POLITICS


just the start Brexit end game could be


MPs trudging back into Westminster following the summer recess face having to find answers to some big questions about the future of the UK and its economy. With a new Prime Minister at the helm and Brexit entering its end game, Chris Hobson (pictured far right), the Chamber’s Director of Policy and External Affairs, takes a look at what this crucial next phase of politics may hold.


A week is a long time in politics, so a whole summer must feel like a lifetime to the MPs heading back to Westminster after recess. Yet the reality for those outside the political


bubble is that just a few short weeks have passed, but a lot has happened in the time since Parliament last sat. We have a new Prime Minister, in Boris Johnson, who inherits the unenviable task of trying to steer through a Brexit deal that is acceptable to a majority in the House of Commons. We have a very loose cross-party coalition of


remain-leaning MPs determined to stop a no-deal Brexit. The potential for a vote of no


confidence, snap general election or any number of other arrangements that may or may not be allowed under Parliamentary convention are all currently being discussed. These are then being dismissed


– or advanced – among small clusters of MPs gathered in the tired corners of Westminster and virtually, via WhatsApp. And we are faced with an


unprecedented and ongoing political stasis on virtually every issue other than Brexit, as Government has turned its sole focus to delivering on the result of the EU referendum in 2016. It is this paralysis and


uncertainty that is hugely damaging to business, not only in terms of not knowing what may – or may not – happen after Brexit, but in terms of the ability to plan and invest with confidence, knowing that the UK will still be open for business after 31 October. If there were any doubts about how the ongoing uncertainties regarding Brexit are impacting on the real economy, you need only take a look at the latest set of growth figures from the Office for National Statistics, which suggested that after a prolonged period of growth in the three years since the referendum, the UK economy finally hit the buffers in the second quarter of this year.


44 business network September 2019


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