In the ongoing Brexit story, it appears Bloomberg wants to pronounce it a disaster:
Lines of cars snake from gasoline stations. Fights break out among angry motorists trying to get fuel. Grocery staples are out of stock on store shelves. A charity warns that doubling heating bills will force a million households to rely on extra blankets to stay warm.
This was supposed to be the year the U.K. broke free of the European Union and forged ahead as a buccaneering free trader, delivering the benefits of a new, confident “Global Britain” to workers and companies at home. Instead, that picture of Brexit utopia is looking more like a dystopia.
As Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Conservative Party gathers at its annual conference this week, the promise of self-determination has given way to a foreboding sense of economic isolation.
Much like the United States:
The immediate challenges facing the U.K. stem from the loss of a vital pool of labor after its transition out of the EU ended on Jan. 1. A dearth of truckers is raising fears not just about toys or turkeys for Christmas, but whether people will have enough fuel and food this winter.
The government said late on Sept. 25 it plans to issue short-term visas for truck drivers and poultry workers, though businesses say it won’t come close to filling the gap. Johnson said on Sunday the U.K. also won’t go back to relying on immigration to solve the shortage. There are also deficits of people across industries from agriculture and meat to hospitality.
So the United States is seeing similar problems without having Brexit to blame. I have to wonder if Bloomberg has it in for Brexit, rather than blaming the exceedingly poor timing of a pandemic which makes some jobs highly dangerous. Certainly, Brexit deprived Britain of cheap labor, which was a complaint of the Brexiteers; but just when the Brits might have stepped up and learned how to drive truck, now it’s more dangerous.
I’m just not sure I believe this article with any enthusiasm.
