The last week has seen a warning by chancellor Sajid Javid that there will be no alignment with EU regulations once the Brexit transition period is over. This could mean many industries, especially in vehicle manufacturing and construction, will lose contracts or go bust, potentially leaving around one million workers jobless.
Another far-reaching announcement was issued by the Assembly in the north of Ireland, basically rejecting Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal. The implications of this are enormous, as it could affect the US-UK trade deal that Johnson is relying on.
A million jobs affected
Javid has warned business leaders that there will be no alignment with the EU regulations once the Brexit transition period ends on 31 December 2020. More precisely:
There will not be alignment, we will not be a ruletaker, we will not be in the single market and we will not be in the customs union — and we will do this by the end of the year.
According to one Twitter user, around 860,000 jobs could be affected just in the automotive industry:
https://twitter.com/ANMarshall/status/1218836996946350081?s=20
Javid is an opportunist
It seems Javid’s memory is faulty. In May 2016, he himself raised some of the many problems that Brexit could bring about:
https://twitter.com/ianhowes1970/status/1218803811789287431?s=20
Poignantly, Javid said:
Do businesses want the benefits and security of continued access to the Single Market, or the instability and uncertainty of a lost decade?
Meanwhile, another Twitter user accused Javid of incompetence (perhaps that should be gross incompetence?):
Former banker displays complete lack of understanding of how international trade works. Maybe he wasn't so much a banker as a wan…https://t.co/s07SxV0W7B
— Pete Timmins (@petertimmins3) January 18, 2020
Wider implications
While jobs may well be affected by the Johnson Gang’s approach to Brexit, there are other costs to the UK economy:
Brexit will soon have cost the UK more than all of its payments to the EU over the last 47 years put together. https://t.co/2byr2osePZ
— Nick Reeves #RejoinEU #PATH #FBPE (@nickreeves9876) January 18, 2020
Indeed, Bloomberg Economics estimates that costs of £130 billion can be attributed to Brexit so far, with that figure rising to £200 billion by the end of 2020.
But it gets worse, as, according to one report, secret talks have been revived to plan for a No Deal Brexit.
Meanwhile in Stormont
In another Brexit development, Stormont announced it has rejected Johnson’s Brexit deal. The decision by the assembly was unanimous and amounts to a serious blow to Brexit as it now stands.
The main concerns were over border checks that are expected to take place once the transition period is over.
Threats
The likelihood of border controls and checks have already seen statements issued by the paramilitary New IRA, which is prepared to escalate violence should a border of any description between north and south be re-imposed:
A New IRA spokesperson told Channel 4 News:
any installation or aspects of British occupation within Six Counties – be it at the border or elsewhere – any infrastructure would be a legitimate target for attack and armed actions against those infrastructures and against the people who are manning them.
He added:
The EU, the British and the 26 county administration constantly speak about the border as if it’s only been there two minutes, and it’s only an issue with Brexit. There’s been a border there since 1921. It’s been resisted. It’s being resisted. And it will be resisted regardless of any deal formed around it
US to block trade deal
Nor should we forget that the US Congress has made it clear that if the border question in Ireland is not fully resolved, there can be no post-Brexit trade deal between the US and the UK.
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer stated:
While Britain is a unique and valued ally of our nation, as the Democratic Leader of the United States Senate, which would consider prospective new bilateral trade agreements, I write to express my inveterate opposition to any prospective trade deal with the UK that either undermines the landmark Good Friday Agreement or facilitates a return to a hard border.
Brexit imploding?
Unless Johnson softens his Brexit approach on the matter of the border in Ireland, the much-vaunted US-UK trade deal may be cancelled. Never mind the likelihood that violence could escalate in the north of Ireland.
And the likely economic crash from either a No Deal or hard Brexit (as it now stands) could see at least hundreds of thousands of workers lose their jobs as industries collapse.
The time to give in to these ideological charlatans is over. It’s now time to get angry.
Featured image via YouTube – Guardian News
