The British Economy Posts Its Worst Numbers In 6-Years

June 11. 2018

British Prime Minister Theresa May

This is a follow up to the February 26, 2018 article "Britain After Brexit" where I stated "If Britain is not properly prepared to pick up the slack elsewhere, with equal and greater trade deals and adequate job creation, Brexit will mark a historic reversal of fortune for the country. In short, there’s a problem. A very serious problem. The British government has not cemented the proper trade deals or shown it is creating the necessary amount of jobs to recreate the departing ones."

The reversal of fortune I wrote about 4-months ago has begun. Over the past 3-days reports have surfaced stating the British economy has hit a 6-year economic low. An article in the Independent dated June 8, 2018 entitled "Brexit: damage to UK economy already happening, according to new foreign investment report" confirms what I stated in my article 4-months ago, regarding the City losing significant investments and jobs. The numbers are in and there is a, "26 percent fall in the number of financial services investment projects coming into the UK, while the total number across the EU rose 13 percent."

The June 11, 2018 article on the Bloomberg site entitled "Manufacturing Darkens Cloud over U.K. Economy in Critical Week" cites the same 6-year economic decline in Britain, stating the economy is performing "weaker than expected."

Former Prime Minister David Cameron, who initiated Brexit and his former subordinate-turned-Prime Minister, Theresa May, who has done a terrible job in managing and overseeing Britain's departure from the European Union, have damaged the British economy. Brexit was a bad idea from the start. However, the British people voted for it, due to campaign lies by men such as Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage, and the government has been honoring the vote.

The Brexit transition did not have to be a financially damaging one. However, Cameron and then May (particularly the latter) have handled it horribly. There was never any real plan in place (by May) to successfully keep the British economy functioning at optimal levels or a course of action to offset the loss of European Union business. 

For the past 2-years I have emphasized the need for aggressive job creation and procuring new investments, to make up for the outflow of capital and jobs from Britain to the European Union, but neither Cameron or May did so. They took the success of the British economy for granted, clearly thinking nothing could go wrong. They relied too much on banking and real estate, rather than manufacturing, which I have repeatedly written on here for years is key. To make matters worse, both the banking and real estate sectors have taken a financial hit due to Brexit, as the City has been shedding jobs and home values have declined.

To further illustrate May has no plan, she recently pushed back Britain's departure date from the European Union from March 2019 to some time in 2023. She can't have one foot in and outside the European Union and for that long. May's lack of economic action coupled with her shifty, racist attitude towards foreigners, has damaged Britain's economy. It does not inspire confidence, because to financially savvy investors, she's made Britain look like shaky ground. I'll explain.

As stated above, May pushed back by 4-years, Britain's departure date from the European Union, which she originally selected and announced. That's four more years of uncertainty. May's xenophobic immigration policies have turned off many investors as well, as stated months ago on the site. Investor are not going to risk going to any nation and investing in the economy where the Prime Minister is behaving like a hateful, outright racist, deporting immigrants who have lawfully resided in Britain for decades. Immigrants are investors and workers.

Rather than address her problems with Russian President Vladimir Putin head on, May has opted to take the unwise approach of targeting and harassing wealthy Russians living in Britain, which is a terrible idea. May is targeting Russian business people in Britain, who are collectively worth a few hundred billion British pounds.

Many of these Russians have been in Britain for decades and contributed to the British economy via taxes and job creation. Targeting them is not going to hurt Putin, who is a billionaire living in luxury in Russia. It is going to hurt the British economy. Not to mention, the aforementioned Russians living in Britain can leave and take their money and invest it elsewhere. May should not want that.

Case in point, May has been targeting Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, who is the owner of the award winning football team Chelsea FC. Abramovich has pumped a lot of money into Chelsea, hiring many top players and coaches. Abramovich has been working on plans to build a £1billion stadium for the team, which Chelsea fans have been looking forward to, as that's an exciting event in the life of a football club.

Enter iron knickers Theresa May suddenly refusing to renew Abramovich's visa, due to her political dispute with Putin. Ambramovich employs many Britons. He bought an entire block in London and converted it back into one home. He pays huge sums of money in tax to the British treasury.

Thanks to May targeting Abramovich, the new stadium plans are being shelved, which hurts the British economy (jobs created in building the stadium and maintaining it). It also hurts football fans who would love a new home grounds. Let me tell you something, unless she found evidence that Abramovich shot Mother Teresa, football fans are going to vote against Theresa come election time. If there's one thing you don't mess with in Britain, it's football.

May has made Britain look very unwelcoming and unfriendly to the Commonwealth and global investors in general, which is regrettable, as the nation did not have that image before. If there's one thing investors do not like it's uncertainty. They don't want to set up shop somewhere, start investing their money, only for an irrational prime minister to illegally kick them out of the country

Investors are afraid to place their money in any nation whose government can't stabilize the economy or decide if they are in or out of the lucrative European Union. People don't have time or money to waste and aren't going to risk doing business in that type of climate. May's indecisiveness and lack of planning is damaging Britain's prospects. Parliament needs to take the reigns and stabilize the situation for the health of the British economy.

There's no way around it at this point. May has damaged the British economy in a very serious way. May has chased away taxpaying Windrush immigrants, much needed Indian doctors, scientists, IT specialists whose services were requested by British businesses, foreign students she wrongly accused of cheating and illegally deported and now investors like Abramovich, who is now looking to invest in Israel (he obtained an Israeli passport).

Another serious problem is May cut the police budget in London, laying off 8,000 officers, which I warned against in October 2015. Now the murder rate in London has shot up. It's affecting tourism and investors are afraid for their safety regarding going to London and setting up businesses. London was one of the safest places in the world in 2015 (prior to the budget cuts). Last week, the mayor, Sadiq Khan, finally had to admit to ITV News that they are facing a serious crisis, regarding the surge in violence.

I have repeatedly written for over a year that the British government needs to do round-ups and lock up the gangs, as they are the root of the problem. It's the cheapest and most effective alternative, as May is refusing to restore the police budget she unwisely cut and rehire the 8,000 officers she let go. These gangs should be detained under conspiracy charges (inchoate offenses) among other things.

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