Unsurprisingly, it turns out that Brexit still isn’t “oven-ready”, despite the UK government’s promises back in 2019. Instead, as many of us pointed out all along (and The Times cartoon confirms), it is set to lead to years of dislocation and disruption for the UK economy. Of course, the pandemic made things worse. But it […]
Chemicals and the Economy
Businesses face difficult 2 months for Great Britain – N Ireland trade
The N Ireland Protocol continues to be in the news. It was signed nearly 2 years ago, and described by UK premier Boris Johnson as being “oven-ready“. But as the House of Lords reported last week: “Addressing the implications for Northern Ireland and Ireland of UK withdrawal from the EU has been the most fraught, […]
UK set to take hard line on EU trade under David Frost
The Brexit debate has always been about politics, not economics. So it was no surprise that December’s UK-EU Trade & Cooperation Agreement (TCA) was the first trade deal in history to actually increase barriers rather than reduce them. The reason is that Brexiters are focused on a very narrow concept of “sovereignty”. And last week’s […]
Buyers scramble for product as global supply chains breakdown
Asian LNG prices reached $32.50/MMBTU this month, up from less than $2/MMBTU in June. The Shanghai Containerised Freight Index hit $8000/TEU container (Twenty-foot Equivalent Unit), up from prior rates of $1500/TEU. In Europe, UK supermarkets have warned of containing food shortages in N Ireland due to the new Brexit trading rules. None of this would […]
Businesses face “biggest imposition of red tape in 50 years” as Brexit begins
Most companies had closed when the new EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) was finally announced on Christmas Eve. And they are only now starting to get their heads around what it all means. Essentially, it creates the biggest shake-up to the UK’s trading relationships since 1973. As the BBC’s Economics Editor reported: “It is […]
Your A to Z Guide to the reality of Brexit after 31 December
(Picture credit Shutterstock) A. Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty set out the rules for leaving the European Union. As with most negotiations, it assumed the leaving country would present its proposals for the post-withdrawal period – which would then be finalised with the other members. But the UK government has little experience of trade negotiations, as these […]
Chemicals in the eye of the storm as UK heads for a WTO Brexit on 1 January
On Friday, the UK premier confirmed what many of us have expected for a long time. There is unlikely to be a trade deal with the EU27 when the UK leaves at the end of December: “We should get ready for 1 January with arrangements that are more like Australia’s – based on simple principles […]
Reality dawns for business as No Deal Brexit approaches
I warned before the June 2016 Brexit referendum that Brexit was all about politics, and Boris Johnson’s bid to become prime minister: “All the evidence suggests that his real motive for deciding to lead the Leave campaign was that – win or lose – this would make him the likely successor to David Cameron as […]
Merkel warns of need to prepare for No Deal Brexit
Most people missed the fact that last Tuesday was the last possible date to delay the UK’s exit from the EU at the end of the year. Yet as Germany’s leader, Angela Merkel warned on Wednesday: “To put it mildly, progress in the negotiations has been very limited. I will continue to press for a good […]
Your A to Z Guide to the Brexit trade negotiations
A. Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty set out the rules for leaving the European Union. As with most negotiations, it assumed the leaving country would present its proposals for the post-withdrawal period – which would then be finalised with the other members. The UK government, however, has still not yet set out its post-Brexit […]
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