After the referendum last year, I thought that the potential damage to the economy, as outlined in various Treasury and academic papers, would influence and drive the politics perhaps causing a rethink of Brexit. If the effects of the falling pound and the transferring of business into the EU became serious and acute, politicians would have a to act, or so I believed. However the economy stood up pretty well. Business almost seemed in shock but carried on.
Now it looks like the politics is driving the economics. The government's inability to arrive at a common position or even to outline basic goals that are not either self contradictory or totally at odds with fundamental EU principles is worrying for ordinary members of the public but even more so for industry and the financial sector trying to make decisions about the future.
The vacuum at the heart of politics is making life difficult for the economy. Business looks at government and notes a distinct lack of leadership in both parties and are making decisions not simply on Brexit but on the perceived shambles surrounding the government's response to it. William Hague writing in The Telegraph and reported on the BBC (HERE) says there was the clear potential for Brexit to become the "greatest economic, diplomatic and constitutional muddle in the modern history of the UK, with unknowable consequences for the country, the government and the Brexit project itself".
As the weeks go by one is minded to believe this is not just a potential outcome but an absolute guaranteed certainty.
