The interminable Brexit saga – what’s the latest?

We first reported on Brexit immediately after the shock referendum result in June 2016. Our question then was: what happens next? 16 months later, we are no clearer on getting an answer. We still don’t know whether there will be a Brexit.

Politicians insist there will be a Brexit, and Brexit will mean Brexit. Yeah, very helpful, Theresa.

This uncertainty is – finally – having an effect on business confidence, particularly here in London, where City firms are assuming the worst. Most financial firms have now opened subsidiary companies in other EU countries, and are on the hunt for office space and talent. Of course, they need to do this in order to continue servicing European customers under the EU’s passporting rules. However, it’s not just City firms affected by Brexit.

Most famously, Ryanair’s Michael O’Leary has stated his fears that leaving the EU without a deal will mean there will be no flights from the UK to the EU after Brexit, which seems utterly crazy. Due to their need to schedule flights many months in advance, we might see in a year’s time whether O’Leary is serious, as Ryanair release their spring/summer 2019 rota, which coincides neatly with the cut-off date for talks.

As well as airlines and financial firms, anyone who exports to or imports from the Eurozone may be affected by a hard Brexit. The EU’s chief negotiator Barnier has stated that the most optimistic outcome now seems to be a Canada-style free trade agreement, which would mean tariff-free trading for most goods. The only problem is that Britain overwhelmingly exports services to the EU, not goods. Anybody who has to fly to Paris or Frankfurt these days to do work on a client site would have to jump through a lot of hoops after a hard Brexit, which would surely destroy the British consultancy economy.

Lastly, recent retail sales figures have fallen off a cliff, as the weakness in the pound increases the price of imported goods. It might also be connected to all the Poles going home and no-one there to pick our fruit. The optimists will point out that this inflation will eventually increase domestic output, and the tighter job market will raise wages. They will be proven right eventually, but in the meantime, we are in a right old mess, and with little credit left to tide us over the bad times. Meanwhile, the Bank of England stands on the brink of a rate rise, which might just be the final nail for the buy-to-rent sector.

Brexit was never going to be simple, but with talks turning into a quagmire straight out of WW1, and the UK economy starting to stall, the immediate outlook doesn’t look good. Enjoy these days while you can, for soon they will be just a memory. And what better way to seize the moment than to spend time with a sexy London escort from Viva? London is still the best city to enjoy female company, at least for the moment. Check out our escort portfolio now and choose a companion (or two!) to forget all about the woes of the Brexit talks, galloping inflation and the imploding housing market.