BREXIT

It is due to Covid I hear Leavers chanting – Covid made a dire situation worse. Leavers seem to have forgotten that Brexit is not a single theme issue. It is an event that exists in amongst many other factors. So our ageing population and falling birth rates are an example. The world energy economy and climate change are others.

There are opportunities allowed by Brexit – our economy can be repositioned with nationalisation where appropriate. Trade deals can be done with countries outside the EU – although few seem keen. The billions saved can be spent “on the NHS?”. The idiot in charge has said wages are rising (depends on the timescale). Public sector workers have a pay freeze, inflation is growing. So the opportunities are being frittered away by fanaticism of the Brexiteers combined with their obsession with tax reduction and the free market economy.

The admirable statement that British workers will get trained up is not feasible. If all the skilled jobs get taken by British workers who will pick the produce in the fields and other menial jobs. Before Covid which was also basically before Brexit we had nearly full employment. Over a million EU workers go home. The number of people on 60-64 age bracket is 3900000 and the number in the 15-19 age is 3685000. A shortfall of 210000, or 50000 per year and growing. This will affect all sectors and basically means that retirement age will have to keep rising. This is without the extra pressure on the NHS and the changing social patterns that will arise with an ageing population.

What is there about Brexit that would be better without Covid. For sure more HGV licences would have been attained, maybe enough to have prevented the petrol crisis, but it would still have been a shortfall of drivers (as exists across Europe – its just that they started doing something about the conditions for drivers ages ago). Do drivers want to come to the UK – the governments temporary visa scheme which should have attracted 5000 has attracted 127 tanker drivers despite being extended into next spring.

City centres are being changed all the time. It seems to me that buy people will generally buy online. Thus leaving the young and the old with time to spend in the city centre. Pedestrianisation on a greater scale seems inevitable, together with leisure actives such as cafes, but maybe even gyms with secure cycle racks. Maybe themed libraries – to be honest the reference section of libraries could be concentrated in regional centres (every one can google nowadays), but children’s books and literature, travel and history will remain popular and could be combined with reading clubs – bookshops would also benefit from the development of a reading culture (for when Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram go down! With sensible rates the town centre could develop local specialist shops of all kinds. Banks and Building Society are disappearing from the High Street to be replaced by charity shops, tattoo parlours, betting shops – I hope this is temporary as a High Street of small independent shops will always be a delight, especially with decent cafes and restaurants. It seems likely that there will be more housing in the town centre or at least above it. This should make it less intimidating than many areas are now.

A thought – everything is in sound bites now. Whilst a pub might like a 2+ hour football match I am sure many cafes could attract clientele with sports highlights of about 30/40 minutes – meet some mates to watch a highlight show on a Sunday afternoon would be cool?

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