Brexit Bulletin: Boris Fights Back
Brexit Bulletin: Boris Fights Back
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Boris Johnson is back, spelling out his vision of Brexit, just as the government gets down to defining what kind of future relationship it wants with the EU.
Johnson used an interview in the Guardian to defend the now infamous claim on the side of a pro-Brexit campaign bus that £350 million ($483 million) a week could be channeled to the National Health Service instead of the EU after the split. The claim was widely criticized, with the U.K. Statistics Authority saying it was potentially misleading and official data showing the amount the U.K. sends the EU per week is about £180 million.
“There was an error on the side of the bus. We grossly underestimated the sum over which we would be able to take back control,” Johnson was quoted as saying. “As and when the cash becomes available – and it won’t until we leave – the NHS should be at the very top of the list.”
As the government intensifies its discussions on what kind of relationship it is going to seek with the EU after the split – and what concessions it will make in return – and amid growing speculation about the chances of a second referendum, Johnson is justifying his own record during the 2016 campaign and also pressing to get his version of Brexit delivered. The Cabinet remains divided on how close ties should be to the bloc after 2019, with access to the single market and the fate of Britain’s huge services industry at stake.
Johnson was reported at the weekend to be preparing his own speech on Brexit in the coming weeks. The Sun said he had told friends he would prefer to stay in the bloc than leave on terms similar to Norway’s arrangement – Norway is in the single market but not the EU and so accepts rules from the bloc without having a say in making them.
But does he agree with Nigel Farage that there should be another referendum to safeguard the result of the first? “We’ve just had one, and I think it went pretty well; but it was something that caused an awful lot of heartache and soul-searching, and everybody went through the wringer on it,” he said. “I’m not convinced that the public is absolutely gagging for another Brexit referendum.”
Brexit Latest
Labour Line Hardens | Labour’s Brexit spokesman, Keir Starmer, told his party’s lawmakers to stop trying to reverse Brexit and focus instead on getting the best possible deal for Britain, the Huffington Post reports. He said a second referendum wouldn’t happen until at least 2021 – as he said “I don’t think we are going to know what ‘out’ looks like until 2021 at the earliest.”
Killing Success | Moves that could force investment firms to transfer hundreds of U.K. jobs to the European Union after Brexit are being described by asset managers as a threat to one of the continent’s biggest success stories, Bloomberg’s Julie Edde reports. The investment-management arms of JPMorgan Chase, Axa and Standard Life Aberdeen are among firms criticizing a possible clampdown on mutual funds known as UCITS that are officially EU-based but often managed from elsewhere under a system known as delegation. Such funds oversee about €9.1 trillion ($11 trillion).
Worst Threat | Airbus Chief Executive Officer Tom Enders slammed Brexit and U.S. President Donald Trump’s pro-America trade policies as presenting twin threats to its business, while singling out the U.K.’s vote to leave the European Union as the bigger issue. Brexit will weaken British industry and aerospace manufacturing by increasing costs and curtailing competitiveness, he said, and “the net result I’m afraid will be negative.”
Hit to Scotland | Scotland’s GDP would be about £12.7 billion lower by 2030 than it would be under continued EU membership if it fails to remain in the single market or to secure a free-trade agreement, according to an economic analysis by the Scottish government. A Canada-style deal with the EU would reduce Scotland’s GDP by £9 billion.
Tougher Transition | The EU has toughened the language in its directives on the transition arrangement, demanding that the U.K. seek permission from the bloc to continue benefiting from EU trade deals with third parties and giving stronger residency rights to EU citizens arriving in the U.K. during the transition period, the Financial Times reports.
On the Markets | As the pound held close to its highest level against the dollar since Britain voted to leave the EU, Tatton Investment CEO Lothar Mentel says U.K. assets are being supported by hopes the U.K. may avoid a hard Brexit. “In the City, the term ‘fake Brexit’ is making the rounds quite a bit,” Mentel said in an interview with Bloomberg Television. The idea is “we will get something that’s called Brexit but whether that’s what the electorate initially thought Brexit would be, that’s a completely different matter,” Mentel said. Still, JPMorgan Chase remains relatively glum on the pound’s prospects, saying there’s still a “non-negligible risk” that Brexit talks collapse, Charlotte Ryan reports. The pound traded at $1.3782 early on Tuesday.
Coming Up | MEPs in Strasbourg will debate the outcome of the December summit with EU President Donald Tusk, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and the EU's chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier. Sam Woods, CEO of the Prudential Regulation Authority, speaks to the Treasury Select Committee at 9:15 a.m. The EU Withdrawal Bill is back in the Commons, though no rebellions are expected. Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond takes questions in Parliament at 11:30 a.m., Environment Secretary Michael Gove speaks to House of Lords committee at 11:30 a.m., Johnson is in Canada, and there’s a Cabinet meeting at 9:30 a.m.
And Finally...
Add Jersey Royal new potatoes to the list of crops under threat from Brexit. The Guardian reports that farmers on Jersey are struggling to recruit enough workers because of the uncertainty over immigration rules and the drop in the pound. Producing the new potatoes is labor intensive as they are grown on slopes called cotils and have to be hand-lifted as mechanical harvesters can’t cope with the steep inclines, according to the newspaper.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Jones Hayden at jhayden1@bloomberg.net, Andy Reinhardt
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