Dr Connal Parr, lecturer in history at Northumbria University, has shared his views on the matter.
Sputnik: How do you see Brexit negotiations panning out in 2020?
Dr Connal Parr: By this stage a no-deal is less likely than it was towards the end of last year because Johnson has a whopping majority now in the House of Commons. In some ways this gives him the chance to pursue whatever kind of Brexit he desires, and it might be that this gives him space to pursue a softer kind of Brexit, but the actuality of trade negotiations is that they are things which take many years, and certainly it’s the beginning of the end as it were.
One thing that the election confirms is that Brexit is definitely going to happen and the case for remain has now really been put to bed, very few people are calling for a second referendum, that has been put to bed by the election. At the same time; it is difficult to predict, but my suggestion would be that a no-deal scenario is considerably less likely than it was two months ago.
Sputnik: Will Boris Johnson’s vision of Brexit be good enough for the likes of Nigel Farage and the Brexit Party?
Dr Connal Parr: It could well turn out to be something along the lines of those descriptions used by the likes of Farage and the Brexit Party, but in some ways it’s very immaterial now because the Conservatives hoovered up enough of the leave vote and are seen as the party of Brexit, and they won the election handsomely on the back of that issue, and therefore there will be some sniping on the side-lines from Farage, but deep down he will probably be quite pleased that the Brexit Party did have some influence on the election.
The Brexit Party will still be in the background of things, and will act as something of a pressure group. There will still be a little reminder here and there that they can exert some pressure on the Conservatives and on Boris Johnson, but in all honesty it will now be on to the next thing for Farage.
It will be interesting to see what happens to Farage politically because he’s always struggled when it comes to Westminster in terms of making much of an impact, but he probably feels now that there is some kind of a Brexit and that he can go off into the sunset and just keep an eye on Johnson, whilst sometimes intervening in the media if it seems that Brexit isn’t enough to his liking.
Sputnik: How can the Labour Party recover from their crushing general election defeat?
Dr Connal Parr: It’s a ten year process now for the Labour Party. The next election could present a chance to claw it back, but it would have to be an unprecedented number of seats to reverse the bad result and actually win the next election which seems very unlikely, and that’s barring Brexit going swimmingly.
There are no guarantees that Brexit will go swimmingly, there will be economic repercussions, food will be more expensive and goods will be more expensive for all people in the UK, especially if there is some tumult and difficulties during the with the withdrawal process, it’s not a given.
At the same time; the British public always weighs up the options they prefer, and for a lot of people now Corbyn has led the Labour Party and now it’s going into a new phase where they transition into a different kind of leadership.
