Damaging talk of 'no deal' spells doom for the Tories

[nitpicker]

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/jun/05/no-deal-doom-tories-boris-johnson-brexit

Damaging talk of ‘no deal’ spells doom for the Tories

Polly Toynbee

Wed 5 Jun 2019 06.00 BST

We’ll come out, deal or no deal, on 31 October. That’s the spirit! We’ve got to have the courage to tell the people of this country we can do it if we really want to.” So says Boris Johnson in his jaunty launch video, all blind faith that he alone can leap the Brexit impasse when he is anointed prime minister (odds now 11/10). Where’s the democratic legitimacy? We the people are mere dumbfounded onlookers at the insolence of this coup, not “taking back control” but letting him seize it.

Already his “no deal” talk is doing real damage. UK manufacturing shrank last month at the fastest rate since the referendum, with export orders at a three-year low. Construction figures fell their fastest for a year due to “ongoing political and economic uncertainty” as “a fragile dreariness descended on the sector”, according to the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply. Retail sales fell by 2.7% in May, the worst drop since records began, though consumer spending is what has kept the economy afloat. Wednesday’s service sector figures are unlikely to lift the gloom.

Make UK, representing manufacturers employing 2.7 million people, blames Brexit chaos, pointing at cavalier candidates calling for a no-deal Brexit. Even “moderate” Jeremy Hunt supports no deal, though “with a heavy heart”. Never mind his heart, look at the real world consequences of these wildly irresponsible would-be leaders. “There is a link between people standing up and saying no deal is acceptable and people losing their jobs as a direct result,” warns Make UK’s chief executive Stephen Phipson. Reckless Brexiters call it Project Fear, but he says: “It’s not theoretical or hypothetical scaremongering.” It’s happening now.
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