UK: A year in review, 2016

By Busra Akin Dincer

LONDON (AA) – Although the United Kingdom is about to leave behind a stormy year, the country will welcome 2017 with further uncertainties about both its relations with the European Union and its own political unity.

-Brexit

The major political event that marked 2016 in the U.K. was the historic Brexit referendum.

The country voted in June by 52 percent to end its 43-year association with the European Union. England and Wales voted to leave while Scotland and Northern Ireland voted strongly to remain in the EU, raising questions about the United Kingdom’s future.

The U.K. Prime Minister and Conservative Party leader David Cameron resigned after losing the referendum and was eventually replaced by Home Secretary Theresa May.

May became the U.K’s second female prime minister after Margaret Thatcher. May fired senior government ministers and appointed political rivals to senior roles as her first cabinet took shape. May’s biggest and most controversial ministerial appointment was former London mayor and lead Brexit campaigner Boris Johnson, who became foreign secretary.

Johnson, the great grandson of Ali Kemal Bey -- once minister for interior affairs in the cabinet of Damat Ferit Pasha in the last days of the Ottoman Empire -- was known for making colorful and often undiplomatic remarks.

May also drew attention by forming two new ministries. Brexit Ministry was created to oversee the country's departure from the EU and the Ministry of International Trade was established to sign bilateral trade agreements, which would keep the country’s economy alive after the EU departure.

Repeating her determination to leave the EU at every opportunity following her appointment, May announced she would trigger Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, the formal mechanism for leaving the EU, by the end of March 2017.

While the opposition is pushing May to explain her plan and schedule for Brexit negotiations, EU leaders have started to treat May as if the U.K. has already left the union.

May’s image has been tarnished as she was excluded from discussions in EU summits.

There is also a struggle among the groups that want the "soft" or "hard" versions of Brexit considering the country's future relations with the EU in terms of a customs union, single market and freedom of movement.

People who support “soft Brexit" want to allow a certain degree of free movement and remain in the single market, while, "hard" circles want the U.K. to exit all EU institutions, including the single market and the customs union.

Theresa May’s government not only faces political or economic challenges but also a legal one. The High Court ruled that the U.K. parliament must be consulted before the country can trigger Article 50, after investment banker Gina Miller brought the case to court.

Campaigners have argued only Westminster can authorize the signing of Article 50 and that using royal prerogative to initiate Brexit would be unlawful because it would bypass parliament.

The government appealed the decision to the U.K. Supreme Court as it sought to avoid having to secure parliamentary consent on exit negotiations. May insisted her government would trigger Article 50 before the end of March by using “prerogative powers”.

Most U.K. lawmakers campaigned to remain part of the EU and Brexit supporters fear a parliamentary vote could allow them to overturn June’s referendum result.

Meanwhile, devolved administrations in Scotland and Wales were also allowed to intervene in a U.K. legal case on Brexit.

The Scottish Government also claimed that the consent of the Scottish parliament should be sought before Article 50 is triggered. Scotland voted strongly in favor of EU membership but was outvoted by other parts of the U.K., prompting First Minister Nicola Sturgeon to declare she would pursue a second independence referendum if the country is taken out of the EU against its will.

Eleven judges at the Supreme Court heard the arguments over four days and a verdict is due early next year.

Meanwhile Britain’s currency tumbled to its lowest level in 31 years with investors fearing a “hard Brexit” from the EU.

The pound plunged by 6.1 percent against the U.S. dollar in the space of two minutes as trading opened in Asia, dropping to $1.18, its lowest level since 1985, before recovering to around $1.24.

-First Muslim mayor of |London

One of the major developments in 2016 in the United Kingdom was the election of a Muslim as the mayor of the capital, London. In May, Sadiq Khan, a Labour candidate, succeeded in becoming the top official of one of the most important capitals of the world.

Khan, won 56.8 percent -- 1.3 million votes -- to Conservative rival Zac Goldsmith’s 43.2 percent.

The result was the largest mandate for a solo candidate in British electoral history after a campaign marked by attempts to link Khan to extremists.

Although the administration of the capital was left in the hands of a Muslim mayor, there has been a notable increase in hate crimes in the UK, especially during and after the EU referendum.

Cultural and religious centers and immigrants in general have become targets.

-Jo Cox murder

Labour Party lawmaker Jo Cox, a mother of two young children, was shot three times and repeatedly stabbed as she arrived for a meeting with constituents in her Batley and Spen electoral district in the north of England on June 16. Thomas Mair, a 53-year-old gardener who lived in the area, was charged with her murder.

Britain First is the name of a far-right political party that campaigns against immigration and what it terms “the Islamization” of the U.K. The organization condemned Cox’s murder and denied any links to Mair.

Jo Cox had only been elected in 2015 and was the first British lawmaker to be killed in office in 26 years. Her death shocked Britain, coming at a time of heightened ethnic and community tensions during the country’s EU membership referendum campaign.

- ‘Prevent’ case

The British government’s anti-extremism strategy has also faced a legal challenge in the High Court. A case filed by Salman Butt, chief editor of news site Islam21c, claimed that some aspects of the Prevent strategy violated basic rights, such as freedom of speech.

Prevent is a government strategy which lays out additional responsibilities for educators to report any suspected extremist activities. It says it “aims to stop people becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism”.