Brexit and Covid-19 are a Toxic Mix

Summary:

Britain’s finance minister, Rishi Sunak, announced that his furlough scheme would continue, after vowing it would end on October 31st. Infections are rising in the UK, as they are across much of Western Europe, and hours worked are falling again. But, unlike its peers, the UK will leave the EU single market and customs union in January, which will raise the cost of imported goods, reducing household spending power, and curb European demand for UK products, leading to job losses in Britain’s export industries. The pandemic will make it harder for the economy to adjust to Brexit, and the government needs an economic policy programme designed for a period when unemployment is high and household consumption weak

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