NEWS · 19 May 2023
Yes, "Brexit has failed" – not our words but the words of none other than Nigel Farage this week, as he became the latest Brexiter to try to escape the blame for the whole fiasco.
The time was when people built political careers on being the truest Brexit believer. Now they are all running a mile the other way – and no wonder, when you see the week's Brexit news.
Car industry: 800,000 jobs at risk
It is no exaggeration to say that the entire British car industry, already halved in size since 2016, is now at risk of collapse.
Car-makers, including the makers of Vauxhall, Ford and Land Rover, have called for the Brexit deal to be renegotiated. Vauxhall parent company Stellantis says that if that does not happen then their UK factories "will close".
This is happening because of 'rules of origin' -– a technical trade issue, but a hugely important one. Rules of origin are about what percentage of a product's value must be manufactured in a country to avoid expensive export tariffs.
In the Brexit deal, as agreed by Boris Johnson, this percentage rises to 45% next year for electric cars. Batteries can now be up to half the value of the car – but the UK lacks battery factories. The UK's main hope on this front (and previous topic of government boasting), Britishvolt, went bust in January.
A quick repair job?
As ever, the government has its fingers in its ears. We reached new levels of denial as business secretary Kemi Badenoch claimed in parliament that car manufacturers' explicit call for the Brexit deal to be renegotiated "isn't to do with Brexit".
Discussions are underway about a delay to that part of the Brexit deal. But a delay would not "save" the UK car industry, or its 800,000 jobs: it would keep it on life support for another few years at most.
You can try to 'fix' the Brexit deal sector by sector, asking for special treatment for every industry, but then you'll be renegotiating forever and you'll still never manage to fix all the problems. The real way out of this is to scrap Brexit.
Swimming in sewage
When the UK was an EU member, clean water rules prevented most sewage dumping into our rivers and seas.
Since Brexit, and the accompanying increase in the cost of water treatment chemicals, the water companies have made a habit of using the waterways as an open sewer.
On Thursday the water companies finally pledged to reduce the 'spills' – but it will be funded by an increase in bills, despite water companies making profits of over £1 billion per year.
Tory MP Damian Green took to the airwaves to say, with a tinge of nostalgia, "I remember as a child in South Wales swimming in sewage... Jackson's Bay in Barry used to be a sewage outlet where we all went and paddled".
Of course, that was before we joined the EU! When we rejoin, we have no doubt that our waters will run clear once more.
