Modern Britain — Brexit and Beyond

Last time, we saw how the postwar island let go of empire, raised up the ideal of the welfare state, and wavered between stagnation and reform. The Thatcher reforms fundamentally re-examined the shape of the ‘society the state supports,’ and their assessment remains divided to this day. The country that had been the master of the world had been searching anew for itself as an ordinary nation.

That search would in time head toward a great choice over its relationship with Europe. Yet to speak of modern Britain, there is another change we cannot overlook: that the island itself transformed into a society where people gathered from all over the world, diverse in skin color, faith, and language. Re-examining the shape of the nation amid that diversity, being asked about its cohesion as a United Kingdom, and choosing to part from the EU. In this final chapter, we survey the present of a changing Britain, and the questions opened up beyond it.

Toward a Multicultural Island — The Changing Shape of Society

After the war, to make up for a shortage of labor, Britain took in many immigrants from across its former empire. The Caribbean, South Asia, Africa — people who came from all over the world lived, worked, and built families on this island. Cities, London foremost among them, were transformed into multicultural places where varied origins, faiths, and cultures sat side by side.

This change brought Britain richness. Its food and music, its language and the everyday scenery, came to be colored by people of diverse backgrounds. At the same time, over employment, welfare, and ways of life, the acceptance of immigrants has continued to divide opinion. A stance that sees diversity as a strength of society, and a stance bewildered and anxious at rapid change, still stand side by side. The multicultural society is at once a great asset of Britain and a point endlessly debated.

As the substance of society changed, voices questioning the very shape of the nation also grew stronger. It was a question over the cohesion of the United Kingdom, in which England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland were joined together.

The Cohesion of the United Kingdom — Scotland’s Question

Britain, though one country, is a United Kingdom formed of several nations linked together. Scotland in particular was an independent kingdom until its union with England in 1707, and it has continued to keep a history and pride of its own. From the 1980s onward, against a backdrop of the wealth of North Sea oil and discontent over the decline of industry under the Thatcher government, voices calling for independence rose once again.

And so in 2014, a referendum on whether Scotland should be independent was held. The result: about 55% against independence, about 45% in favor. Independence was rejected, and the United Kingdom narrowly kept its cohesion. That turnout exceeded eighty percent tells of how high people’s interest in this question was. Though it was rejected, the voices wishing for independence had not vanished, and the question over the future of the United Kingdom still smolders quietly to this day.

The cohesion of the United Kingdom is not a given; it has been questioned again and again. Will nations bearing diverse histories go on being linked under a single crown, or will each choose its own path? That question would come to be deeply entangled with another great choice — the one over its relationship with Europe.

Brexit — The Choice to Keep the Sea Between

For a long time, Britain wavered over the question of whether to walk together with Europe or to keep its distance. Though it joined the EC (later the EU) in 1973, its hesitation toward integration with the continent did not fade. And so in 2016, a referendum was held on whether to remain in or leave the EU.

The result was a narrow margin: about 52% for leaving, about 48% for remaining. Against the expectations of many, Britain chose to leave. This choice came to be called Brexit, and after long negotiations, Britain formally left the EU in 2020. In the vote, public opinion was deeply split over immigration, sovereignty, and the economy, and voting tendencies are reported to have differed greatly by region and generation.

Having left the EU, Britain once again chose a course of its own. Whether that setting-out turns out for good or for ill, no one yet knows. Yet that this country has piled up great choice upon great choice, and each time re-examined its own shape, is a certain fact.

The Monarchy and Tradition — What Stays, and What Changes

In a present that shifts so fiercely, there are also things in Britain that go on existing unchanged. One of them is the monarchy. Ever since the Glorious Revolution we saw in the fourth chapter, the monarch has held the position of ‘reigning but not ruling,’ bearing the role not of real political power but of a symbol of the nation’s continuity and unity.

The long-reigning Elizabeth II is said to have drawn affection at home and abroad as one who embodied that symbolic role. When she passed from this world in 2022, the end of an era was quietly felt. Even so, it is also true that, over the monarchy, there are various debates about its cost, its privileges, and the form fitting for a modern society. A heart that values tradition, and voices calling for change to suit the times — between them, the monarchy, too, goes on questioning its own shape.

Wavering between tradition and change, Britain will go on walking from here too. Where its footsteps are headed, we do not yet know.

Where Is the Island Headed?

This story, which began on a frontier island ruled by Rome, has come a very long way. The arrival of Anglo-Saxons and Vikings, the Norman Conquest, Magna Carta, the leap onto the seas, the century of revolutions, the empire that spread across the world, the world’s first Industrial Revolution, the height of the Victorian age, the two world wars, the welfare state, and then Brexit — a small island seized world hegemony, gave shape to the modern age, and in time returned to being an ordinary nation. Over ten chapters, we have traced that long voyage.

In the history of this island, light and shadow are woven together inseparably. While it left the world great gifts — parliamentary politics, the rule of law, industrial civilization — the shadows brought by colonial rule, the slave trade, and war will never vanish either. To gaze at once upon what should be taken pride in and what should be reckoned with. That, I think, is what it means to read the history of a nation as an adult.

Where Britain is headed from here, we do not hold the answer. Will the United Kingdom keep its cohesion? How will its distance from Europe change? What future will the multicultural society choose? All of it lies beyond the countless choices people will make from here. Rather than rushing for an easy conclusion, we wish only to close this story with the questions left open.

From an island where the footsteps of Rome echoed, to an island that, with the sea between, changed the world. To the readers who have followed us this far along that long journey, we offer our heartfelt thanks. If gazing upon the history of a nation — leaning toward neither praise nor condemnation, looking upon light and shadow together — can become a clue to knowing, just a little more deeply, this world in which we ourselves live, there could be no greater joy than that. The story ends here, but history will go on. Let us meet again, on some voyage somewhere.

【A History of Britain: How an Island Changed the World — End】