Airbus will abandon the UK. The car factories will all be closed down. Trade will grind to a halt, we will run out of food and medicines, and Harry Kane will be sold to Real Madrid and made captain of Spain instead of England. Okay, I made that last one up, but all the others are among the dire warnings that big business have issued over Brexit in the last few weeks.
Project Fear III, or IV, or possibly XXVII by now, keeps coming back. Right now, it seems to have as many sequels as Jurassic World, and with plot-lines that are about as original. That, however, is a mistake, and potentially a serious one. Sure, industry has plenty of legitimate concerns about our departure from the EU. But it should be trying to shape Brexit, not just re-run a failed referendum strategy.
Every day appears to bring a fresh warning of a potential Brexit crisis. At the weekend it was Airbus, and today it was the car manufacturers turn to tell us about all the terrible stuff that is about to happen. By Thursday, it will probably be the pharma guys, and then at the weekend a couple of the big banks will tell us they are off to Frankfurt while the supermarkets warn us of empty shelves and a possible shortage of avocados. And then the whole thing can start all over again.
True, you can see what they are up to. Companies are worried about Brexit, in much the same way they are worried about all sorts of things that might or might not happen in the future. They want to apply pressure on the government to make sure their particular sector gets as good a deal as possible, even if it does end up costing the tax-payer a few billion pounds.
Comments
Join the debate for just £1 a month
Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for £3.
UNLOCK ACCESS Just £1 a monthAlready a subscriber? Log in