HOT! Brexit has opened a social rift that is hard to heal for the UK - Is it the wrong choice?

BRITAIN is a more divided country today than it was ten years ago, according to a new study of British life. This is aimed at the division caused by Brexit. The events of 2016 brought the UK into two polar opposites: Leave or Stay in the EU. A 2022 British Future report titled "Jubilee Britain" reveals new data from the decade between the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Year and the Year of Platinum, examining changes in British society. The report covers issues surrounding Brexit, more than a decade of Tory rule, pandemics, immigration, the monarchy and British identity. The report comes at a time when the controversy over the protocol has exploded. And NI is being pushed away from the UK towards Ireland. On Brexit and the social divisions that followed, research has revealed staggering numbers. Almost half - 46% - of respondents feel that Britain is more divided now than it was 10 years ago, while only 15% disagree. The report notes that, surprisingly, the Brexit divide is more severe in 2019 than it was when Leave and Retain initially formed in 2016. In 2022, the authors wrote, while Brexit is no longer a prominent topic of public discussion, "now those on the losing side are finding it harder to let go." This is because in 2019 these “tribes” were at odds “over who and who should be responsible for three grueling years of stalemate.” Prime Minister Boris Johnson has long promised to "get Brexit done and unleash Britain's potential", but if this latest poll is accurate, the ongoing spats between the UK and the EU could be fraught with uncertainty. continued after his time in office. Further evidence of social division can be found in an Ipsos Mori poll conducted in 2021. It surveyed 2,385 adults in the UK and stated that: "Britain continues to be divided into distinct groups with divided views on how Brexit should play out." “Supporters of Stronger Remain and Leave are also divided into two groups,” it said. Remaining supporters are divided into more culturally liberal and internationalists and those with more moderate and pragmatic motives. By contrast, Leave supporters split into more culturally conservatives and more economically right-wing, globalists. Elsewhere, evidence suggests Brexit may have caused divisions in British society across social levels including age, class, education and geographic location. We can see divisions within the UK between parties and groups of voters who voted for their choice. Since Brexit, controversies about its success or failure have raged continuously. It has fractured feelings between neighboring countries around the UK. For example, France has erupted into a dispute with the UK over permits to fish in Brexit waters. Brexit is pushing Scotland toward the prospect of independence from the UK and NI closer to a united Ireland. That is too great a price for the benefits that brexit brings.