AMERICAN BREXIT COMMITTEE
1919 CHESTNUT ST, SUITE 1724
PHILADELPHIA, PA 19103
John M. Corcoran, Esq., Chair
Michael J. Cummings, Secretary
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
1. What does Brexit refer to and what does it mean?
The term is a media creation to refer to a non-binding June, 2016 referendum in the UK which approved Britain leaving the European Community of 27 nations. N.I. voted 56% to 44% to Remain in the EU. It also refers to the Withdrawal or Trading and Cooperation Agreement the EU and Parliament adopted in December, 2020. A N.I. Protocol to that agreement was later adopted and is now called the Windsor Framework. The British work incessantly to undermine its terms which is their pattern and practice for all pacts.
2. How will Britain’s exit from the EU impact the Republic of Ireland (26 counties) and N.I. (6 counties)?
Ireland (26 counties) will be especially impacted by most policies Britain adopts to implement their exit from the EU including increased tariffs on goods, lower Foreign Direct investment, punitive import/export practices, reduction in EU structural funds, farming grants, freedom of movement of EU and Irish citizens. The Good Friday Agreement (GFA) between the UK and the EU has been undermined by unilateral UK actions and by ignoring and corrupting specific GFA obligations e.g. in the Stormont House Agreement, Irish unity poll and human rights requirements. There are 140 joint EU-UK N.I. programs funded pursuant to GFA initiatives which are impacted.
3. How will the 1998 Belfast Treaty (GFA) between the UK and Ireland be affected by Britain’s departure?
The United States is not a signatory but a guarantor of the GFA. The British Conservative government has nothing but contempt for it. Britain has announced they will repeal the Human Rights Act of 1998 and has passed legislation to empower Ministers to ignore EU directives. Key justice provisions of the GFA have been ignored, corrective programs unfunded, and justice corrupted. With unseemly speed, Parliament passed the SPYCOPS law in 2021 retroactively excusing and forbidding prosecutors in N.I. from charging British Army, MI-5, and police spy personnel involved in killing, torturing, or raping civilians in N.I. The Irish Taoiseach claims this is a direct challenge to the fundamental bilateral principles of the GFA and a violation of the N.I. Human Rights Act of 1998.
4. Will Britain be in some sort of distress and in need of US aid as a result of Brexit?
As the world’s 5th largest economy, Britain is well positioned to weather any EU exit storms. The principal negative impact will be economic and long-standing in terms of lower inward investment, slower GDP growth and will be off-load to Ireland, N.I. and Scotland. The Conservatives called for the Brexit referendum knowing the negative impact would be widespread. Most unusually for a major policy initiative, the Conservatives never produced a White Command Paper justifying the move. In the past 14 years, five Conservative Prime Ministers have failed to document the entire economic, social, and political impact because the results would be across the board negative. Since Labor generally supported the stumbling Brexit policy there was no pressure to oppose. Labor barely mentioned Brexit in their 2024 campaign but have already renewed their interest in a new US-UK trade deal to help Britain cope with Brexit damage.
5. How can Americans oppose or have conditions placed on any proposed US-UK trade deal if Britain’s Brexit negatively impacts the GFA and is harmful to the Irish economy or people or to the example the US gives to the rest of the world?
In America, foreign policy is generally bi-partisan and trade is coordinated with the President and Congressional Committees such as Ways and Means and Foreign Affairs in the House, Finance and Foreign Relations in the Senate, and the Joint Committee for Security and Cooperation in Europe (Helsinki Commission). However, Britain has the largest block of registered lobbyists in Washington, D.C. and many American visits, voices, letters, e-mails, and calls will be required to be heard to convey these concerns. Those Members of Congress in key Committee positions and those that have given voice to our concerns in the past are noted on the website and should be the focus of all lobbying. The New Atlantic Charter (2021) principles should be cited if the US and UK are to live up to its promises and those of the GFA.
6. Will Britain’s leaving the EU affect the “special relationship” the US has with the UK?
The “special relationship” is largely a media cover perpetuated to get the British government favors, special privileges, contracts, academic, and business access denied other nations. The British have insinuated themselves into every military, intelligence, and diplomatic institution in America and is embedded in the Department of State which has provided ‘cover’ for the British in their lawless terrorizing of the N.I. civil rights movement and all the corruption, assassinations, and anti-democratic acts that followed. If America needs a partner to promote democracy, justice, TRANSPARENCY, and the rule of law, then the EU and Ireland --NOT THE UK-- are better equipped to fill that “special relationship” role and to achieve the goals of the GFA and the 2021 US-UK ATLANTIC CHARTER.
Rev. 7/24
americanbrexitcommittee.com