What is Hard Brexit?

Hard Brexit is a term that has been recently brought up in the UK after Britain voted to leave the European Union. However, exiting the EU was not simple as the hard Brexit consequences would impact the politics, economy, etc., in different ways, not necessarily favourable. Therefore, this conundrum gave rise to two options. A hard Brexit or a soft Brexit. A hard Brexit would menat complete severing of ties with the EU, whereas a soft Brexit would maintain trade relations and institutional ties with the EU even though they were no longer a member.

What is Hard Brexit?

Hard Brexit means that the British government ceases to be a part of the European Union. It is ideal for those who want to trigger a Brexit and leave the EU by agreement. However, the significance of Hard Brexit is that it leaves Britain exposed to a series of issues that could cause its exit from Europe to be delayed or even blocked. This will result in losing trade deals and access to foreign workers and investment into Britain and paying billions of pounds in fines to other states like Ireland and France. The UK also has to pay billions of pounds in taxes every year in order to trade with Europe.

Consequences of Hard Brexit:

Hard Brexit consequences will be its impact on Britain’s economy. The Centre for Economic and Business Research (Cebr) conducted an analysis to determine the same.  In order to understand what it means, it is first necessary to look at the effect of a soft Brexit – where Britain retains access to European markets but no full membership in the European Union. 

The consequence of a hard Brexit on the EU would decrease its standards of living. The second main factor that will cause economic hardship for Britain is the one that caused Brexit in all cases in theory – trade restrictions with Europe. With no access to the EU’s market, Britain will not be able to export as much. This will cause a decline in its economy and, therefore, an increase in unemployment as well as an imbalance of income because it will have a smaller workforce for the same amount of people working. After a Soft Brexit, the UK will no longer be part of the EU’s Single Market and Customs Union. Therefore, the UK will not have any tariff-free access to other countries outside Europe following Brexit.

Why is Hard Brexit so important?

In order to understand what type of Brexit will be relatively less damaging to the British economy, we must look at the potential outcomes that can happen when Britain votes for a Soft or a Hard Brexit. One of the main reasons for selecting Hard Brexit is that it allows Britain to forge its own trade deals with other countries. Keeping security agreements with European partners prevents a ‘hard border’ from forming between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.

Soft Brexit vs Hard Brexit:

There is a difference between a soft Brexit and a Hard Brexit, which are the only two options the current government has to choose from. A soft Brexit means that Britain will stay in many EU agencies and programmes and grant full trade access with the European Union. On the other hand, Hard Brexit would mean that Britain will no longer be part of any agencies or programs but maintain its full trade access with the EU. 

The Soft Brexit option is said to be better for Britain as it would be easier for UK citizens who live in other European countries as well as keep existing levels of trade so British companies can easily export goods to Europe by not having to worry about tariffs or quotas. This will also improve their trade opportunities with other countries. However, it is also said that this would cause a drop in the UK’s standard of living as after Brexit has occurred, British companies will have to pay all the tariffs again.

Conclusion:

Most people speak about Brexit as the hard thing that Britain is going to have to do. Many things about it are unknown, including what this hard thing actually means. Although many people refer to Brexit as a Hard Brexit, this is not actually accurate because two other options could mean certain things for Britain. Therefore, it is still necessary to look at which of these options the government will choose and why they would pick that option. While it may be difficult to predict what will happen to Britain after Brexit has occurred, one thing is for certain – things will be different than ever before.