Brexit deal

“A drop of that magnitude is a concern,” said Mike Hawes, chief executive of the SMMT, as he warned the government needed to provide “urgent clarity” on a transitional Brexit deal so that companies could press ahead with crucial spending decisions. … [Read more...] about UK car production falls for first time since 2009 as Brexit fears hit sales

Manufacturing firms in particular are unlikely to be ready for the end of the transition period with a lack of clarity on rule changes a bigger impediment to Brexit preparation than the need to focus on the coronavirus pandemic, according to research from the Institute of Directors. … [Read more...] about Three in four UK firms unprepared for Brexit, study shows

There are no deals with the rest of the world to remotely compensate for withdrawing from the EU single market. The only two that might help, with the US and China, are beyond any plausible horizon. The non-trading penalties pile up by the day, obstructing cross-Channel travel with barriers to health insurance, licensing, phone charges and even pets. As for Patel’s proposal for short-term visas only to graduates and care workers: has Britain ever shown the world so cynical an unwelcome? The proclaimed benefit in all this is a mere abstraction – all a vague opportunity for the country. … [Read more...] about The Tories’ latest Brexit plans expose frictionless trade as a fiction

But buyer’s remorse strategy required the UK to fall into recession and it has not come remotely close to doing so. The economy’s performance has been lacklustre – especially in comparison with other major developed countries – but buyer’s remorse would have required the economy to contract sharply and for unemployment to rocket. Something equivalent to 2009 – when the economy shrank by more than 4% – might have done the trick. Instead of which the economy is growing slightly below its long-term trend and unemployment has fallen to a 42-year low. The absence of economic Armageddon has simply reinforced the lack of trust in expert forecasters. … [Read more...] about Brexit: why the UK economy hasn’t led to buyer’s remorse

Some Brexit campaigners made a cheaper currency their explicit aim, arguing that while Britain’s wealth and standing in the world would be diminished in the short term, the breathing space given to manufacturers would allow them to sell abroad at cheaper prices, then use the funds to invest and gain the efficiencies needed to cope with a return to a higher exchange rate sometime in the next decade. … [Read more...] about Britain’s tired old economy isn’t strong enough for Brexit