“The island is still there, but a little more sloping than before,” says RTL UK correspondent Katharina Delling. It’s been three years since Brexit. Today Great Britain is shaken by the crises of the past few years.
“The British are doing pretty badly at the moment,” says Katharina Delling, RTL’s London correspondent, in the 460th episode “important today”. Inflation, high interest rates, rising taxes, strikes and a failing health care system are making things difficult for the country. “There are really many who don’t know whether to heat or eat because they have to choose between one.”
British economic growth is among the worst of the G7 countries. Extrapolations show that British productivity is four percent lower than it would be without Brexit. Exports and imports are 15 percent lower than they could be if the UK had stayed in the EU. “So there are already numbers that show that it really wasn’t a good idea,” Delling said in the podcast.
“Bregret”: More than half of Britons regret Brexit
It’s been three years since Brexit, and it was followed by “Megxit”: the royal withdrawal of Prince Harry and Duchess Meghan. At the end of last year, the biggest farewell to be expected: the death of Queen Elizabeth II. And now the “Bregret”. A mixture of Brexit and “regret”, English for regret. More than half of Brits regret the decision to leave the EU, says the UK correspondent. Many say today: This is not the Brexit I wanted. “And that’s exactly the problem. Nobody knew exactly what Brexit actually is?”
The journalist believes that there will be no short-term solution to the Brexit problem. “Especially not as long as the Conservatives are in power.” Rishi Sunak, Britain’s new Prime Minister, could have given people hope, could have done more about the energy crisis and helping citizens. According to Delling, that doesn’t happen, because the focus is primarily on companies. “Rishi Sunak makes politics for the richer half of the population, especially the rich one percent.”
Is the UK getting closer to the EU again?
The UK correspondent finds it difficult to imagine that Brexit can be reversed, that Great Britain will rejoin the EU – or at least in the internal and customs market – after everything that has gone wrong in recent years. “There are a lot of ifs and buts.” But: At least the Labor Party is slowly preparing in the background. Because in the next elections, she could be the one who, according to current polls, will take the wheel again. And that might not mean a return to the EU, but at least a rapprochement.
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Source: Stern
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
