Spike Miligan's old joke ("We haven't got a plan so nothing can go wrong!") used to be one of my favourites. But it’s not so amusing now in the context of an increasingly chaotic Brexit. This is jeopardising the UK economy. In the words of HSBC: - “the pound is now the de facto official opposition to the government”.
All of us are now, in real terms, more 20% poorer than we were before the Brexit campaign (except any of us lucky enough to have most of their wealth outside the UK, or whose wealth is based on foreign income).
On a current account basis, the decline in the pound alone makes us about £50 billion a year worse off. That puts the fanciful “£350 million a week for the NHS” into context.
It is incorrect to believe that we will receive more inward investment because of the decline in the pound. Investors look at returns (income or capital growth). The reduction in the value of the pound has not led to increased returns, and there is no evidence that it will do so. Paul Green has already made the point (11.32) that investors have lost 20% of their investment. They have also lost 20% of their income from the investment. As a trite example, a £1m property may now cost a foreign investor 20% less (in Euro or Dollar terms), but the yield has remained the same (in pound terms), so is also be 20% less (in Euro or Dollar terms). This will not encourage a flow of inward investment into the UK.
I can tell you as a fact that many overseas companies are no longer investing in the UK because of the uncertainty whether we will have access to the single market. This means that we are not getting the investment we need to improve productivity (already low), increase employment, increase the tax take, etc., etc.
Let’s not beat about the bush. We are all, as a country and as individuals, significantly poorer in real terms than we were six months ago – and we haven’t even began talking about the actual terms of Brexit yet.
We will all start feeling the pain as the increased costs of oil, food, raw materials, clothing, manufactured goods, etc. etc. feed into the system and we begin to see real inflation.
We need a plan, not this current chaos, and clear communication where the Government plans to take us – not more macho posturing about “hard Brexit v soft Brexit”, etc. |
| Topic | Date Posted | Posted By |
| "If we leave the EU we'll have an extra £350m a day for the National Health service" | 14/10/16 12:31:00 | Ann Williams |
| Re:"If we leave the EU we'll have an extra £350m a day for the National Health service" | 14/10/16 12:33:00 | Richard Greenhough |
| Re:Re:"If we leave the EU we'll have an extra £350m a day for the National Health service" | 14/10/16 12:40:00 | Alan Clark |
| Re:Re:Re:"If we leave the EU we could have an extra £350m a week for the NHS" | 14/10/16 12:49:00 | Richard Greenhough |
| Re:"If we leave the EU we could have an extra £350m a week for the NHS" | 14/10/16 14:31:00 | John Whitworth |
| Re:Re:"If we leave the EU we'll have an extra £350m a day for the National Health service" | 14/10/16 12:40:00 | Mark Perry |
| Re:Re:Re:"If we leave the EU we'll have an extra £350m a day for the National Health service" | 14/10/16 12:42:00 | Penelope Crocker |
| Re:Re:"If we leave the EU we'll have an extra £350m a day for the National Health service" | 14/10/16 12:54:00 | Ann Williams |
| Re:Re:Re:"If we leave the EU we'll have an extra £350m a day for the National Health service" | 14/10/16 13:02:00 | Richard Greenhough |
| Re:Re:Re:Re:"If we leave the EU we'll have an extra £350m a day for the National Health service" | 14/10/16 13:09:00 | Adrian Irving |
| Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:"If we leave the EU we'll have an extra £350m a day for the National Health service" | 14/10/16 13:10:00 | Penelope Crocker |
| Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:"If we leave the EU we'll have an extra £350m a day for the National Health service" | 14/10/16 13:28:00 | Ann Williams |
| Re:"If we leave the EU we COULD have an extra £350m a WEEK for the NHS" | 14/10/16 14:28:00 | Richard Greenhough |
| Re:Re:"If we leave the EU we COULD have an extra £350m a WEEK for the NHS" | 14/10/16 16:59:00 | Vanessa Smith |
| Re:Re:"If we leave the EU we *insert fabrication here*" | 15/10/16 08:56:00 | Alan Clark |
| Re:"If we leave the EU we could have an extra £350m a week for the NHS" | 16/10/16 16:11:00 | John Whitworth |
| Re:Re:"If we leave the EU we could have an extra £350m a week for the NHS" | 16/10/16 16:26:00 | Carl Wynne |
| Re:"If we leave the EU we'll have an extra £350m a day for the National Health service" | 14/10/16 17:57:00 | Denis Fox |
| Re:Re:"If we leave the EU we'll have an extra £350m a day for the National Health service" | 14/10/16 18:32:00 | Ken Munn |
| Re:Re:Re:"If we leave the EU we'll have an extra £350m a day for the National Health service" | 14/10/16 19:41:00 | Brian Coyle |
| Re:"If we leave the EU we'll have an extra £350m a day for the National Health service" | 15/10/16 11:04:00 | Denis Fox |
| Re:Re:"If we leave the EU we'll have an extra £350m a day for the National Health service" | 15/10/16 11:12:00 | Denis Fox |
| Re:"If we join the Common Market there will be no dilution of our sovereignty" | 15/10/16 11:05:00 | Richard Greenhough |
| Re:Re:"If we join the Common Market there will be no dilution of our sovereignty" | 15/10/16 11:33:00 | Vanessa Smith |
| Re:Re:Re:"If we join the Common Market there will be no dilution of our sovereignty" | 15/10/16 11:45:00 | Brian Coyle |
| Re:Re:Re:Re:"If we join the Common Market there will be no dilution of our sovereignty" | 15/10/16 12:08:00 | Alan Clark |
| Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:"If we join the Common Market there will be no dilution of our sovereignty" | 15/10/16 12:18:00 | Paul Green |
| Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:"If we join the Common Market there will be no dilution of our sovereignty" | 15/10/16 12:54:00 | Vanessa Smith |
| Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:"If we join the Common Market there will be no dilution of our sovereignty" | 15/10/16 13:22:00 | Paul Green |
| Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:"If we join the Common Market there will be no dilution of our sovereignty" | 15/10/16 13:29:00 | Carl Wynne |
| Sovereignty | 15/10/16 13:38:00 | John Whitworth |
| Re:Sovereignty | 15/10/16 14:23:00 | Paul Green |
| Sovereignty, what sovereignty? | 15/10/16 15:14:00 | Ken Munn |
| Re:Sovereignty, what sovereignty? | 15/10/16 15:28:00 | Vanessa Smith |
| Re:Re:Sovereignty, what sovereignty? | 15/10/16 15:33:00 | Viv Griffiths |
| Re:Re:Re:Sovereignty, what sovereignty? | 15/10/16 16:26:00 | Carl Wynne |
| Re:Re:Re:Re:Sovereignty, what sovereignty? | 15/10/16 16:31:00 | Viv Griffiths |
| Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Sovereignty, what sovereignty? | 15/10/16 16:38:00 | Carl Wynne |
| Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Sovereignty, what sovereignty? | 15/10/16 17:44:00 | Richard Greenhough |
| Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Sovereignty, what sovereignty? | 15/10/16 18:01:00 | Carl Wynne |
| Re:Sovereignty, what sovereignty? | 16/10/16 12:35:00 | John Whitworth |
| Re:Re:Sovereignty, what sovereignty? | 16/10/16 13:38:00 | Ann Williams |
| Re:Sovereignty | 15/10/16 15:35:00 | Richard Greenhough |
| Re:Sovereignty | 15/10/16 16:13:00 | John Whitworth |
| Re:Re:Sovereignty | 15/10/16 17:36:00 | Paul Green |
| Re:"If we leave the EU we'll have an extra £350m a day for the National Health service" | 16/10/16 17:12:00 | V Killick |
| Re:Re:"If we leave the EU we'll have an extra £350m a day for the National Health service" | 16/10/16 17:50:00 | Carl Wynne |
| Re:Re:"If we leave the EU we'll have an extra £350m a day for the National Health service" | 16/10/16 17:53:00 | Adrian Irving |
| Re:Re:Re:"If we leave the EU we'll have an extra £350m a day for the National Health service" | 16/10/16 18:12:00 | Russell Pearson |
| Re:Re:Re:Re:"If we leave the EU we'll have an extra £350m a day for the National Health service" | 16/10/16 18:35:00 | Adrian Irving |
| Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:"If we leave the EU we'll have an extra £350m a day for the National Health service" | 16/10/16 19:46:00 | Russell Pearson |
| Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:"If we leave the EU we'll have an extra £350m a day for the National Health service" | 16/10/16 23:55:00 | Ken Munn |
| Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:"If we leave the EU we'll have an extra £350m a day for the National Health service" | 17/10/16 11:24:00 | Paul Green |
| Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:"If we leave the EU we'll have an extra £350m a day for the National Health service" | 17/10/16 11:32:00 | Paul Green |
| Re:Currencies | 17/10/16 11:42:00 | Richard Greenhough |
| Re:Re:Currencies | 17/10/16 12:12:00 | Paul Green |
| We haven't got a plan so nothing can go wrong! | 17/10/16 18:24:00 | T P Howell |
| Re:"If we leave the EU we'll have an extra £350m a day for the National Health service" | 18/10/16 00:16:00 | Dennis Brogan |
| Re:Re:"If we leave the EU we'll have an extra £350m a day for the National Health service" | 18/10/16 00:33:00 | Ken Munn |
| Re:Small nations club | 18/10/16 09:12:00 | Richard Greenhough |
| Re:Small nations club | 18/10/16 09:30:00 | John Whitworth |
| Re:Re:Small nations club | 18/10/16 09:31:00 | Paul Green |
| Inflation now on the up | 18/10/16 09:34:00 | Paul Green |
| Re:Inflation now on the up | 18/10/16 10:27:00 | Huw Burford-Taylor |
| Re:Inflation now on the up | 18/10/16 10:36:00 | Fraser Pearce |
| Re:Re:Inflation now on the up | 18/10/16 11:09:00 | Paul Green |
| Re:Re:Inflation now on the up | 18/10/16 11:10:00 | Fraser Pearce |
| Re:Re:Re:Inflation now on the up | 18/10/16 11:20:00 | Paul Green |
| Re:Re:Re:Re:Inflation now on the up | 18/10/16 11:29:00 | Russell Pearson |
| Re:Re:Re:Re:Inflation now on the up | 18/10/16 11:40:00 | Fraser Pearce |
| Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Inflation now on the up | 18/10/16 11:44:00 | Fraser Pearce |
| Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Inflation now on the up | 18/10/16 11:46:00 | Paul Green |
| Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Inflation now on the up | 18/10/16 11:51:00 | Fraser Pearce |