The message from business is clear: No deal is not a ‘good’ outcome

With businesses struggling to survive the pandemic they’ve had no chance to get ready for the no-deal Brexit being proposed. Britain is far weaker economically than the last time the government made the threat, says James Moore

Queues of lorries are just the start of it

As the government engages in more Brexit posturing, more Brexit threats, more Brexit brinkmanship, out in the real economy businesses are barely coping with Covid-19.  

They look at the government’s fondness for no deal with horror. They should be preparing for it but many are fighting for their lives in the midst of a deep, pandemic-created recession. They have little choice but the focus on survival in the present. The future is another country.  

What? They might screw us all over by putting a wall up at the border? They’re going to land us with a sea of paperwork and skewer our exports with brutal tariffs? We probably need to worry about that. But first let’s secure the financing we need from the bank, manage our furloughed employees,  sort out which of them we’re going to need going forward and which we’re going to have to lay off. Then let’s check the weekly figures. Christ. They don’t look too good. How long do we have until that last loan gets called in?