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Sunday, September 30, 2018

A bridge too far

As the Tory conference gets underway the country faces an unprecedented political crisis: a no-deal Brexit that will devastate our economy, a Tory Party deeply divided as never before, a naked bid for leadership by a former Foreign Secretary which is driving even deeper rifts within the Government, and a toothless official opposition, who have put the national interest to one side in the hope of benefitting from the chaos.

Boris Johnson's latest infrastructure project, a bridge linking Northern Ireland and Scotland is a pet project of the DUP, but has opened him up to derision once more and accusations of being out-of-touch with reality, but his constant public attacks on the Prime Minister and her Brexit compromise are succeeding in undermining her authority showing that the Tories are no longer fit to govern. May's only consolation is that Labour are worse, and that is reflected in the polls.

Meanwhile, the party who thinks it can solve the Northern Ireland problem through a technological solution cannot even get its own cyber-security right. As the Telegraph reports, the Conservative Party faces being fined after its software for conference delegates exposed the personal details of thousands of MPs and attendees, including Cabinet ­ministers.

But the most disturbing news was in yesterday's Guardian, which reported on new research that has concluded Brexit is already costing the public purse £500m a week.

They say that the UK economy is already 2.5% smaller than it would have been had Remain won the referendum. Public finances have been dented by £26bn a year, more than half of the defence budget. This translates to a penalty of £500m a week, a figure that is growing.

The paper also reports on claims that the boss of one UK-based carmaker has been flown by private jet to meet President Emmanuel Macron, in an attempt to persuade the company to move manufacturing to France after Brexit.

And a YouGov poll of 1,000 entrepreneurs and chief executives, carried out by the People’s Vote for another referendum, suggests the Tories risk denting their pro-business reputation over the handling of the Brexit talks. Almost three-quarters (73%) believe Britain is heading for a bad deal. Dominic Grieve, the former attorney general, said it suggested the party was “jeopardising its reputation for economic competence with the business community as a result of the way Brexit has unfolded”.

The real bridge too far in Brexit and the sooner we have the option to vote to stop it the better.

1 comment:

  1. This bridge!?Not a bad idea. However Johnson had the London Bridge £40 million worth. Where did that money go? Has it gone into somebodies pocket? Was it swallowed up in a hole ? Beware of Johnson and his dreams.?Is this for his dreams of power? He should be putting his efforts into finding funds for social care expanding industry not his pathetic career.
    Branden Lewis this morning when questioned came out instantly with answers on the internet problem.Had the BBC briefed him on the questions ?If so it makes him look smarter than he is.
    This business with Macron. Not surprised Companies will go where they think they will be more secure. A sort of asset stripping of UK industry could be on the cards cos of Brexit which would be less funding for social services etc a country sliding down into poverty.

    On industry could we not be innovative in local areas by, say, Redundant pubs being turned into community industry !ie developing products via 3d computing methods where people could share the use of machinery in the same building or ex bank branches. If the estate agents are finding it unable to sell a building they could change the use of the building. Brexit or no brexit we need to plan for the future. If we put our minds into creative thinking we could again flourish.

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