Forever Brexit

In his column in yesterday's Guardian, Rafael Behr, wrote the following in closing:

"Johnson has tried to sustain the rhetoric of Brexit as sunlit upland. His party conference speech last month promised a high-wage, high-skill economy that would spring up in the absence of migrant labour. But that was an essay-crisis utopia, cobbled together from scraps of news about labour shortages and broken supply chains. Besides, by far the most memorable thing Johnson ever promised about Brexit is that he would get it done. That legacy is diluted every time the issue foists itself into the news, as will keep happening.

The hunt for purer sovereignty will generate tension with neighbouring countries, which will then be cited as proof that only the purest sovereignty will suffice. This is not the typical revolution where the ends can justify the means. The ends have already been reached. EU membership has expired. We are stuck instead in the purgatory of endless means: a sisyphean nightmare of rolling negotiations that reach a certain point of agreement before breaking down and restarting. Johnson’s Brexit condemns Britain to re-enact forever the tedious, embittered process of leaving with no hope of satisfaction, because we have already left."

It has been reported that Brexit, so far, is costing the UK £850,000,000 a week in lost production and GDP, dwarfing the "saving" that Brexit was said to be bringing. The only choise now is yet higher taxes or cut spending by even more.

Those Brexit benefits just keep rolling in