Rory Sutherland Rory Sutherland

Why business is perfectly relaxed about Brexit

issue 28 September 2019

It’s difficult to go into the office nowadays, since most of my colleagues are so distraught by the prospect of a no-deal Brexit that they rarely speak. The finance department have painted European flags on their faces for solace, and spend the day staring blankly out of the window sobbing over a tear-stained picture of Guy Verhofstadt.

Except, um, no. None of this has happened. In fact, most businesses seem weirdly calm in contemplation of a no-deal Brexit. I have met people from multinationals who are sanguine about Brexit, and those who are worried, but few get emotional about the subject as, say, academics, politicians or journalists do.

Brexit has all along been a political problem, not a commercial one. As one eminent German businessman commented under conditions of anon-ymity: ‘If you put 15 businesspeople in a room, we could sort out a deal in an afternoon.’

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