Cartoon

The Good Word

Written by SK Ashby

(Cartoonist - Chris Britt)

In other news, state records show that while White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany defends and amplifies Trump's attacks on mail-in voting, McEnany herself has mailed her votes in 11 times since 2010.

Meanwhile, EU officials are telling Britain's banks to start preparing for a no-deal Brexit right now because there does not appear to be any deal in sight.

And in related news, there's another problem with the Brexit: businesses literally can't prepare for it because of the coronavirus pandemic. And they might be screwed even if there's deal.

Building new warehouses, training staff to file customs entries and installing new IT systems to handle the demands of post-Brexit trade have all been hit by staff being furloughed, according to Ross Denton, a trade lawyer at Baker McKenzie in London who advises FTSE 100 companies and multinationals on their preparations.

“It’s 100% dropped off everybody’s radar,” Denton said. “All of these things will be slowed down.”

It isn’t just about preparing for there being no deal by the end of the year. Companies in the U.K. face upheaval even if Britain achieves its goal of reaching a free-trade agreement with the EU similar to the one Canada signed with the bloc. While such a deal would avoid most tariffs on goods, it would still create new non-tariff barriers to trade in the form of red tape and paperwork. [...]

Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak this month extended the furlough program -- which sees the government pay 80% of the wages of employees not working -- through to the end of October, though employers will be required to make a financial contribution to the program from August onwards. Latest figures show the government is paying the wages for about 10 million jobs.