Bregret

Bregrets, I've had a few,
Then again, to few to mention.

Brexit is in the past tense, but also the present, and the future.

As Brexit waits for no main. Or no politician.

Compliance drift happens, and has happend, as the EU updates various compliance requirements that existed before 31st January 2020, and the Uk hasn't.

This creates a complaince gap, which widens daily, weekly, monthly, etc.

Also the consequencies of Brexit take a long time to emerge.

Fancy.

A good assessment would have revealed tha, but Brexit was done at speed, lest people change their mind.

Fancy that!

Anyway, an article on the Daily Mail this week revealed that Polish builders are returning home because of a better standard of leaving.

Nowm I thought this is what the Mail, Torygraph, Express and Times wanted? But, no, they lament this exedus is happening.

I pointed this out earlier this year, I think, when the Polish economy overtook the UK's, and those of the Baltic State's would follow in a few years.

So as well as being home, they wouldn't be subjected to hate and would also earn more money.

Fancy that.

Migrants, either economic or refugees bring with them an economic benefit, if they are allowed to work. They earn a wage so can be income taxed, they rent or buy a place to live, they shop and fo increase the economy and so pay VAT. If they were not here or not allowed to work, then this activity is not carried out ad the economy is poorer.

The UK, like many western nations, has experienced a falling birth rate for several generations, which has profound effects on the moneis the Exchequer receives, and the social contract of the Welfare State that means we all accept paying in for what we get out in our dotage or times of need.

Successive Chencellors have had to, and are, balancing how the reduced payments from those working can carry on, and in many cases, increase spending for those in retirement. The answer is growth, and growth is what our current Government is chasing. With income and productivity flatlining since 2010, and then Brexit, COVID and the political will to get immigrants to leave, and to discourage new ones from arriving, means that the chances of any real growth is minimal.

Getting the sick, disabled or those who are economically inactive back to work is now they apparent key to national productivity. This after 15 year of auterity, when the same groups were subjected to tests, reduced or even stopped financial support.

Allowing people to work while their claim to remain would mean they could find and pay their own accommodation, and buy their own food, would mean the tens of billions spent on hotels could be saved, whilst inflating the economy.

Rejoining the Single Market and/or Customs Union would do that further, as leaving both reduced the nation's GDP by close to 8%, leaving each man, woman and child some £3,000 a year worse off.

These are the real issues, anything less is fiddling whilst the UK economy burns.