Is Britain on fire yet?

If the present time is after 2019-03-30 00:00 CET 2019-04-13 00:00 CEST 2019-11-01 00:00 CET 2020-02-01 00:00 CET quasi-overtime! 2021-01-01 00:00 CET , then yes.

“2021-01-01”?

On the 29th of March 2017, the United Kingdom invoked Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union, beginning the formal process of leaving the European Union. Under the terms of Article 50, the European Union treaties cease to apply to the leaving member state two years after the date of notification, unless a withdrawal agreement is concluded or there is unanimous agreement to extend the deadline. After several delays, such a withdrawal agreement was concluded, and the UK will formally leave the EU at the end of 31st January 2020, though in practice will still be part of the EU for most purposes during a “transition period” lasting until the end of the year.

It's in Central European Time rather than Greenwhich Mean Time because it's the European Union.

“On fire”?

Not literally (well, not directly because of Brexit anyway), but almost:

Beyond the general issues UK-wide, there may be some risk of re-opening old wounds in Northern Ireland.

Why so dramatic?

The United Kingdom has been part of the European Union for more than 45 years, and during that time has become deeply integrated with its European neighbours, relying on the EU's free movement of goods and people between its member states, as well as the EU's extensive laws, agreements and infrastructure that exists in order to make this work well. Unwinding such a deep integration is a difficult, slow, expensive and painful task whatever the circumstances, and yet the UK has given itself only one year to negotiate and implement a new relationship with the EU. The UK is likely to hit 31st December 2020 without being ready, a scenario similar to but technically not quite the same as a “no deal Brexit”. With most of the treaties enabling its integration ceasing to apply overnight with no transition, the UK would go from deeply legally integrated with the EU to lacking trade agreements with most of the world, let alone anything approaching a full agreement with the EU. The UK isn't prepared for a quarter of its food suddenly having to go through customs checks, nor everything else imported from or exported to the EU — and that's just trade, which is only one of the many types of integration the EU has enabled.

Can this be stopped?

The UK can prepare itself for 31st December 2020. The UK had the option of no later than July 2020 deciding to extend the “transition period”, but it chose not to do so. It is no longer politically or legally likely that Brexit will be stopped.

Who are you?

I'm a girl on the Internet who only holds UK citizenship, and I moved to Sweden because I have friends here and wanted to get out of the UK while I still can. Having left the UK does not isolate me from the Brexit crisis, as UK citizens in the EU will face more precarious immigration status.

Changelog