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Editorial

Juggling Brexit

Exasperated by the growing uncertainty looming before Britain's on and off relationship with the EU, most are wondering if the first referendum was worth the effort. Indeed, then pro-stay Prime Minister, David Cameron, was doing a fine job but wanted to silence the pro-exit politicians for good. Hence, the referendum that Cameron and company lost by the narrowest of margins. The 'winners' had even put sovereignty on the card. The 'electorate' in the countryside had digested that ridiculous argument. Cameron was among the best and most effective of Prime Ministers. Theresa May is proving to be the opposite. Having survived by the skin of her teeth in a General Election that she shouldn't ever have called, virtually every week is turning out to a new battle for her survival. In the European community, Britain's standing is down and its future is in the hands of the leaders of the European Union. Sad for a nation that others looked up to. Naturally, thousands of people marched through central London on the second anniversary of the Brexit referendum, demanding that the UK government give people a chance to make the final decision on whether it goes into effect next year. The rally was organised by several pro-European Union campaign groups and dubbed as the People's Vote march. Organisers say that if a Brexit deal is rejected by the Parliament, citizens should have a vote on any final terms of UK's exit out of the EU. The initiative to leave the EU goes into effect March 29, 2019. Neither the London Metropolitan Police nor Westminster Council, the borough authority where the march took place, would comment on the crowd's size. There were tens of thousands of protesters and a smaller pro-Brexit counter-protest. The government remains knotted up on how to manage the economy, continue trading goods with the European Union, its biggest export market, and mollify businesses and investors who demand answers about future trade prospects. The economy is now the slowest-growing in Europe. Economic and political turmoil started not long after British voters approved the referendum to leave the EU in June 2016. The country's own economists are making dire predictions. The British Chambers of Commerce last week said that the UK's economic growth forecast of 1.3 per cent this year would be the weakest since the financial crisis. Many have said that they are worn out from the protracted talks. Labour Party member Chuka Umunna was out in the streets last week, trying to fight Brexit battle fatigue. The Brexit decision is not necessarily a done deal, he said. If so, why continue holding elections, he asked. "Let's live in a one-party state," Umunna said. Adding, "Let's just elect one government and have them forever, because that's what democracy said at one point in time."

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