After Brexit: UK stickers for British cars

NSRituals are tough times for drivers. Not only are city governments constantly expanding the areas in which additional fees are payable (“congestion fee” and “low emission zone fee”). At this point in time, drivers also find themselves lucky if their petrol station is still open and sells them some fuel. And starting this Tuesday, drivers also face fines for driving their cars from island to continent without a politically correct sticker.

The government in London, which wanted to regain control with Brexit and get rid of the much-discredited excessive regulations in Brussels, now obliges all drivers to decorate their cars with the “UK” emblem when traveling abroad. . If you haven’t ordered or received a new license plate yet, you’ll need to purchase a sticker and affix it. The innovation, which has already been given to the United Nations, has so far received little support. While pragmatism criticizes a frivolous administrative act, conservatives mourn the end of an era more than 100 years old. Because until now the cars of the Kingdom were internationally defined as the engine subjects of GB, ie Great Britain.

a sign of solidarity

In January, when the Brexit transitional rules ended and the new sovereignty was visible in all its glory, Transport Minister Grant Schap proudly presented the new GB license plate. On it, the GB is flashed to the left of the personal number and letter identification – but no longer under the EU logo, but under the Union Jack. The fact that UK motorists are now, just a few months later, withdrawn again and forcibly integrated under the UK umbrella, is mainly for political reasons. In London, the EU has been accused of deliberately trying to drive a wedge between Great Britain – England, Wales and Scotland – and Northern Ireland with a strict interpretation of the Brexit treaty. By switching to the more inclusive term UK (as an abbreviation for the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland), the government clearly hopes to send a powerful signal of solidarity.

No official statement has yet been made, but the Sunday Times quoted a government source as saying that the change to the acronym “better covers Northern Ireland” and helps “oversee the entire state”. The new regulation of the new regulation must now be in force at least until referendums in Scotland and Northern Ireland can change the status of autonomy again.