Section:GDN 1J PaGe:1 Edition Date:190827 Edition:01 Zone: Sent at 26/8/2019 18:35 cYanmaGentaYellowbla
W
e’ll easily cope ,” breezes the
no-deal prime minister. “This
is a great, great country.”
Indeed it is. Most inhabitants
would certainly agree. But
to love your country is not to
think it greater than others,
nor incapable of making
grievous mistakes. Britain has not, as yet, made the
fateful error of actually electing Boris Johnson and his
cabinet of un desirables. Nor did it vote for a no-deal
Brexit. But on he drives, accelerating towards the abyss.
It’s that insouciant ignorance that drives businesses
mad; the devil-may-care fecklessness, ignoring the
boring details. Andrea Leadsom , our improbable
business secretary, writes in the Sunday Telegraph that
she has met fi rms of all kinds and guess what? “They
were overwhelmingly positive about our future.” She
ends : “Britain’s best years for business and for all our
people lie ahead.”
Andrew Varga was driving along when he heard
David Davis laughing on the Today programme as he
expounded similar airy nonsense about the “trusted
trader scheme” – goods checked in warehouses away
from the border, all easy-peasy.“I was climbing the wall! Drives me to despair!”
says Varga, managing director of Seetru , a Bristol
manufacturer of industrial safety valves. Perhaps
Leadsom has only met happy businesses by refusing
to hear from those like Varga, who has failed to fi nd
a hearing with any branch of government for the
inconvenient facts from companies like his.
“My local Tory MP, Michelle Donelan , wouldn’t come
to the factory: when I saw her in her surgery she couldn’t
get rid of me fast enough.” Labour MPs have listened and
visited but no Tory to date. At a large meeting with Suella
Braverman , then Brexit minister, she parroted the usual
empty phrases: “ trusted trader” and “WTO rules”. Since
2016 he has been trying to raise the alarm, but “ no one
wants to know”. He wrote to the prime minister, who
passed it on to Steve Baker , then at the Department for
Exiting the European Union, but got a stock reply.
At one time his exports were growing fast, with
130 employees and eight apprentices training to high
standards, but since the referendum things have quickly
changed. “Some EU customers instantly decided it was
too much trouble and switched to EU manufacturers –
we lost 10% of the business.” Others with
his valves embedded will cut them out next
time they redesign their machines. To tradeThe G7 is a relic of a bygone age Simon Tisdall, page 3
The arts can restore pride to Britain’s towns Nicholas Serota, page 5
Where does this fear of migrants come from? The long read, page 9
The Guardian
Boris Johnson
at the JCB
headquarters in
Rocester, Staff s,
January 2019
PHOTOGRAPH:
NEIL HALL/EPATuesday 27 August 2019
Polly
Toynbee
Business will
not forgive or
forget the great
Brexit betrayal
Opinion
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