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Feeling a little lost on Brexit? Never really got your head around it in the first place? Let us walk you through it.

What is Brexit?

Brexit is short for "British exit" - and is the word people use to talk about the United Kingdom's decision to leave the European Union (EU).

What is the EU?

The EU is a political and economic union of 28 countries that trade with each other and allow citizens to move easily between the countries to live and work (click here if you want to see the full list).

The UK joined the EU, then known as the EEC (European Economic Community), in 1973.

Why is the UK leaving?

A public vote - called a referendum - was held on Thursday 23 June 2016 when voters were asked just one question - whether the UK should leave or remain in the European Union.

The Leave side won by nearly 52% to 48% - 17.4m votes to 16.1m - but the exit didn't happen straight away.

It was due to take place on 29 March 2019 - but the departure date has been delayed (we will explain in more detail below).

What has happened so far?

The 2016 vote was just the start. Since then, negotiations have been taking place between the UK and the other EU countries.

The discussions have been mainly over the "divorce" deal, which sets out exactly how the UK leaves - not what will happen afterwards.

This deal is known as the Withdrawal Agreement.

What does the withdrawal agreement say?

The withdrawal agreement covers some of these key points:

How much money the UK will have to pay the EU in order to break the partnership - that's about £39bn

What will happen to UK citizens living elsewhere in the EU and, equally, what will happen to EU citizens living in the UK

How to avoid the return of a physical border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland when it becomes the frontier between the UK and the EU

Adam Fleming summarises the Brexit agreement in one minute(ish)

It also includes a transition period, which has been agreed to allow the UK and EU to agree a trade deal and to give businesses the time to adjust.

That means that if the withdrawal agreement gets the green light, there will be no huge changes between the date of Brexit and 31 December 2020.

Another, much shorter, document has also been drawn up that gives an overview of what the UK and EU's future relationship will be in the longer term.

This is the political declaration. However, neither side has to stick exactly to what it says - it is a set of ambitions for future talks.

The deal was agreed by the UK and the EU in November 2018, but it also has to be approved by British MPs.

Have MPs backed the withdrawal agreement?

Well, no. They have voted against it three times.

On 15 January they rejected the deal by 432 votes to 202 - a record defeat.

Then on 12 March, after Theresa May - the prime minister at the time - had gone back to the EU to secure further legal assurances, they rejected it again.

And on 29 March - the original day that the UK was due to leave the EU - MPs rejected it for a third time (this vote was slightly different as it did not include the political declaration).

Is that why the UK didn't leave on 29 March as planned?

Yes. As MPs did not approve Mrs May's withdrawal deal, she was forced to ask other EU leaders to delay Brexit.

The deadline was delayed until 31 October - but, unable to see a way forward, Mrs May stepped down as PM and was replaced by Boris Johnson.

Why do people oppose Mrs May's deal?

There is a broad range of complaints, many of which claim the deal fails to give back to the UK control of its own affairs from the EU.

One of the biggest sticking points has been over what happens at the Irish border.

Both the EU and UK want to avoid the return of guard posts and checks ( here's why), so something called the backstop - a sort of safety net - was included in the deal.

What is the backstop?

The backstop is meant to be a last resort to keep an open border on the island of Ireland - whatever happens in the Brexit negotiations.

It would mean that Northern Ireland, but not the rest of the UK, would still follow some EU rules on things such as food products.

Theresa May insisted that, if all went as planned, it would never be used.

But it has annoyed some MPs, who are angry that the UK would not be able to end it without the EU's permission and so EU rules could remain in place for good.

Other MPs would prefer the UK to stay closer to the EU - or even still in it.

And others say Northern Ireland should not be treated separately from the rest of the UK.

So, what happens now?

Boris Johnson has said he wants to renegotiate the withdrawal agreement with the EU - and remove the backstop.

If he succeeds in doing this, it will still have to be approved by MPs before being passed into UK law.

However, EU leaders have consistently said they will not renegotiate the withdrawal agreement and that the backstop is an essential part of any deal.

What happens if there is no new deal?

If the prime minister fails to convince the EU to change the withdrawal agreement, he has promised to take the UK out of the EU without a deal on 31 October.

Leaving the EU without a withdrawal agreement would be known as a "no-deal Brexit".

New PM Boris Johnson has promised to take the UK out of the EU with or without a deal

What happens if the UK leaves without a deal?

"No deal" means the UK will have failed to agree a withdrawal agreement.

It would mean there would be no transition period after the UK leaves and EU laws would stop applying to the UK immediately (more on that here).

The government says it is preparing for this potential situation.

It expects some food prices could rise and customs checks at borders could cost businesses billions of pounds. (Read the government's report here).

It has published a series of guides - which cover everything from mobile roaming on holiday to the impact on electricity supplies.

Here is a list of 10 ways you could be affected by a no-deal Brexit.

Is it possible Brexit will not happen?

It is still written into law that the UK will be leaving, even though the deadline has shifted.

The European Court of Justice has said the UK could cancel Brexit altogether without the agreement of other nations - but few politicians publicly back this option.

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Brexit: Your simple guide to the UK leaving the EU

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Feeling a little lost about what's going on with Brexit? Here's our basic guide.

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Britain's Conservative government suffered a historic defeat on 15 January as Parliament massively voted against the deal for Brexit negotiated with the EU. As the clock ticks relentlessly towards the 29 March deadline for leaving, there seems no clear way forward.

The government had been forced to agree to a "meaningful" vote on Brexit and it was pretty clear it wasn't going to go well. Originally scheduled in December, Theresa May had postponed the vote in the hope of winning over more MPs. Instead, her government suffered the biggest defeat in parliamentary record, losing 202 votes to 432.

Immediately afterwards, the Opposition leaders Labour tabled a vote of no confidence for 16 January, which could have taken down the government. However however Theresa May's government won the vote, with the Conservative MPs who voted in droves against the EU deal turning out to support her, along with her Northern Irish allies the DUP. The simple fact is the Brexiteers need to stay in government to try to influence the deal. And the Conservatives have no one else willing to lead them in this thankless battle.

What's in the Deal?
The Withdrawal Agreement and Political Declaration agreed with the EU propose:

a transition period of 21 months to negotiate a future trading relationship. It states that the UK and the EU will cooperate closely on trade and security but end freedom of movement for their respective citizens.

the "divorce bill" of money the UK must pay to cover commitments it made to EU projects: £39 billion

an agreement that EU nationals living in the UK and UK nationals living elsewhere in the EU will be allowed to stay where they are.

a "backstop" agreeing that there will be no "hard border" between Ireland and Northern Ireland, and the negotiations will go on beyond the transition period if necessary to guarantee this.

What's the Problem?
There isn't really but one problem but several. Each party group that voted against the deal has its own motivations. The plan was opposed by a large block of Tory rebels (118 out of 317), the vast majority of the Labour Party and all of the Liberal Democrats. All of the parties representing Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales voted solidly against.

The Conservative rebels are mainly "hard Brexiteers" who don't agree with the transition period, or the trade and customs deals it implies.

Labour pays lipservice to respecting the referendum vote to leave, but remains largely pro-European. There is increasing support in the party and amongst Labour voters for a second referendum (which they hope would result in Brexit being cancelled.)

The Lib Dems, Welsh Plaid Cymru and the Scottish National Party are all anti-Brexit. The DUP is fiercely opposed to Northern Ireland effectively being treated differently from the rest of the UK through the backstop or future border and customs negotiations.

The Northern Ireland backstop seems the most difficult problem to resolve. The irony is that the backstop was supposed to be a consensual compromise: since no solution had yet been found that could keep the border between the Republic and Northern Ireland open while closing the other British borders to EU goods and citizens, it simply put off resolving the issue.

There are practical problems: the other British borders are coastlines. The Northern Irish one literally runs down the middle of roads and through houses. Irish and British citizens who live in the border area routinely cross it several times a day. It is 310-miles long (496km).

An open border, encouraging links between the countries, was a key part of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement that put an end to the violent "Troubles" between partisans of a British Northern Ireland and those who want to see a united Ireland. Everyone seems agreed in principle that there must be no return of border controls, but no agreement has been found as to how it can be applied in practical terms. If the border remains open, goods passing the border will need to comply with EU regulations. Northern Ireland would effectively remain in the EU customs union, even if the rest of the UK left.

What Happens Next?
On Monday 21 January went back to parliament with a plan "B" after discussions with some of the opposing MPs (Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn refused to meet with the government unless they guaranteed there would not be a no-deal Brexit). But Plan B looks very similar to Plan A. Now the ball appears to be in Parliament's court. On Tuesday 29 January, the House of Commons will debate a series of amendments to the deal proposed by different sides.

The longer the deadlock continues, the more likely it becomes that there will be no agreement. That would lead to a "No Deal Brexit", where on 30 March Britain no longer has any rules other than the international World Trade Organisation rules to manage its imports and exports. Companies would theoretically suddenly have to pay duty and tariffs on goods coming into the UK, and equivalent duty and tariffs would make British exports to the EU uncompetitive. And there is no infrastructure in place to actually make the payments.

With the deal, 30 March was a relatively unimportant date, just the beginning of 21 months of transition. With no deal, it is potentially the day the country grinds to a halt

Ready to Use Downloadable resources ready to use in class
> Brexit

Notions culturelles : "Lieux et formes du pouvoir"

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Britain's Conservative government suffered a historic defeat on 15 January as Parliament massively voted against the deal for Brexit negotiated with the EU. As the clock ticks relentlessly towards the 29 March deadline for leaving, there seems no clear way forward.

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Brexit explained: what happens when the UK leaves the EU?

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Brexit : que va devenir la frontière entre l’Irlande du Nord et l’Irlande ?

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Write any comments or questions  you may have concerning Brexit in this section.

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Write any comments or questions  you may have concerning Brexit in this section.

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Cours en français "Governing the UK on various scales", avec exemple de sujet à la fin

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Cours en français "Governing the UK on various scales", avec exemple de sujet à la fin

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Welcome to the padlet on Brexit and Scottish nationalism.
Here are your tasks:

I.  Read and watch the documents on Brexit:
1. Be able to explain the advantages and drawbacks of Brexit for the UK and Europe
2. Be able to understand why people oppose Theresa May's deal.
3. Do the sujet de bac as a training for your Euro exam and your tronc commun exam

II. Read the complementary documents on Scottish Nationalism.
1. Be able to understand who the different actors are, be able to remember important dates and decisions
2. Practise the two Euro exam topics.

In addition, you shall visit the Term ES padlet on The European union. https://padlet.com/perrine_simond/europe

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Sujet de bac (tronc commun) sur le Brexit

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- regarder le corrigé de la compréhension écrite type bac.
- Faire les 6 tasks du 1er document sur Scottish nationalism "Scotland and the UK"
- on se retrouve en live sur le padlet vendredi 10 de 11h15 à 12h05

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thibaut, il ne faut pas te connecter avec un login, reste en tant qu'invité, et ne pas donner ton numero.... j'ai effacé ton com

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thibaut, il ne faut pas te connecter avec un login, reste en tant qu'invité, et ne pas donner ton numero.... j'ai effacé ton com

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Good morning

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Bonjour à tous. Je vous laisser écouter l'audio dans la 4ème colonne

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Bonjour à tous. Je vous laisser écouter l'audio dans la 4ème colonne

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OK. Padlet étant trop instable, nous nous retrouverons vendredi prochain 11h15 sur le  blog des terminales. Je vous enverrai l'adresse ainsi que les logins pour les TS1 et TES2 via "informations et sondages" dans pronote.

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OK. Padlet étant trop instable, nous nous retrouverons vendredi prochain 11h15 sur le  blog des terminales. Je vous enverrai l'adresse ainsi que les logins pour les TS1 et TES2 via "informations et sondages" dans pronote.

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Bonne semaine à tous!!!