Boris’s Brexit battle isn’t over yet

On the eve of the five-year anniversary of the Brexit referendum, it’s hard to shake the feeling that Brexit was the dog that never barked. Project Fear portended half a million job losses – a hard measure to test given a year of lockdowns and furlough, but before Covid hit (and now) the unemployment rate is lower than it was five years’ ago. We were warned of a ‘punishment Budget,’ as though there is ever any other kind. The hysteria, the stalling of Parliamentary machinery, the well-documented family rifts – was it all for nothing?

First, a few caveats. There are many problems that still need fixing – especially in Northern Ireland and the service sectors. Delays on the border may worsen once volumes increase (though perhaps not resulting in 29 mile queues, as predicted by Imperial College). 

We’ve yet to experience the pain of losing free movement which, along with the added layers of bureaucracy, will be felt most acutely by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).