Opinion: Brexit has devastated Britain’s international reputation — and respect for its democracy
British Prime Minister Theresa May, left, speaks to lawmakers in Parliament on Tuesday. By Anne Applebaum Anne Applebaum Columnist focusing on national politics and foreign policy Email Bio Follow Columnist March 12 at 8:10 PM In Madrid last week, a senior politician told me that he was watching the Brexit crisis with growing astonishment. “England, the mother of parliaments,” he said, shaking his head. “We’ve looked up to them for so long.
Another week, another history-making vote: On Tuesday, the British Parliament rejected, again, Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit deal, an arrangement that would have given Britain a reasonably smooth transition period out of the European Union. It was a deal that pleased no one, but some saw it as a way out of a dilemma. The fact is that the British narrowly voted to leave the E.U., but they have never agreed about which kinds of relationships should replace it.
But before we get to that moment, it’s worth pausing to reflect on the damage already done by the Brexit debacle, and I don’t mean the harm to the economy. Far worse is the damage done to Britain’s reputation a serious international player, a competent negotiator of treaties, a reliable ally, a voice for sense in the world — and a representative democracy.
But in the long term, the damage that has been done to British democracy inside Britain might be even worse. The astonishing display of incompetence — the defeated votes, the confused explanations, the constant uncertainty — will not increase the respect that people have for politics or politicians. It won’t inspire them to vote, or to become engaged in public life, or to respect those who do.
One of the reasons why many British voters chose to leave the European Union was because they distrusted European institutions. Of all the many costs of Brexit, this was one I did not foresee: That it could wind up damaging the nation’s faith in its own institutions too.Henry Olsen: If Brexiteers were smart, they would support Theresa May’s flawed Brexit plan
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