Matthew Lynn Matthew Lynn

A no-deal Brexit won’t mean a shortage of medicines

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Covid-19 has hit us harder than just about any country in the world. Lockdown has been eased chaotically, and no one has any idea what the rules are any more. And now, on top of everything else, it looks as if we are about to run out of medicines if the government doesn’t mange to reach a trade deal with the European Union by the end of the year.

According to the Financial Times today, the UK is running dangerously low on stockpiles of essential pharmaceuticals, and might well run out just as a second wave of the coronavirus hits, probably next winter. We need to import lots of medicine from the rest of Europe, and the ‘crash out’ ideologues at Number 10 are putting us all at risk. There is a problem, however. It’s nonsense. There might or might not be a shortage of certain drugs. But that will be because there is, in case anyone hadn’t noticed, a pandemic.

Matthew Lynn
Written by
Matthew Lynn
Matthew Lynn is a financial columnist and author of ‘Bust: Greece, The Euro and The Sovereign Debt Crisis’ and ‘The Long Depression: The Slump of 2008 to 2031’

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