Commonwealth Local Government Forum

Brexit and the Commonwealth

CLGF Secretary-General Dr Carl Wright
June 2016


I was in Johannesburg in early July at a high level CLGF conference attended by senior mayors, ministers and officials from throughout Southern Africa. This allowed me to gauge African and Commonwealth reactions to the UK referendum outcome on leaving the EU or ‘Brexit’, a decision I had myself strongly opposed, not least as many CLGF members, had previously expressed to me their worries about the impact of Brexit on their own countries:  something I cannot recall ever having being raised in the self-centred referendum debate in the UK and in the simplistic analysis presented by much of the British media. 

I was sadly confirmed in my earlier prediction that there would be negative economic fall-out on Commonwealth countries, even on relatively strong ones such as South Africa, where the Rand and the markets took a hit, and where there are serious worries about the longer term impact on trade and investment. This concern was also mirrored in every single discussion I had with delegates from Southern Africa including many ministers and mayors. 
 

Most serious however, was the concern delegates expressed about the political implications- the overt racism shown against immigrants, the appalling assassination of Jo Cox MP, the social alienation and xenophobia and indeed the potential danger of the break-up of the post-1945 international order- all issues I had also warned about prior to the vote. At least one senior delegate was even concerned that there could be a knock-on effect which could undermine the African Union and the process of African unification.


The South African papers reflected this sombre mood and talked about Britain withdrawing into a 'laager'; some reader letters even questioned the value of post Brexit links with the UK and the Commonwealth. My conclusion is that the proposed Brexit, unless greatly softened and mitigated against by subsequent negotiations would do untold harm to Britain's economic and political standing, potentially undermine Commonwealth links and damage poorer countries in Africa and elsewhere.
 
On returning to South Africa, I briefly attended the annual conference of our long-standing member, the Local Government Association of England and Wales, in Bournemouth. Here the issue of Brexit, and its serious consequences, both financial and policy-wise, was being discussed in every corridor and in virtually every conference session. Clearly in the event of full-blown Brexit, local government in the UK will face major challenges and will need massive changes in the way it currently operates: this is why the LGA and senior local leaders like London’s Mayor Khan have rightly demanded a seat at any Brexit negotiations.


All this leads me to plea for an early reversal of Brexit by the democratically elected British Parliament or through another referendum. If this is politically impossible and very much second best, there must be rapid negotiation of a close association agreement with the EU. Such an agreement would need to retain access to the Single Market with all that entails, including freedom of movement and workers’ rights. It would also need to aim to safeguard all the innumerable EU trade and aid deals affecting Commonwealth partner countries and establish some sort of special UK/Commonwealth/EU relationship with support of Cyprus and Malta: anything less I fear will compound the British 'laager' mentality, do profound economic damage to both the UK and its Commonwealth partners and do significant harm the UK’s international political standing, including within our Commonwealth family itself.


You can get in touch with Carl Wright on carl.wright@clgf.org.uk
Twitter @CarlWright_CLGF and @CLGF_News
 

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