Britain officially leaves the EU, which is scheduled to be the 29th of March, 2019, although
that could change. Until all the agreements kick in. So that's expected to be about two
years, so December 2020. So this timeline may change, depending on negotiations between
the British government and the European Union. The single market allows free movement within
the EU. Of people, goods, services, and money. It's as if the EU is like one country. There
are no obstacles, you can move freely within it's border. The customs union allows members
of the EU, plus Turkey, San Marino, Andorra, and Monaco to trade together, without any
tariffs or taxes. And at the same time, they all collectively have to charge the same tariffs
on imports from outside the EU. The British government and the European Union have been
negotiating this agreement, for two years now. It's almost like a divorce. If you imagine
a couple divorcing, and they have to agree on how it works. Who gets to keep the house,
who gets to keep the car etc. It's kind of like that. There are different types of Brexit.
We have a hard Brexit, soft Brexit, and no deal Brexit. Now let's go through those. So
let's start with the hard Brexit. What does that mean? A hard Brexit will see Britain
cut its ties completely with the European Union. That means leaving the customs union,
and the single market, as well as many other things. It will therefore give Britain control
of its own borders, and its own trade agreement. And this is what Brexiteers call taking back
control. A soft Brexit is slightly different. Now it doesn't have an official definition,
and it can come in different shapes and sizes. But, depending on the negotiations and the
agreement. Britain could remain in some institutions. Like the customs union or the single market.
Now the idea of a soft Brexit is obviously not very popular with Brexiteers, who see
this as a betrayal of the referendum, and as essentially, not really leaving the EU.
Now a no deal is perhaps the option that nobody wants. This is of course, as it says, where
we can't reach an agreement. The British government and the European Union cannot reach an agreement,
and so Britain immediately leaves the European Union. There's no transition period, there
are hard borders that go up immediately, and new trade agreements will have to be arranged.
Now as it stands, EU citizens that are living in Britain, are free to remain here, but,
it's not so clear about Britons who are living abroad. Will they be allowed to remain? We
don't know yet. Ah, the backstop. This is the slightly complicated one. The backstop
is essentially an insurance policy, demanded by the EU, that there is a soft border remaining
between Ireland, and Northern Ireland. Now, let's back up a little bit here. Northern
Ireland is a part of the United Kingdom, and Ireland is an independent country. There is
a 300 mile border between the two countries that's been open for the last 20 years, thanks
to the good Friday agreement. There are no checks, there are no police, it's open. Now
that's only able to exist, because both Ireland and Britain are in the EU. So you can have
free movement of people and goods. But when Britain leaves the EU, there will need to
be a hard border to control the movement of people and goods. A hard border involves security
checks, police, things like that. Now this would be a huge problem if there was a hard
border, between Ireland and Northern Ireland. There are many historical and social reasons
for this. So, the backstop is a safety net, it's a temporary solution until a better solution,
or a deal can be agreed. Now it is a bit more complicated than that, now if you want to
go into depth, on this issue just type in what is the backstop, into Google, or into
YouTube, and you'll find political commentators who can give a much better definition than
I can. Okay, and the last term, the second referendum. Now of course we had the first
referendum in June 2016. And there are calls from some people to have a second referendum.
The idea here is that it's been so difficult to find an agreement, to agree on a Brexit
that everyone is happy with. That perhaps we should have a second referendum, that we
should go back to the people, and decide whether we still want to leave the European Union,
or not. Now of course, this is popular in some quarters. Not so popular in other places.
It's controversial, just like this whole thing is controversial. Brexiteers will tell you
that the people voted. In 2016, they chose to leave the EU, that was democracy in action.
People who support the second referendum, would say, well we didn't really understand
what we were voting for. No one knew what Brexit looked like. They didn't know, how
it would affect us economically, or socially, so now we know much more about Brexit. We
need another vote to determine if we still want to leave. It's complicated guys. I would
love you guys to share your thoughts, your opinions, in the comments below. What do you
think of Brexit? Please keep it respectful, of course, at all times. But yeah, let me
know in the comments below, what do you think? Have you heard of all these terms? Are some
of them new to you? I have to say, it's been a very confusing time here in Britain, I've
definitely noticed a big division in the country. People that want to remain in the EU, people
that want to leave, and it feels to me, that everyone is just shouting at each other. No
one is really listening. And that's one of the sad parts of this whole thing. But hopefully,
we can find our way through this, and resolve it on one or the other. Thank you so much
guys, this is Tom, the chief dreamer. Saying goodbye.