“This is a wonderful moment for this country. We have our freedom in our hands. It is up to us to make the most of this,” Boris Johnson said five years ago after the Brexit announcement.
Staff shortage
Five years later, the scales were set. It has never been easier for vegetable growers. Brexit makes it difficult for Europeans to move to the UK. The vegetable farmer says the balance between supply and demand is skewed when it comes to business. Last week, an order for strawberries was canceled because he had no one to pick strawberries. The British are looking for 30,000 collectors, 100,000 catering staff and 13,000 truck drivers.
“If I had known the government had embarked on Brexit without a solid plan, I would never have supported it,” says a British distributor. However it is an exception. Most Britons have not changed their minds. An economy that has run on decades of cheap foreign labor must now invest, among other things, through higher wages. Many say that Brexit could make the UK more productive.
International relations
International relations have also changed. Brexit in recent years strengthened the independence campaign among Scots, and undermined the pro-British Northern Irish. The row over compliance and implementation of Johnson’s Brexit deal will take years. London will blame Brussels for being extremist while Brussels will remind London of the choice it made five years ago.
Brexit isn’t over yet, but Brits don’t want to hear about it anymore. In terms of voters, Brexit is not an overwhelming success, but also not an insurmountable disaster. Britain’s exit from the European Union is real.
