The City of London (the small half-mile financial hub of Europe, not to be confused with the city itself) has warned the May Government that businesses will start activating their Brexit contingency plans, move away from London, and set up shop elsewhere in Europe unless the May Government and Parliament can enact a transitional deal with the European Union by the end of 2017.
In a letter to Chancellor of the Exchequer Phillip Hammond before next month’s budget, Catherine McGuinness, the most senior policy official at the City of London Corporation – the local authority for the Square Mile -- said the UK was facing a “historically defining moment” and warned that the timetable for business to prepare for transition was “tightening very rapidly.”
The implications of McGuinness's message are clear: unless the May Government and the EU leadership comes up with a plan fast, banks and businesses will leave London, taking thousands of jobs with them in the process. Many Britons know all too well about the days before the financial boom of the 90's that lead to London as a financial hub for Europe and the world-a world of frequent Dole lines and austere Thatchernomics. This reality is already happening already, with individual banks and businesses enacting and devising contingency plans.
However, the path towards a final Brexit deal is unclear-the Conservative party, aided by UKIP and a plurality of eurosceptics, advocates for a "hard Brexit" where the UK will break completely away from the EU-the EU would regard the UK like Japan or Brazil, with no connection between the two entities at all. However, the Labor Party and most other groups advocate for a "soft Brexit" like in Norway and Switzerland, where some ties with the EU could remain. For example, Britain could leave the Schengen free-movement zone and not have to make any contributions to the EU, but still could remain in the single market or participate in the EU Erasmus Student Exchange program.
At this point, it doesn't matter wether Brexit helps or hurts Britain economically-the decision has already been made by the British people, and they voted to leave. I personally favor a soft Brexit-if Britain could remain in the single market, for example, they'd still benefit from the presence of European banks and businesses without tariffs-but if the British people truly do have a desire for strong borders, then perhaps they could negotiate an exit from the Schengen Zone.
How could Brexit and it's aftermath affect the way the world does business? Do you favor a soft Brexit or a hard Brexit? If a soft Brexit, what aspects should Britain keep, and where should they part ways with the European Union?
1 comment:
I don't support Brexit AT ALL, much like the intelligent liberals with common sense in the UK. But if there has to be some sort of partition, or departure from the EU, then I'd say make the Brexit soft as possible or don't even Brexit at all. Why? Well, the EU was obviously formed as a union for Europe to be able to politically and economically express out their desires as a whole, and the fact that Britain, one of their powerful components,is leaving signifies that Europe's opinion now matters less in the grand scheme of poitics.
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