If you happen to run a small firm which imports much of its stock from, for instance, Belgium, France and Holland, leaving the EU customs union means everything will cost more, require huge amounts of extra paperwork and could put you out of business. Being told you should try and source stuff in the UK or elsewhere doesn’t help, any more than it will help hotels and restaurants to persuade the Daily Mail’s ‘snowflake generation’ that their future lies in waitressing or chamber-maiding (male equivalents are available). It’s easy, as a government, to make sacrifices if you’re not the one sacrificing anything. Watch ‘Journeys End’ for a reminder of how that works.
“A ‘no-deal’ Brexit will be devastating”
I quoted Overheard Bloke in the Gym Changing Room not long after the referendum: ‘We should say ‘You’ve had your last cheque, Merkel’, close the borders, job done!’ If we’d followed his sage advice rather than fannying around for four years, we’d have been through the...
