Robertsbridge reader’s worry about No Deal Brexit

From the Telegraph this Sunday, the Brexiteers’ bible, I quote: ‘The pound has racked up a record 10th straight week of decline against the euro as holidaymakers face a fourth summer feeling the pinch from the currency’s tumble.’

The dire warnings about a destructive No Deal or a hard-core Brexit are now coming thick and fast, delivered by serious people who read their briefs and understand the seriousness of what they are saying. Last week Chancellor Philip Hammond told his Treasury officials not to change their advice on No Deal to suit the new PM and vowed to fight on from the backbenches where the new Prime Minister’s majority, even with the DUP on board, may be reduced even further after the Brecon and Radnor by-election.

A study by the Resolution Foundation think tank says that we are at the highest risk of recession since 2007 because a global downturn combined with an uncertain Brexit leaves us with little room to manoeuvre.

The UK Trade Policy Observatory reckons that a destructive No Deal will cost £22 billion a year (more than half of England’s schools budget) in compensation to British businesses. Perhaps most alarmingly, Simon Byrne, the chief constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland, painted a picture of how a hard Brexit would be “absolutely detrimental” to the peace process, lead to the potential for renewed violence as well as farms and businesses closing down.

It is a wave of bad news and alarming predictions that demonstrate the damage that a tough Brexit is already doing to the country now and will do in the future.