2016 and on BBC What you need to know about Brexit [excerpts] Why is Britain leaving the European What's happening now? Union? The UK has voted to leave the European Union. It is scheduled to depart at 11pm UK time on Friday 29 A referendum - a vote in which everyone (or nearly March, 2019. The UK and EU have provisionally agreed everyone) of voting age can take part - was held on on the three "divorce" issues of how much the UK owes Thursday 23 June, 2016, to decide whether the UK the EU, what happens to the Northern Ireland border and should leave or remain in the European Union. Leave what happens to UK citizens living elsewhere in the EU won by 51.9% to 48.1%. The referendum turnout was and EU citizens living in the UK. Talks are now moving 71.8%, with more than 30 million people voting. on to future relations - after agreement was reached on a 21-month "transition" period to smooth the way to post- What was the breakdown across the UK? Brexit relations. England voted for Brexit, by 53.4% to 46.6%. Wales What is the 'transition' period? also voted for Brexit, with Leave getting 52.5% of the vote and Remain 47.5%. Scotland and Northern Ireland It refers to a period of time after 29 March, 2019, to 31 both backed staying in the EU. Scotland backed Remain December, 2020, to get everything in place and allow by 62% to 38%, while 55.8% in Northern Ireland voted businesses and others to prepare for the moment when Remain and 44.2% Leave. the new post-Brexit rules between the UK and the EU begin. It also allows more time for the details of the new What do 'soft' and 'hard' Brexit mean? relationship to be fully hammered out. Free movement will continue during the transition period as the EU These terms are used during debate on the terms of the wanted. The UK will be able to strike its own trade deals UK's departure from the EU. There is no strict definition - although they won't be able to come into force until 1 of either, but they are used to refer to the closeness of the January 2021. UK's relationship with the EU post-Brexit. What does Brexit mean? So at one extreme, "hard" Brexit could involve the UK refusing to compromise on issues like the free movement It is a word that used as a shorthand way of saying the of people even if it meant leaving the single market or UK leaving the EU - merging the words Britain and exit having to give up hopes of aspects of free trade to get Brexit, in the same way as a possible Greek exit arrangements. At the other end of the scale, a "soft" from the euro was dubbed Grexit in the past. Brexit might follow a similar path to Norway, which is a member of the single market and has to accept the free movement of people as a result of that. 1 2016 and on BBC 2 2016-06-20 NYT - 1 Brexit, Explained: 7 Questions About What It Means and Why It Matters The Interpreter By AMANDA TAUB JUNE 20, 2016 Credit Hayoung Jeon/European Pressphoto Agency Boats campaigning to exit the European Union sailed by the British Parliament during the Battle of the Thames last week. Credit Niklas WASHINGTON — With a landmark vote approaching Halle'N/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images on Thursday on whether Britain will leave the European The debate leading up to this week’s vote is playing out, Union, two recent events highlighted the stakes and the however, as a broader choice over what national values unique Britishness of the “Brexit” debate. to prioritize. Last Wednesday, in what Britons took to calling the Pro-Brexit advocates have framed leaving the European Battle of the Thames, both sides sent flag-waving Union as necessary to protect, or perhaps restore, the flotillas down the river to advertise their cause. The country’s identity: its culture, independence and place in “Leave” campaign blasted the theme song from “The the world. This argument is often expressed by Great Escape” from Westminster Bridge, and Bob opposition to immigration. Geldof, a prominent campaigner in the “Remain” campaign, bellowed facts about fishing from boat- “Remain” supporters typically argue that staying in the mounted speakers. union is better for the British economy and that concerns about migration and other issues are not important The next day, a man fatally shot and stabbed a member enough to outweigh the economic consequences of of Parliament, Jo Cox, who supported staying in the leaving. European Union. The man shouted, “My name is death to traitors! Freedom for Britain!” at a court appearance The debate has also cut along the country’s famously on Saturday. The killing has shocked the country and deep class divides: Voters with less money and drawn attention to the increasingly heated national education are more likely to support leaving the union. debate. Robert Tombs, a historian at the University of Cambridge, said this stems from a sense of abandonment This is much more than a vote on membership in a 28- among poor and working-class Britons. The Brexit nation bloc. It is about national and social identity, debate has become a vessel for anti-establishment and Britain’s place in the world and the future of the anti-elite feelings directed at the leaders of mainstream European project. British political parties as much as at Europe. 1. What is Brexit? Neither side is defending the European Union as a A portmanteau of the words “Britain” and “exit,” it is meaningful or admirable institution. In part, this speaks the nickname for a British exit of the European Union to particularly British views that the rest of Europe is after the June 23 referendum asking voters: “Should the somehow alien. United Kingdom remain a member of the European This also reflects a Euroskepticism, or opposition to the Union or leave the European Union?” European Union, rising across the bloc as the union veers from crisis to crisis. In this way, the Brexit vote is a particularly noticeable manifestation of a sense that 3 2016-06-20 NYT - 2 European institutions have fallen short of their lofty leaving. Rather than defending the European Union or promises and have created burdens, such as absorbing immigration as good for Britain, the campaign warns migrants or bailing out troubled economies, that many that leaving would be disastrous for the British economy. Europeans are tired of bearing. 2. What is the case for leaving? A lot is implied in one of the campaign’s slogans, “Take control.” Britain’s loss of full authority over its economic policies and regulations has so rankled many of the country’s citizens that it has spawned an entire genre of urban legends over the years, called “Euromyths.” These stories usually feature some aspect of classically British culture that is supposedly under threat. One claimed that double-decker buses were to be banned, while another suggested that fish and chips would have to be written in Latin on menus. The subtext is barely Supporters of remaining in the union on the Westminster Bridge as a flotilla of boats campaigning to exit sailed up the Thames in London subliminal at all: Gray-suited Brussels bureaucrats are last week. Credit Stefan Wermuth/Reuters the enemy of Britishness, a threat to Britain’s identity in all its deep-fried, double-decker glory. Most economists agree with that claim. Europe is Britain’s most important export market and its greatest “There are two things at play here,” said Brian Klaas, a source of foreign direct investment, and union fellow in comparative politics at the London School of membership has been crucial to establishing London as a Economics. “One is the cultural nostalgia for Britain’s global financial center. A British exit would jeopardize lost place in the world. This idea that Britain used to that status — and the high-paying jobs that come with it. matter, Britain used to be able to do things without having to consult Brussels.” The mere fact of the referendum has already affected the economy; the pound is at its lowest valuation in seven Then there is immigration. “There’s this feeling that years. we’re losing our cultural identity and our national identity,” Mr. Klaas said, “at the same time that there’s But it is telling that those who want to stay, including this influx of people who are willing to work for low Prime Minister David Cameron and the leadership of wages.” Britain’s two main political parties, have not expressed much enthusiasm for the European Union itself. Instead, A 2013 British Social Attitudes Survey found that more their arguments are focused narrowly on British self- than three-quarters of Britons want the country’s interest. Their message is not that membership in the immigration policies reduced, and about 56 percent said bloc is an exciting opportunity so much as a basic they should be reduced “a lot.” economic necessity. Though Britain has accepted a small number of refugees That is a sign of how unpopular the union has become relative to other European countries, British tabloids throughout Britain, according Mr. Klaas, partly because have implied the country is being overrun by an of bad public relations. “If you get funding from Europe uncontrollable “swarm” or “tide” of foreigners. Labor for a road, you take credit,” he said. “But if you can’t get migration, particularly from Eastern Europe, has often funding, it’s Europe’s fault.” been painted as economically threatening.