Brexit is set to become a never-ending Halloween horror as the nightmare looks set to stretch beyond the current October 31 deadline for Britain to exit Europe, according to a leading financial expert.
Nigel Green, CEO and founder of expat financial services advice firm deVere Group, predicts the dark period in history that started with the referendum in June 2016 will see the rise and ruin of more politicians before an agreement is reached between Westminster and Brussels.
Green says Brexit is playing havoc with the economy and highlights the 45% cut in car production designed to beat the March 29 Brexit blues – the old deadline for leaving Europe that most people seem to have forgotten.
“Brexit Britain has cost billions upon billions of pounds,” he said.
£66 billion cost to economy
“It has cost the UK economy a staggering £66 billion in just under three years, according to S&P Global Ratings.
“Brexit has thrown Britain into a profound existential crisis.
“It has cost Britain three lost years of opportunity. Brexit has almost entirely overtaken the public sphere in Britain. All of Parliament’s time and energy is vested in Brexit. It appears nothing else is getting done. And so much needs to be done.
“Imagine what amazing social and economic progress could have been achieved if the media, political life and the civil service had been dominated by ‘best in class’ individuals and organisations building an inclusive, long-term, sustainable economic growth strategy for the last three years?
“Imagine if these three years had been about retaining existing and welcoming new investment into the UK?
Three wasted years
“Imagine if the industries of the future, such as fintech, blockchain and clean energy, had been developed to secure jobs and wealth creators of the next generation?
“Imagine if Britain hadn’t spent three years inflicting reputational damage upon itself on the world stage?
“But instead, the UK has lost three years going around in circles trying to construct a deal that gives us some of what it’s got now.
“The ongoing Brexit nightmare is unlikely to end on Halloween.
“After three years, the uncertainty grows rather than recedes. Who will be the Prime Minister that will take the UK out of the EU? Will there be a second referendum and what would be on the ballot paper?”