Post-Brexit challenges to the UK machinery of government in an ‘Age of Fiasco’: the dangers of muddling through?

Abstract

This article analyses the existing and potential effects of EU withdrawal on the UK machinery of government (MoG) in an ‘age of fiasco’. Brexit has been a system-wide shock that has the potential to fundamentally alter British domestic policy and politics. Above all, departing from the European Union (EU) represents an unprecedented ‘stress test’ for the government machinery. Brexit has been the greatest challenge confronting the MoG since the Second World War. Yet its impact on the UK state’s structures and processes has thus far been modest. The pattern of change indicates gradual adaptation and modification of institutions rather than transformation of the governing machinery through De-Europeanisation and dismantling. That said, EU withdrawal is aggravating pathologies in the Westminster Model (WM) that contribute towards the erosion of UK policymaking. This article contends that the capacity of UK government was weakening before Brexit, while withdrawal from Europe imposes additional burdens. The governing approach of incrementalism and ‘muddling through’ has come under severe strain.