Grenville Cross says now that Britain has regained control of its own destiny it is high time for the defeatists to get out of the way

The final years of Margaret Thatcher’s prime ministership (1979-90) were bedeviled by the question of Britain’s membership of the European Union (EU). Things came to a head in 1990 when the EU Commission president, Jacques Delors, said he wanted the European Parliament to be the EU’s democratic body, the EU Commission to be its executive, and the EU Council of Ministers to be its senate. When Thatcher retorted “No, no, no”, the EU and its adherents in the governing Conservative Party were incensed and her days were numbered. Once John Major had replaced her, he announced that he wanted to see the United Kingdom “at the heart of Europe”.

As the UK became ever more entangled in the EU, so did public resentment mount. After the 2015 general election, the Conservative prime minister, David Cameron, felt he had to lance the boil. He decided the only way to resolve the issue once and for all was via an in/out referendum, which he was confident would see the UK remaining in the bloc.      

On June 23, 2016 (“Freedom Day”), in what was undoubtedly one of their finest hours, the British people voted to leave the EU (52 percent to 48 percent). Their simmering resentment at being increasingly governed by an unelected Brussels bureaucracy finally boiled over, and they chose to reclaim their independence and sovereignty. They also wanted to regain control of their borders, safeguard the livelihoods of their fishers, and stop paying approximately 20 billion pounds ($26.5 billion) annually into the EU’s coffers.

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What made the result so extraordinary was that the British establishment, led by Cameron and including other party leaders, had told everybody that disaster awaited if they dared to vote to leave the bloc (“Project Fear”).

Cameron even recruited the then-US president, Barack Obama, to his cause. Obama happily obliged, announcing that an independent Britain would be at the end of the queue if it wanted a US trade deal. By contrast, the future president, Donald Trump, promised that if he was elected, the UK would receive preferential treatment.

Once the vote was over, it might have been expected that the people’s decision would be respected, but not a bit of it. Brexit's opponents, including Major and his former deputy, Michael Heseltine, adopted the traditional EU tactic of demanding a second vote (in the hope voters would “get it right” next time round), and they were not alone. In the run-up to the 2019 general election, which Conservative leader Boris Johnson won decisively (“Get Brexit done”), the Labour Party’s Brexit spokesman, Sir Keir Starmer, even persuaded his party leader, Jeremy Corbyn, to include the possibility of a second referendum in the Labour Party’s election manifesto (with disastrous consequences for their party).

After four years of wrangling over whether “Brexit means Brexit”, Johnson finally got Brexit over the line on Dec 31, 2020, and a bright new dawn beckoned.

With the die finally cast, it might have been hoped that everybody would accept the decision with good grace and knuckle down. After all, in democracies, people with different views are supposed to accept the majority’s decisions, even if they disagree. However, Major, Heseltine and their acolytes (including the former Hong Kong governor, Chris Patten, who branded Brexit a “betrayal” while flaunting his supposed pro-democracy credentials) continued to bemoan the decision, hoping to derail the process. From their armchairs, they sought to make life as difficult as possible for Johnson and his successors as they strove to ensure Brexit succeeded.

On the 10th anniversary of the Brexit vote, with the economy struggling (as it is in many Western countries), its opponents have gone into overdrive (“I told you so”). Whereas Major claimed “Brexit has been very damaging”, calling for the UK to rejoin the EU’s single market, Heseltine called it a “self-imposed disaster” and a “heinous crime”.

What they have failed to grasp is that divorce can be painful. After 47 years as a member of the EU, it was always going to take time for the UK to adjust to its new circumstances. As expected, the process of readjustment has been challenging and has not been made any easier by politicians whose ultimate loyalty is to the EU.

Whereas, for example, Major and Heseltine supported the shameful Maastricht Treaty (1992), which committed the UK to “ever closer union among the peoples of Europe” (code for giving Brussels more power at the expense of British sovereignty), Patten is the EU’s former external affairs commissioner (in receipt of one of its handsome index-linked pensions).

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Insofar as there has been a significant post-Brexit problem, it has been the poor quality of the political leadership. After many years in which the significant decisions were taken for them by Brussels and almost 60 percent of legislation was not enacted by the British Parliament, the leaders of the major political parties found it hard to think for themselves. They struggled to come to terms with their newfound freedoms, and their country suffered. This resulted in a succession of political lightweights, including Liz Truss, Rishi Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer (all of whom were ignominiously ejected from office, two by their own parties and one by the electorate). However, notwithstanding these difficulties, Brexit’s benefits are undeniable.

When, for example, the COVID-19 pandemic struck in 2020, the UK was able to approve a vaccine long before the EU countries because it was free of EU bureaucracy. But that was only the start, and there has been real progress across the board.

The UK, for example, can now negotiate its own free trade agreements (FTA) around the world, unrestricted by Brussels. Whereas its FTA with India (2025) is expected to boost bilateral trade by 25.5 billion pounds annually, its FTA with the Gulf Cooperation Council (2026) will eliminate duties on 93 percent of British exports (saving $72 million in duties annually). Having joined the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership in 2024, the UK now enjoys free trade relations with 11 dynamic economies in the Asia-Pacific. In 2021, FTAs were agreed with Australia and New Zealand, followed by a UK-US Economic Prosperity Deal in 2025.  

Although Johnson and his immediate successors failed to appreciate the economic benefits of closer ties with China, Starmer realizes that such ties can greatly help the UK. Although he is now packing his bags, his successor, expected to be the outgoing Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy “King of the North” Burnham, will hopefully further cultivate relations. Indeed, Burnham visited China as the Greater Manchester mayor, and has spoken of the importance of collaboration.

After China’s consul general in Manchester, Tang Rui, met Burnham on April 17, the consulate said that Burnham had “fondly recalled” his past visits to China and emphasized that “Greater Manchester attaches great importance to developing relations with China”. If elected, there is every reason to suppose Burnham will carry those views into his new government.

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Moreover, since its establishment in 2013, the Manchester China Forum, with which Burnham actively collaborated until his mayoral resignation last month, has strengthened the city’s long-term cultural, economic, and educational relations with China, and helped to ensure its engagement with China’s growth and opportunities.

At a time, therefore, when, according to Politico (May 29), the EU Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, is gearing up for a fight with China over trade ties, Burnham can concentrate on doing what is best for Britain, leaving the EU to play its own silly games.

The British statesman, John Bright, described England as “the mother of parliaments” (1865), and its legislature is once again supreme. As it is no longer one of the EU’s regional talking shops, the British Parliament can pass laws on anything it likes, including artificial intelligence, agriculture, and financial services. If Australians, Canadians, Indians, Norwegians and Swiss can successfully govern themselves, there is no reason why the British cannot do likewise. The UK has regained control of its own destiny and it is high time for the defeatists to get out of the way. All it needs now is a statesman of grit and vision who can smell the prizes Brexit has made possible. If not Burnham, there are others in the wings.

The author a senior counsel and law professor, and was previously the Director of Public Prosecutions of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.