The Political Struggle with the Issue of a ‘Hard’ Brexit During Theresa May Premiership

Abstract

The article examines the struggle of various political forces in Great Britain with the issue of a ‘hard’ Brexit during the period from the moment the results of the referendum on the membership of the United Kingdom (UK) in the European Union (EU), held on June 23, 2016, appeared until the announcement of the change of the first British strategy for the UK’s exit from the EU, held on July 5, 2018. Due to the approximately equal split between citizens regarding the participation of the country in the European integration project, split among members of leading parties into euro-optimists and euro-pessimists, existence of unresolved domestic political problems, executing the original Brexit plan made by the Conservatives met resistance from the pro-European part of the British society and the parliamentarians who represented its interests. Generally, the given period was a time of gradual accumulation of contradictions between various political forces in the United Kingdom on the issue of a ‘hard’ Brexit, which later resulted in one of the deepest political crises in the modern history of the country.