Financial Times (February 14)
“Official figures from the Dutch investment agency show 42 companies relocated to the Netherlands last year citing Brexit as the reason. The investment has resulted in 1,923 jobs and €290m in investment. Sony and Panasonic have also announced plans to set up their European headquarters in the country.” But the good news may not last. “The Netherlands is likely to be one of the biggest EU losers from a hard Brexit given the close trading links between the two countries especially in fresh produce and the importance of Rotterdam, Europe’s busiest port, to British trade.”
Tags: Brexit, EU, Headquarters, Investment, Losers, Netherlands, Panasonic, Port, Rotterdam, Sony, UK
Bloomberg (February 14)
“From the start, Brexit has been marked by fantasy and deception. Now, with Britain on the doorstep of leaving the EU, reality is setting in.”
The Guardian (February 12)
“GDP growth slipped to its lowest since 2012, at 1.4%, down from 1.8% in 2017.” The UK’s dismal performance in 2018 gave the lie to “Philip Hammond’s claim that Britain can reap an economic dividend from Theresa May’s Brexit deal…as official figures confirmed the UK has suffered its worst year for GDP growth since 2012.”
Tags: Brexit, Dismal, Economic dividend, GDP, Growth, Hammond, May, Performance, UK
The Guardian (February 6)
“Donald Tusk should be criticised not for his malice, but his moderation. The European council president triggered a tsunami of confected outrage from leavers today when he observed, with some justice, that there should be a special place in hell for those who promoted Brexit without a plan. But he should have said far more. He should have added that, within that special place, there should be an executive suite of sleepless torment for those politicians who promoted Brexit without ever giving a stuff about Ireland.”
Tags: Brexit, Ireland, Leavers, Malice, Moderation, Outrage, Politicians, Torment, Tusk
The Economist (January 19)
Brexit has become the “mother of all messes. Solving the crisis will need time—and a second referendum.”
BBC (January 17)
In the UK, “Surveyors and estate agents reckon the housing market outlook over the next three months is the worst for 20 years….. It’s the most downbeat reading since records started in October 1998 and the pessimism is blamed on the lack of clarity around Brexit.”
Tags: Brexit, Clarity, Downbeat, Estate agents, Housing market, Outlook, Pessimism, Surveyors, UK
Reuters (January 16)
“Nobody expected May’s Brexit deal to secure a majority. Nevertheless, the scale of the defeat—the worst for a British government in modern history—was startling…. It’s very unlikely the deal can be rescued.” In fact, investors seem to be signaling that “reversing the Brexit decision” is now more likely than “a chaotic exit…. The pound jumped 1.4 percent against the U.S. dollar immediately after the result was announced on Tuesday.”
The Times (January 15)
“Tonight the House of Commons will finally get the opportunity to pass judgment on Theresa May’s Brexit plan…. But with Brexiteer MPs implacably opposed and Labour also intent on voting down the plan, it looks certain to be heavily defeated. The critical question is what happens then.”
The Guardian (January 8)
Many of the voters who voted for Brexit “felt abandoned and unheard in an increasingly unequal Britain marked by vast wealth in parts of south-east England and austerity and post-industrial abandonment elsewhere. Income levels in London have risen by a third since the financial crash–but have dropped by 14% in Yorkshire and Humberside.” Their concerns are real, but “all the major parties have, in different ways, let the country down on Brexit,” making a second referendum essential.
Tags: Austerity, Brexit, Financial crash, Income levels, Post-industrial abandonment, Referendum, UK, Unequal, Voters, Wealth
Reuters (December 11)
“With less than four months left until the United Kingdom is due to leave the EU on March 29, May’s premiership and her deal to stave off a disorderly departure or a bid to stop Brexit are hanging by a thread. If she is toppled — and it is far from certain that she would lose a vote among all the party’s members of parliament — — could further complicate Brexit.”
Tags: Brexit, Complicate, Deal, Departure, Disorderly, EU, May, Parliament, Toppled, UK, Vote
