It's hard to know where this belongs really, you could make a case for the General Election thread, also for the Leadership Contest thread, but on balance I think it's most appropriate in here.
Let's start with a simple image:
View attachment 172572
The pound is in trouble, and there are worried heads in Downing Street. Truss and Kwarteng may think that they can borrow and tax cut their way to growth, the problem she has is no serious economists, and particularly the world markets, agree with them - and this is being priced in against the pound.
Normally when your currency falls in value, you get a boost in exports, because your stuff is cheaper for people to buy using other currencies, the problem the UK has is that it kneecapped itself by leaving not only the EU, but crucially, the Single Market and Customs Union at the same time. We are simply not seeing the boost in exports that a weak currency normally engenders, because trading with the UK is such a ballache.
British exporters are bleeding out, there's no way for them to competitively fight through the morass of red tape and bureaucracy that Brexit has inflicted upon them, so many have either massively reduced their trade with the EU, or stopped altogether. Those who are sticking with it speak endlessly of the shocking drag that Brexit has placed on their businesses, many have had to set up subsidiary companies in EU countries because doing it UK<>EU is just so painful, which leeches out money and jobs from the UK economy.
At a Belgian airport, a UK traveller took pictures of a billboard, written in English, that was inviting UK companies to relocate to Belgium, to benefit from seamless access to the EU single market.
There's no level on which Brexit can be defended, even if you just wanted to stop the dinghies coming across the channel, it's failed completely at that. If you voted for Brexit, for whatever reason, fine, everyone makes mistakes, but the key thing to do when we make a mistake, is to own up to it, and seek to fix the damage it has caused.
Because, and let's be crystal clear about this, Brexit was a mistake, that much is abundantly clear on every single conceivable, measurable metric. We're at the point now where to attempt to deny it is to deny objective reality, we're at the point now where to continue to defend this shitshow, is to actively act against the UK's best interests, do continue to defend Brexit at this point in time, is to actively participate in harming the UK.
The patriotic course of action now is to oppose the damage that Brexit has done, and continues to do, every single day. We need to get back into the Single Market and Customs Union ASAP, I'm not talking about rejoining the EU, I know that's probably 15-20 years away, but something needs to change, and quickly. Truss's hairbrained scheme to increase government borrowing whilst cutting taxes (for the wealthy!) isn't going to work, no serious economist thinks it's going to work - a change of course is needed.
This is no longer about, 'LOL REMOANER, YOU LOST GET OVER IT, LOSER!", because I didn't, I didn't really lose anything, I didn't even vote in the referendum because I was not eligible to do so.
The UK lost, it hasn't got over it, and it isn't going to get over it. The only question now is how long are we going to stand by and watch as our country suffers.
