COVID-19, the United Kingdom and Brexit

• In Event: Ideologies, Mobilization and Resistance

Abstract

This paper seeks to examine how the United Kingdom (UK) reacted to the COVID-19 pandemic in the early stages of its emergence in 2020 and 2021. While contextualizing the
UK response within the broader regional and global experience will provide necessary grounding for the analysis, the focus will be on the preparation, actions and lessons learned by the UK during this period. In particular, the Brexit transition is of primary concern to understanding the circumstances surrounding the manner and methods employed in fighting the disease. Indeed, the break with the European Union (EU) that officially went into effect on January 31, 2020, has generated great interest regarding how it impacted pandemic management within the UK.

Exploring the early phenomenon requires first understanding the possible policies, plans and structures that could have reasonably been expected to be in place to address a pandemic of this nature within a mature and developed Western democracy. Of equal importance will be seeking to uncover root causes underlying response patterns at the local, regional and UK levels of response.

Author

• Peter Mameli, John Jay College