We are back in a full-scale economic crisis. In London and the south east, the richest part of the UK and engine of the economy, normal commerce has been suspended by the imposition of Tier 4. And the decision of much of the EU and a growing number of rich countries to put the whole UK into quarantine is devastating for trade.
What are the immediate priorities? Probably the most important one is basic: the creation of a facility to give rapid Covid-19 tests to all lorry drivers leaving the UK so that the transport of freight can be restarted as quickly as possible. Second, to end the cancerous uncertainty for businesses about how they will be buying from and selling to EU countries in just ten days time, after the transition to full Brexit ends.
What is happening to the UK could hardly be more serious
Right now, the border closure means importers and exporters are frantically trying to work out how to ship anything.
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