After voting to leave the European Union last June, the British might have left their country high and dry. And things got worse after the country’s Supreme Court issued a decision obliging the government to obtain parliament’s approval before triggering Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty on withdrawal by any EU member.

Indeed, the House of Commons gave the government the green light to go ahead with Article 50, provided that results of negotiations with Brussels are presented once again to it for a final approval.

It is known that a majority of the parliament were against Brexit but their current attitude and voting to activate the Article 50 cast doubts on their credibility and present quite a few complications, locally and abroad.

At the local level, there are now more than three million European workers in the UK and it remains to be seen how they will be treated under the new laws as they are expats who would no longer have the same privileges. In the same way, there are many UK citizens working in EU member-states, especially in banks and financial institutions, whose status is yet to be made clear.

Externally, the open borders between Northern Ireland, which is part of the UK, and South Ireland, an EU member state, cannot remain the same, especially as the UK intends to exit the single market according to the White Paper published last week by the government.

UK unemployment rate

It is plausible that the economic aspect strongly affected the court’s decision alongside legal grounds. The UK currency has sharply declined and several big companies based in the UK have started to look for alternatives at a time when Austria and Belgium have announced they welcome those companies and would provide them with all facilities.

This means losing tens of thousands of jobs, increasing the UK’s unemployment rates and affecting commerce at a time when more than 60 per cent of the UK’s trade is with its European partners. The latter has hinted many a time there would be no guarantees for the UK’s membership within the European Free Trade Zone after exiting the EU.

The UK has thus started looking for alternatives and this is what Theresa May, the Prime Minister, is seeking to achieve through partnerships with the GCC states, the US and India. However, the question arises as to whether the British economy would be able to absorb all the shocks amid tense economic conditions? In fact, this issue might be the reason behind the decision to pass the activation of Article 50 in the parliament, as there are indications that show the Brexit decision was made in a rush over the past six months.

Game of roulette

Regretfully, this is what exactly happens when crucial decisions are left to the public who — so many of them — do not understand the decisions they are making well enough and grass roots organisations take advantage of the public temperament and play to nationalistic sentiments. This affects decisions that depend so much on emotions than reality.

But what about the losses that could be incurred by the British economy, especially as a result of the devaluation of the currency, while others have achieved great gains thanks to the speculations that came after the voting for Brexit?

Obviously, with the parliament voting on the government’s final report after activating Article 50, negotiations with the European commissioner on the exit plan is likely to be difficult due to stringent EU standpoint. These might result in huge losses for investors while achieving sizeable gains for others. In fact the Brexit process up to now seems to be like playing a game of roulette in a long, quiet, cold winter night.

Dr Mohammad Al Asoomi is a UAE economic expert and specialist in economic and social development in the UAE and the GCC countries.