Brexit is the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union .
Withdrawal from the EU has been advocated by both left-wing and right-wing Eurosceptics, while pro-Europeanists, who also span the political spectrum, have advocated continued membership and maintaining the customs union and single market. In the 1970s and 1980s, withdrawal from the EC was advocated mainly by the political left, with the Labour Party’s 1983 election manifesto advocating full withdrawal.In 1987, the Single European Act, the first major revision of 1957’s Treaty of Rome, formally established the single European market and European Political Cooperation.
When in 1992 the Maastricht Treaty, which created the European Union and the single market and guaranteed the four basic freedoms was brought before Parliament, there were divisions within the Conservative Party, leading to a rebellion over the Treaty.
Theresa May announced the government’s intention not to seek permanent membership of the European single market or the EU customs union after leaving the EU and promised to repeal the European Communities Act of 1972 and incorporate existing European Union law into UK domestic law. Members from across the House of Commons rejected the agreement, with the leadership of the Labour Party stating in the House of Commons that any deal must maintain a customs union and single market, and with a large percentage of Conservative Party members rejecting the Irish backstop as it was drafted in the EU withdrawal agreement.Opponents of the EU Withdrawal Agreement expressed fears that the agreement as drafted could plunge Northern Ireland into a conflict and spark a return of The Troubles.
The precise impact on the UK depends on whether the process will be a “hard” or “soft” Brexit, or whether there is a no-deal Brexit; whereby the UK would leave the EU without a withdrawal agreement.
