What the UK wants for Christmas is to get Brexit
undone
William
Keegan
Importers, exporters, private citizens and the Labour
party all urgently need the economy to function better than this
Sun 24 Dec
2023 11.04 GMT
For a long
time, people would ask me: “Why do you go on all the time about Brexit?” My
answer would take various forms, but essentially it boiled down to: “Because it
is the biggest self-inflicted British economic crisis of my career.” Brexit
affects businesses and what economists call “consumers” every day – almost
always adversely.
More
recently, the consistent message from readers I encounter, when Brexit comes up
in the conversation, has been “please don’t stop”. Indeed, it is time to “get
Brexit undone”.
I have
covered many an economic crisis over the years, including the oil crises of the
1970s and the banking crisis of 2007-09. These affected most economies. The
consequences of the 2016 referendum and our subsequent departure from the
European Union were not the outcome of outside forces, but entirely
self-inflicted.
As the
disaster of Brexit becomes more evident, it also becomes obvious that, in what
was largely a protest vote, many people did not know what they were letting
themselves in for. Well, they certainly know now. And what people are slowly
beginning to appreciate is that there are a lot more horrors to come. Last
week, following the news that assorted trade deals with countries in distant
parts of the world hardly amounted to a row of beans, came the knockout blow to
the entire lying Johnson-inspired rationale: namely that the loss of British
exporters’ privileged access to our principal and nearest trading partner, the
EU, would be effortlessly replaced by a major trade deal with the US.
The news
was that President Joe Biden had vetoed any idea of such a deal. This is very
significant and, frankly, given the numerous horrors of the daily diet of other
international news, probably did not receive enough media coverage. The wonders
of the non-EU trading agreements that do not exist cannot replace the best of
both worlds we enjoyed as members of the EU in general, and the single market –
in whose creation we played a vital part – in particular.
The wonders
of the non-EU trade agreements that do not exist cannot replace the best of
both worlds we enjoyed in the EU
I find in
my travels that even (almost) ashamed Brexiters are now pining for the single
market, something of which Labour leader Keir Starmer, who frequently rules out
rejoining, should take note. The bureaucratic proliferation of customs form
filling is driving business people and traders mad. Many are being forced to
throw in the towel. And they are all too aware that, from January onwards,
their attempts to export to the EU are destined to become even more
complicated. The hazards obviously hinder importers too.
And not
just business. The barriers to the freedom of movement within the EU also apply
to the rest of us. It was reported last week that UK passport holders will face
huge delays when entering the EU with the introduction of post-Brexit
fingerprint checks and face scans next year. Even before this, we already know
that there have been long queues at ports as passports have to be checked. Yes,
this is typical of the blatant lies told by the Brexiters about regaining
control. Regaining control? You must be joking. Things have rapidly got out of
control, in a country where it is a commonplace complaint that things are not
working too well anyway.
Now, it
seems a reasonable assumption not so much that Labour will win the next general
election as that this dreadful rabble of a once proud soi-disant Conservative
party will lose it.
There is a
celebrated remark of Samuel Johnson’s that “patriotism is the last refuge of a
scoundrel”. In the case of what is left of the Tory party one might adapt this
to “the promise of tax cuts is a last refuge of a Conservative scoundrel”.
How they
can have the cheek to promise tax concessions when the public services are in
such a state and further cuts in essential public spending are built into their
plans is appalling; unfortunately, in the circumstances, it is all too easy to
contemplate.
This
government seems impervious to the manifest spread of poverty in the country,
recently epitomised by Suella Braverman’s claim that rough sleeping was a
“lifestyle choice”. It reminds me of Mr Bumble, the beadle, in Oliver Twist:
“The great principle of out-of-door relief is, to give the paupers exactly what
they don’t want; and then they get tired of coming.”
There are
so many distressing social ills for a future Labour government to address. This
is one important reason why it is simply not good enough for Starmer resignedly
to accept Brexit as having been “done”.
As I have
reported before, Brexit will knock anything from 4% to 6% off GDP – the
nation’s productive potential. This has huge ramifications for the revenue
Labour will need to achieve its ambition to rescue the economy. Labour’s aim
and slogan should be, loud and clear: “Get Brexit undone!”
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