The United Kingdom is now entering the most critical period of uncertainty and crisis management since the end of the Second World War. Yes there have been problems before, but they have always been at a level which did not throw into doubt where the country was trying to go, how it was going to pay its way, with whom and on what terms it was going to trade and above all, of what would the United Kingdom in future consist?
We now, on Referendum plus .75 of a day, have a lame duck caretaker government with a shattered prime minister, a cumbersome electoral process for the ill-starred and sundered Tory party to elect a new leader to form a new government creating great political uncertainty, shares and the pound in turmoil, warnings of a ratings downgrade, pressure on the banks and the very likely prospect that Scotland will break away to independence in order to remain in the EU, with the further prospect that Northern Ireland may well leave the UK to unite with the Republic of Ireland.
Meanwhile business investment is all but grinding to a halt, since such is the confusion, no rational manager can determine what the future holds and where the opportunities might beckon. That in turn will trigger a downturn in a country not yet out of the clutches of the aftermath of the 2008 crash. And all of this self inflicted so that we can ‘take back control’, ‘set ourselves free’, and become ‘independent again’.
I beg your pardon?