If it weren’t so devastating to us, Brexit would almost be funny
Brexit has cost Jaguar Land Rover up to more than £1.2 billion profit each year, BMW management say 8,000 jobs could go if the supply chain for parts became too difficult without a frictionless Customs Union, and, for the same reason, Airbus is warning that its 14,000 jobs investment in the UK could go.
These statements have come from business leaders whose only concerns regarding Brexit are financial, not ideological ones.
It is not Project Fear but fear itself that is forcing them to remodel their businesses now. Already this has cost the nation between £20 and £40bn.
The fantasists are the politicians spreading their Little Englander myths about taking back control. Globalisation has meant that all trading countries are enmeshed in regulations and international law.
The fact there is no opt out for anyone has been acknowledged by our negotiators who talk about harmonising our regulations to that of the EU and for that you need legal oversight. So there goes your control. In fact we will have less control because we will no longer be part of the EU institutions creating and adjudicating on these regulations.
With each new trading agreement comes more red tape and bureaucrats, not less. Our Brexit Minister has stated there will be an exponential increase in extra civil servants to create and administrate new rules and regulations to replace the existing EU ones. So there will be an additional 16,000 British civil servants to create and administer new bilateral agreements, inevitably on less favourable terms because of our diminished clout, compared with the economic leverage that 28 nations of the EU has.
Ironically all the trading agreements that have been made and administered by the EU have been achieved with half that number of staff. If it weren’t so devastating to our nation, Brexit would almost be funny.
Councillor Pat McCarthy, Telford and Wrekin Green Party
