Brexit battles

It must go down as the smart line of the month but it drew a sharp response instantly. Michael Bloomberg, the billionaire media mogul and former mayor of New York, said with a faint smile: “It (Brexit) was just about the single stupidest thing any country has ever done.” He added wryly: “But then we Trumped it.” Bloomberg’s company is opening a new $1-billion European headquarters in London but he admitted that if Brexit had happened earlier he might have looked at other locations. Bloomberg’s comments echoed the thoughts of Goldman Sachs chief Lloyd Blankfein whose company has also shifted some people to Europe. Blankfein and Bloomberg’s remarks drew a sharp retort from the UKIP’s Nigel Farage who retorted that London was the world’s financial capital and would stay that way.

The ideological battle between Brexit Leave supporters and the Remain camp remain as intense as ever. But, what the Leave camp refuses to acknowledge is that uncertainty is the biggest killer in the investment game. More than 16 months after the Brexit vote nobody has the remotest idea about the contours of a final deal. In the event, companies and global banks are checking out office sites in places like Frankfurt. Japanese car company Nissan which has a factory in the UK, has received assurances from the UK government that it won’t face extra costs because of Brexit.

Can Britain gain by going it alone? The Leave camp believes the UK can go solo and strike beneficial trade deals with countries like China and even India. The Remain camp says this is a pipe dream. Immigration was the factor that tipped the Leave camp to a narrow victory in the vote last year. But here also Bloomberg summed up why voters were wrong, saying: “The UK didn’t take anybody from northern Africa or the Middle East. The UK immigrants came from places like Poland.” How the UK will extricate itself from the mess it’s in is just one more imponderable in a volatile and troubled world.

Editorial Consultant

COMMENT NOW