Members of Boris Johnson's administration have proclaimed that the British economy is strong enough to absorb the impact of a hard Brexit, but we know they don't really believe that.
We know they don't believe that because they're preparing for the "collapse" of entire industries. British officials have reportedly drafted a list of companies that will need a bailout to survive.
(Reuters) - Prime Minister Boris Johnson is drawing up plans for a bailout fund to prop up businesses in the event of a no-deal Brexit, The Times reported.
The government has drawn up a secret list of big British employers that are considered to be most at risk of collapse and the construction and manufacturing sectors are expected to be the worst affected, Times said.
Michael Gove, the government minister responsible for planning for a “no-deal Brexit”, confirmed for the first time that ministers were working on a package to help companies at risk, the newspaper added. Johnson’s Brexit war cabinet is expected to discuss the bailout plans, known as “Operation Kingfisher”, next week, the newspaper said.
Operation Kingfisher is going to need a bigger boat, or at least a bigger list, as the British farming sector loses free access to 500 million consumers after the Brexit.
The fact that the Johnson administration is going to such great lengths to plan for the potential "collapse" of entire industries puts the lie to all of their various happy talk about a post-Brexit future in which England flourishes and reconquers itself. Johnson himself recently said that Britain will harness their "can do" spirit to emerge better than ever after a hard Brexit, but he evidently does not believe that they can spirit their way out of collapsing after isolating themselves in a global economy they've been tightly integrated in for decades.
Maybe that's the biggest difference between the Trump and Johnson regimes. The Johnson regime doesn't believe their own bullshit.
This could all be avoided -- the British government could avoid going into debt to pay for bailouts -- by simply canceling the Brexit. Just don't do it. They're still a member of the EU today and they could be after October.