Washington Post (October 16)
A no-deal Brexit has “been compared to “downshifting a car at full speed from fifth gear to first.” The U.K. could lose “continuity of trade relations with many of the 71 nations that have forged preferential trade agreements with the EU.” To date, the U.K. has secured continuity agreements with only about a dozen of these countries and it remains to be seen whether sufficient customs infrastructure will be in place. “Large U.K. businesses like engine-maker Rolls Royce Holdings Plc and brewer Heineken NV have outlined plans to hoard supplies in case a tumultuous Brexit chokes just-in-time supply chains and creates backlogs at ports.”
Tags: Brexit, Continuity, EU, Heineken, No-deal, Ports, Rolls Royce, Supply chains, Trade agreements, UK
The Guardian (September 24)
“The supreme court has delivered a comprehensive demolition of Boris Johnson’s government and its handling of Brexit. The unanimous judgment of the 11 justices…amounts to a root and branch rejection of the prime minister’s attempts to rule without parliament, to take Britain out of the European Union by 31 October without a deal, and to contrive a premature general election…. The immediate effect of the judgment is devastating for Johnson. It is expressed so cogently and unambiguously that it will be difficult for him to wriggle out of it – even though he is certainly foolish enough to try.”
Tags: Brexit, Devastating, EU, Foolish, Johnson, Judgment, Parliament, Rejection, Supreme Court, UK, Unanimous
Irish Times (September 23)
“Brexit may be a price worth paying for the cohesion of British society. The economic arguments of the past three years have done nothing to sway people whose vote was about culture, identity and fairness.” The only way to overturn the first referendum is a second referendum, “but if the narrow lead were reversed, we would simply have prolonged the uncertainty to arrive somewhere equally unstable.”
Tags: Brexit, Cohesion, Culture, Economic arguments, Fairness, Identity, Prolonged, Referendum, Society, Vote
The Guardian (September 12)
“Here the issue… is that a British prime minister persists in asserting the impossible. He demands that Britain leave the European single market but with a gaping hole in its border, in Ireland. He wants a border and no border.” A no-deal Brexit would cause “chaos” in a worst case scenario, but “in Ireland it is physically impossible.”
Tags: Border, Brexit, Chaos, EU, Impossible, Ireland, No-deal, Prime minister, Single market, UK
Washington Post (September 3)
“Prime Minister Boris Johnson, under public assault for his scheme to suspend Parliament to push through a no-deal Brexit, has now lost his majority.” This is typical of the “right-wing populist canard,” which works best in the minority. “Being snake oil salesmen and anti-government nihilists,” they “don’t know how to fix much of anything, and after all the huffing and puffing, the public gets the idea the populist cult leader is an incompetent charlatan.” While in this case it’s Johnson, Trump’s turn will come. “The lessons here for the United States are not hard to discern.”
Tags: Brexit, Charlatan, Cult leader, Huffing, Incompetent, Johnson, Majority, No-deal, Parliament, Populist, Public assault, Snake oil, Trump, U.S.
The Guardian (August 29)
“There is plenty of constitutional outcry on the front pages of the British papers today, which all lead with Boris Johnson’s decision to suspend parliament ahead of the looming Brexit deadline. Front pages from abroad show the international press is transfixed too.”
Tags: Brexit, Constitutional outcry, Deadline, Front pages, Johnson, Parliament, Transfixed, UK
Reuters (August 8)
“Sterling’s recent slide is not yet over as the chances Britain and the European Union part ways without a withdrawal deal have jumped again after arch-Brexiteer Boris Johnson took over as prime minister last month.”
Washington Post (July 23)
Tomorrow Boris Johnson may get “the chance to prove that the manure in Britain smells different” than in the EU. “He has vowed to push forward Brexit, break free of the tyranny of the European Union and lead a liberated Britain to its former global greatness. His supporters are willing to look beyond a cringeworthy record of gaffes, sordid peccadilloes and soft bigotry. Most analysts, though, reckon that he is in for a rude awakening.”
Tags: Bigotry, Brexit, Cringeworthy, EU, Gaffes, Greatness, Johnson, Liberated, Rude awakening, UK
Investment Week (July 17)
“A ‘no deal’ Brexit could result in sterling falling to parity with the dollar,” according to Morgan Stanley. “Exiting the European Union without a deal looks increasingly likely.” In a “worst-case scenario” the pound, currently at $1.24, could plunge roughly 19% “to historic lows of $1-$1.10.”
Wall Street Journal (July 11)
“The bitterness of Brexit pervades all aspects of British life and politics. It has divided friends and families, produced a Conservative cabinet with more leaks than an old sieve, split the diplomats of the U.S. and the U.K., and exposed a rift between Britain’s elected politicians and its unelected civil servants.”
Tags: Bitterness, Brexit, Cabinet, Conservative, Diplomats, Divides, Elected, Families, Friends, Life, Politicians, Politics, Rift, Split, U.S., UK, Unelected
