It has been said (but not by anybody in government) that nobody voted for Brexit to be poorer (or, one assumes, unemployed), yet it seems increasingly certain that Brexit will diminish the disposable income of the British people as household cost mount as a result of a weaker Pound and the trickle down costs of non-tariff costs (if tariffs are applied upon Brexit, these will be a direct cost to any Brit still wishing to buy imported goods which are subject to them).
Whilst Mrs May has claimed that she will deliver a Brexit that works for Britain and ensures (near) frictionless trade with the EU (on goods, if not services) her approach remains “cakeist” and is unlikely to materialise. The only Brexit certainty is that time is running out and many difficult questions remain to be answered.
In the vacuum of certainty, major manufacturers such as BMW and Airbus are publicly warning of the dire consequences of a “no deal” Brexit, or a deal which freezes the UK out of the customs union, jeopardising “just in time” supply chains.
The most recent to chime in on the issue are the representatives of unions and businesses both within the UK and from the EU. The CBI, TUC and their EU counterparts have jointly called for “pace and urgency” in the Brexit negotiations, urging the two sides to make “measurable progress” and calling for them to “put economic interests and people’s jobs, rights and livelihoods first” – it is only strange that such an appeal should need to be made.
Together, the CBI, TUC, European Trade Union Confederation and Business Europe represent 45 million workers and 20 million employers within the current EU. Their Joint statement said: "We are calling on the UK government and the EU to inject pace and urgency in the negotiations, bringing about measurable progress, in particular a backstop arrangement to avoid a hard border in Ireland. Decisions will be needed in June and October to finalise the withdrawal agreement and the transitional arrangement, and put economic interests and people's jobs, rights and livelihoods first."
They also recently stated: "The UK government and the EU will need to agree on all aspects of regulatory alignment, which is of the utmost importance, without jeopardising the integrity of the single market." As they say, the devil is in the detail…