Will Britain's exit from the European Union encourage more countries to try follow suit?

Britain's narrow vote to leave the European Union has undoubtedly been the major talking point in European politics of recent years. As the first member state to invoke Article 50, all eyes are on the unfolding situation, not least far-right political parties who are viewing this declaration of independence from Europe with a sense of envy. Brexit was seen as one factor that encouraged Trump in his successful presidential campaign in the USA, with his election regarded as another victory for populism over progressive liberal democracy.

Since Brexit, there have been two European elections which have provided a litmus test of the extent to which other countries have been prepared to follow the UK. In March, the Dutch centre-right prime minister Mark Rutte defeated Geert Wilders who was promoting an anti-EU and anti-Islam agenda. More recently, Front National's Marine Le Pen suffered a resounding defeat at the hands of social liberal Emmanuel Macron's En Marche! in the battle for the French presidency.

Brexit is being posited by Britain's right wing Conservative government as an opportunity to forge a new prosperity, free of the shackles of European interference. But the country is far from united on this course, with many seeing any increased power to control borders as too high a price to pay for losing access to the Single Market. The UK is facing a protracted period of uncertainty, and the fact that both Scotland and Northern Ireland's electorate voted overwhelmingly to remain in the EU has reignited the sticky questions of Scottish independence and Irish reunification. Understandably, the UK model is not being widely seen as one to imitate.