On the Farce that is Brexit

I have just been reading about Thomas Cook holiday makers who have been locked out of their hotel rooms because their tour operator has gone bust. They have to pay extra to keep a roof over their heads. Through no fault of their own, they’re the ones who have the weakest bargaining hand and they are being exploited. Somebody has to pay, and it’s not currently Thomas Cook, nor the travel agent that organised the booking, nor the ‘hospitality’ companies who are meant to fulfil the booking. No, it’s the weakest party who gets lumbered with the bill, even in such an exceptional situation as this.

This is how business works, there’s no right or wrong, just opportunities to profit. This is why Britain will get screwed on a so called hard-brexit. Many thousands of contracts with terms imlpied by EU membership will be in breach, or null. They will have to be renegotiated in light of an uncertain future, and nobody will harbour that risk themselves. They will be legally obliged not to do the UK any favours that prejudices shareholders, but that’s more or less irrelevant - we can see that the profit motive is enough to screw even the most vulnerable people. There is little leverage to negotiate favourable contracts in the British business environment when we’re in a position of vulnerability.