(CN) — In a recent newspaper column, a well-known Italian journalist worried a United Kingdom acting alone outside the European Union will be tempted to behave like a predatory pirate ship off the coast of Europe: Stealing business, capturing investment and tempting others to join it on the lawless seas.
Writing in Il Corriere della Sera the day before the pivotal British general election on Dec. 12, Beppe Severgnini feared a win by pro-Brexit Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his right-wing Conservative cohorts would tempt the Tories to “transform Great Britain into a buccaneer's ship off Europe's shores.”
Severgnini had a warning: “This would be a big mistake. This is no longer the era of the pirate Sir Francis Drake and the European fortress is strong and its defenders have powerful cannons at their disposal. The idea of — metaphorically — firing upon our English friends is repugnant. But, if they force us to, we will.”
This tense scenario is becoming reality after a majority of English voters — but not Scottish or Northern Irish ones — were drawn into backing Johnson and his scheme of hauling anchor and casting off from the EU. With the election, Johnson's Conservatives won a decisive majority in Parliament and quickly set into motion plans to take the U.K. out of the EU. Johnson has promised the U.K. will be out of the EU with or without a trade deal by the end of 2020.
Severgnini's hypothesis is based on a long-running debate at the heart of Brexit: What will the future of Britain and its relationship to its European neighbors look like after it leaves the EU?
Ever since the 2016 Brexit referendum, a school of thought has emerged among right-wing circles in Britain that once the U.K. is outside the EU and its system of rules and regulations, the country can be revived by adopting a “Singapore-on-the-Thames” model.
In other words, akin to Singapore, the U.K. will be able to reduce taxes to attract corporations and investment, deregulate to increase production, inject state funds to bolster U.K. enterprises over European competitors, strike new trade deals and allow only the people it wants into the country. In this scenario, Britain could seek economic advantages in other ways too, including weakening the value of the pound sterling to boost exports, and watering down standards in manufacturing.
In certain areas — such as digital services, software development and gene editing in biotechnology — the U.K. could eschew EU rules and become, in theory, a more attractive place to do business and research than the rest of Europe.
In retaliation for such moves, the EU would be expected to impose tariffs and trade barriers on the U.K.
This vision of the U.K. as better off after Brexit is the subject of a bitter debate among academics, politicians, policymakers and Brits on both sides of the divide over Brexit, the Leavers and Remainers.
There is concern among Europeans that the U.K. under Johnson will seek competitive advantages through Brexit. This concern was brought up by German Chancellor Angela Merkel in a speech in October. She said Britain will be “a potential competitor” after it leaves the bloc.