Peter Thompson QC shares his reflections on Brexit & some lessons from history
“Roll up that map” said William Pitt the Younger on 4 January 1806, “it will not be wanted these ten years.” As everyone knows, he was pointing to a map of Europe, yes Europe. Fast forward 200 years and we have a remarkable unrolling of that map with the introduction of the Immigration (EEA) Regulations 2006 (SI 2006/1003).
The UK signed up, as did all the other member states in the EU, to an unprecedented roll-out of the map of Europe to its furthermost corner: freedom of travel and establishment throughout the continent. Workers from Poland to Portugal eagerly crossed the Channel. Not just up the estuaries, to adopt Lord Denning’s vivid imagery, but through the Tunnel and in at the airports. Most of them had little or no English but they were willing to learn and to work hard for a better life for themselves and their families. Their market assessment proved to be correct: we did indeed offer opportunities for work, skilled and unskilled, and they took
