20/12/2018
Back in 1991, Thelma and her friend Louise went on a road trip. You could say it was an eventful trip and it ended up with the pair deliberately driving their car off ‘a cliff’ into the Grand Canyon.
It seems this iconic film moment has inspired many people, amongst them our own Prime Minister Theresa May.
Rather than recognise the mood of the country and allow a ‘People’s Vote’ on the deal being presented as our only option, she has steered the country to the cliff edge and is sat there gunning the motor, waiting for Jacob Rees-Mogg and his band of grinning Brexiteers to encourage her to “keep going”.
If we were painting the picture, the car is far more likely to be a mk1 Austin Allegro than the 1966 Ford Thunderbird driven by Louise in the film.
There will be no forgiveness in the analysis of this debacle in the years to come. David Cameron will be criticised for his handling of the referendum campaign and the overly simplistic question that was posed to the nation. Theresa May will be mocked, not for the deal that she presented to parliament, but for her repeated and pathetic comments about a second vote. Jeremy Corbyn with be called out as incompetent, in his role as leader of the opposition, for his failure to recognise the changing public feeling on Brexit and allowing his own anti-EU sentiment to take priority over what would be best for the country. Jacob Rees-Mogg will be vilified for his obvious self-interest, admitting that it would take decades for the country to reap any benefits from Brexit, possibly 50 years or more.
With 100 days to go before our anticipated exit from the EU, time is clearly running out for a true solution to be found.
Car manufacturers in the UK have already announced that their annual shutdowns are being moved to coincide with the planned date of our exit from the EU. This was an obvious move, given the disruption that is almost inevitable. However, they won’t want the shut down to be extended too far and will want to return to making and selling cars. The ‘just in time’ operation of car building will make this extremely difficult, with the expectation of components being delayed in Calais or held up somewhere on the M20.
The next issue will be the pricing of cars and the struggle to remain competitive. What sort of tariff will be applied to the components crossing borders and indeed on the final product heading back into Europe and further afield?
Farmers may well find there are 40 per cent tax levies on exports to the European Union. Then, the inevitable disruption at the ports may lead to livestock being kept in the back of lorries for an inordinate amount of time; leading to lobbying by animal welfare activists about the suffering caused. Are farmers expected to diversify? Should they open a caravan park, or a glamping venue? Should they set up a farm shop? Many farmers have already done this, just to deal with the challenges posed –before Brexit.
Investment banks have already set up offices in other EU financial centres, moving some jobs out of London. In order to facilitate greater use of the EU single market, they will be likely to be creating many more jobs outside of London, and within the EU, with corresponding losses to UK employment.
No-one is equipped to save Britain from the catastrophic damage likely to be caused by a no-deal Brexit. With just 100 days to go, small and medium businesses face an impossible challenge to establish alternative processes and pathways to enable ongoing trade.
Some businesses were feeling the impact almost immediately after the outcome of the 2016 referendum. Long established overseas clients lost confidence in the ability of these firms to continue to deliver quality products and services and started looking at alternatives from non-UK companies.
It is imperative that parliament opts for one of the two least damaging options in front of them; either:
accepting May’s deal and the fact that we will be bound by EU regulations and no longer in a position to influence them, or to veto those which we consider unpalatable; or
going back to the UK electorate and offering them asecond vote, with a clearer mandate about the proposed outcomes and strict enforcement on the campaigning on both sides of the argument.
It is imperative that we avoid crashing out of the EU without a deal.
May is at the controls of the Austin Allegro. She is the one who has the greatest ability to hit the brakes before hurtling over the edge.
No more ridiculous claims, that a second vote will destroy the electorate’s faith in democracy. The referendum campaign and the criminal behaviour of certain politicians and campaigners has already done that. Offering the great British public the opportunity to have a final say, giving them their democratic right to vote on the final deal, a no-deal Brexit and remaining in the EU, is the one way of restoring the lost faith.
Time is running out. It’s time to admit the desperate future we are faced with and take action to safeguard the future of Great Britain and generations of Britons to come.
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