Brexit is the popular name for the United Kingdom’s formal departure from the European Union—“Britain exiting,” hence Brexit. Leaving the European Union was put to a popular vote of the British people June 2016 where it passed by a slim margin of 51.9%. However, the actual withdraw has been postponed as Parliament needs to settle upon withdraw agreements. The deadline to do so has been extended three times and is currently set to January 31, 2020.

The argument for Britain leaving the EU mainly centers around economic issues. Since Britain is a part of the EU, its economy is regulated by the EU. However, the British believe that if their economy is no longer regulated by the EU, they will experience economic prosperity and gain new trading partners. Britain leaving the EU means that they will likely increase their trade relations with China which also would impact the European economy since many of the products that Britain imports would come from China rather than other European countries.

However, many believe that if Britain were to leave the EU Union their economy would take a significant blow rather than grow. Since other European countries make up half of Britain’s annual economy (£400 billion), leaving the EU would cause trade disparities within Britain since they would need to find new markets to make up for their losses. Additionally, since leaving the EU makes trade increasing difficult and Britain would no longer be exempt from tariffs put in place by other EU countries, many companies have already considered leaving Britain if Brexit occurs.

Immigration is another significant issue that’s pushing Brexit due to the rising number of immigrants coming from the old Soviet Bloc Slavic states and the flow of people coming from war torn Middle Eastern countries such as Syria. Under the EU’s current immigration policies, for immigrants who move into an EU country, that country is required to provide welfare benefits to those immigrants. Brits who oppose this policy argue they should not be held responsible for these people and that the immigrants coming into their country are not only taking advantage of the welfare benefits provided, but also taking British jobs.

One of the greatest arguments for Britain staying in the EU is the exact reason as to why it’s taking them so long to leave: widespread political upheaval. To understand all of the political implications, one first needs to understand the British government and the position of Prime Minister.

The British government, Parliament, is made up of two houses: the House of Lords which is a long decrepit and virtually powerless group of nobles, and the House of Commons, a group of popularly elected officials who represent different districts within the United Kingdom, much like the US House of Representatives. The House of Commons is made up of multiple political parties, with the proportion of each party often rapidly changing with each election. The party which holds a majority can choose the Prime Minister from among the elected members of their party. Additionally, the Prime Minister can be removed in one of two ways, either with a Vote of No Confidence where, if passed, forces the Prime Minister to resign and call a general election, or if the Prime Minister’s party loses the majority in an election. If a majority is lost then a new Prime Minister is selected from the new majority party.

The two previous Prime Ministers, David Cameron and Theresa May, have resigned due to fear of a Vote of No Confidence being passed by the House of Commons as a result of Brexit issues. The current Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, who is staunchly pro-Brexit, is now also facing possible resignation due to the people’s fear of the implications Brexit could have on Britain and their worries over Johnson’s ineptitude in carrying out his job.

If Brexit deals continue, Britain could shuffle through multiple more changes of power in the coming years. Those who oppose Brexit see the rapid change of leadership as a sign of instability within the British Government and believe that, as a result of the instability, the government should entirely pull out of Brexit deals.

While there are numerous possible implications to Britain leaving the EU and multiple reasons as to why Brexit is occurring, the previously mentioned factors are the main issues plaguing the Brexit deals. If withdraw agreements are passed in January, then Brexit will occur shortly after the beginning of the new year. However, if these agreements are not passed, the deadline will be further postponed and Brexit may never occur.