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Brexit from the other side of La Manche

07 November 2019 / David Burrows
Issue: 7863 / Categories: Opinion , Brexit
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David Burrows reflects on Liberté, Egalité et Fraternité and the French citoyen and citoyenne

One of the more remarkable facts about life in France, since the 2016 referendum result, is the lack of any rancour against the British and at what Brexit may do to Europe. Perfidious Albion may be as perfidious as ever. The British cannot be relied upon to comply with treaty terms. But the French still seem to have a continuing affection for us, for humour anglais, and to be as besotted as ever with the royal family. Daily you pass maisons de la presse (newsagents) with magazines in the window with pictures of Princes William and Harry, and their wives and children, and of Princess Diana. And this is despite the fact that France is almost aggressively secular, with republican roots which run deep following the 1789 Revolution.

How has the British constitution held up against Brexit as compared with how it might have been had the French decided to leave? How might

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