I’ve ranted about Brexit before – this looming, ever-on-the-horizon disaster that according to the government itself, via Operation Yellowhammer, will cause us various problems – and these are only the problems the government, our inept, incompetent government with its dangerous leader, Boris Johnson – have been able to foresee.
The scariest thing to come out of Yellowhammer is the supply of medicines. It is thought we will face six months of supply chain problems in the event of no-deal. On top of that, a food shortage is not predicted, but certain types of food and certain ingredients will become harder to get, or more expensive. On top of that, half the lorries (at least half) are not ready for French custom controls, which means longer waits at the border. In fact, crossing the border into the EU will become more time consuming, as our freedom of movement ends and we have to go through lengthier passport control. Oh, and 2,000 jobs in the fuel industry are at risk due to tariff changes in the event of no-deal.
We should be highly concerned that our own government has felt the need to secretly prepare this report, yet seems committed to a no-deal scenario. Boris had previously suggested that the odds were against no-deal (a million to one I think), yet now it’s ‘touch and go’. A lot of this stems from the Irish border issue, because the Republic of Ireland is in the EU and the border with Northern Ireland is therefore the UK’s only land border with the EU. The backstop, as it’s known, is insisted upon by the EU in any deal, in order to avoid political and economic complications – particularly important as the Northern Ireland peace process, whilst having made good progress, is not fail-proof and political upheaval could create new tensions.
This backstop takes on extra importance, because the Good Friday Agreement that governs the peace process is something the US Congress takes very seriously – why is the US interest in this important? Because a trade deal with the US is dependent on Congress, and violating the GFA doesn’t just put a deal in jeopardy – it ruins that prospect. Whilst Trump may put out false platitudes, it’s unlikely he has the best interests of the UK at heart when negotiating with Boris, but it will all be mute if no-deal with Europe affects the GFA and Congress – upon which any approval of any deal hinges – vetoes Trump and Boris anyway.
Not that Trump – or Boris – would devise any deal that actually puts the people first. Boris and his Conservative cronies will ensure they benefit, but Trump hardly has a track record of honesty (nor does Boris), so any ‘deal’ will likely mess up the UK even more than no-deal with the EU would.
I’ve often played Brexit quite safe on Facebook, but less so on other forms of social media. However, now, I am quite happy to be more vocal on Facebook, to press my case to family and friends, that we need to take a look hard look at where we are going as a nation, and what kind of future we want. Brexit has always been about trading our stability and security for the illusion of greater sovereignty, and I implore anyone reading this to take a good long look at the government’s own predictions and ask why we would court that. Finally, I’ll leave you with this:
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