At 11pm U.K. time on Friday 31 January 2020, an historic and liberating event will take place. A grassroots rebellion that just 10 years ago was opposed by almost all of Britain's political and media class has succeeded, and we are leaving the European Union. There are some who will say this is a result of a sense of British exceptionalism. Others might hold it up as proof that we are an island nation which has never fitted into the European club. My own fight with the EU came about because of a wish to be free of the bureaucratic, anti-democratic, supranational structures based in Brussels. This battle has dominated my life for the last 27 years.
For much of that time, I felt that I might become a patron saint of lost causes. Indeed, even as I face my last few days as a Member of the European Parliament, it is still hard to believe that Brexit is really happening. There are skirmishes to come over fishing rights, the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice, and the extent to which we break away from alignment with the EU's rules. Friday 31 January marks a point of no return, however.--
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