Brexit — a Future History
March 29th 2019 — The UK leaves the European Union.
January 2020 — The Scottish people, determined to return to the European Union, vote to leave the United Kingdom and form The Republic of Scotland.
February 2020 — Vanguard class submarines carrying the United Kingdom’s entire nuclear arsenal request permission to dock at William Wallace Naval Base (previously Her Majesty’s Naval Base Clyde) in Scotland. Massive anti-nuclear protests are held at the base and the submarines are refused permission to dock. As there are no other naval bases in the British Isles capable of receiving the Vanguard class submarines, and their nuclear reactors are in urgent need of servicing, the Royal Navy is forced to evacuate the sailors and scuttle the 4 submarines at secret locations in the North Sea. This leaves the United Kingdom with no nuclear weapon launch capability until 2030, when the new Dreadnought class submarines are due to enter service.
December 2020 — The United Kingdom’s membership of NATO is revoked due to their reckless abandoning of nuclear weapons at sea.
2021 — Iceland, Norway and The Republic of Scotland all join the European Union and are granted billions of Euros in funding by the EU to help with the cleanup of their radioactive shorelines.
2022 — North Korea requests to join NATO. US president Bernie Sanders meets Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un in Seoul for preliminary talks.
2025 — Reduced labor costs in the UK allow China, India and Pakistan to export all of their clothing production to England. Nike and Adidas open shoe factories in East London, reassuring the public that British textiles and manufacturing are at least as good as those in China.
2026 — Young couples in Northern Ireland are relocating to the Republic of Ireland by the thousands, so that their children can be born with EU citizenship. In an attempt to stem this flood of refugees, the Republic of Ireland closes the border with the North and institutes a visa program for UK travelers wishing to enter the Republic. In response to this, Northern Ireland leaves the UK and forms a new Kingdom with Ireland. The Re-United Kingdom of Ireland is formed as a constitutional monarchy with Michael D Higgins elected King.
