Brexit Making UK Weaker Already - Some Details

Weak pound means UK supermarkets don't get the pick of the crop

Sunday morning is when I review the news stories to see if there is anything worth adding to this Brexit as it happens account.  There wasn't anything big in the media, but even so a couple of things combined with some personal experiences I think are illuminating.


First off I heard a leave politician who is in the House of Lords explaining why she might be opposing the triggering of article 50.  I didn't catch either her name or understand her argument.  I guess she can't be that important or it would be a news story in its own right.  But the interesting thing is that that is how opinions change.  You don't stop believing in something in a flash.  You start off with doubts, and then start to find objections.  You may never change your stated opinion, you just stop acting on it.

That's the way humans work, and I suspect a lot of people are still leavers but have now lost interest in the subject and are effectively now non-participants even if they would still say they don't regret it if you ask them.

It would be good if a few top name leavers would publically recant even now.  It would make a big difference to the mood music.  The trouble is that that the first one to do so will be like the first penguin to jump into the sea in the morning.  He'll be the one that the seal eats.  But the rest of the penguins will be jumping in as quickly as they can after he has gone.

The other story which is not being framed as a Brexit related matter at all is the lettuce shortage.  This is immediatly the result of floods in Spain disrupting supply.  But the shortage has only shown up in Britain.  Lettuce is plentiful in Berlin.   This is what having a weaker economy looks like, and the 15% fall in the value of the pound is as sure a sign of weakness as  you can imagine.

I am also noticing that stockists I use for raw materials are holding less.  Presumably this is for the same reason as the lettuce shortage.   They can't get higher prices for what they sell in the UK at the moment so when they come to restock they don't have the cash to buy in as much they used to.  Not a huge issue in the short run, but it makes doing business in the UK a little harder.  We'll be seeing lots of these sorts of things building up over the next couple of years.  Economists will tell you that a larger economy is a more efficient economy.  This is a rather dull fact.  But the way it actually plays out in the real world I think is going to prove fascinating in the details.    And expensive.