For thought
the hard graft it would have been valueless because economic predictions never get it right. Yet Mr Davis could have got such assessments easily.
The Confederation of British Industry did a sector by sector analysis a year ago which would have told Mr Davis what t business needed from Brexit. And the Bank of England’s Monetary ry Policy Committee has been issuing warnings since the referendum saying a Brexit vote te would push the pound down, stoke i inflation and lower econom economic growth. The o only things they got wrong was th that spending would slow and un unemployment would go up. On W Wednesday, CBI President Paul D Drechsler showed his frustra frustration in a speech following a dinner of roast breast of pheasant and c cured sea trout. Her threw dow down his prepared notes and calle called Brexit the “most serious issu issue any country in the world has ever had to face”. A And he attacked Theresa Ma May’s Cabinet, saying: “What’s h her team doing popping up l like whack-a-mole?” He complained that most days “some clown pops up” with a different opinion and he warned that “Rome i is burning” while the s stalemate continued. He defiantly added: “No w way are we going to let Lon London go from the most exciting city on the planet to mostly irrelevant because of mismanagement.”
But after Mrs May’s breakthrough on Friday the CBI was more cheerful. Deputy director general Josh Hardie said: “This will lift spirits in the run-up to Christmas.”
Not everyone is so happy. Former Ukip leader Nigel Farage said: “It’s total capitulation on all fronts. We’ve placed an enormous amount on the table for nothing guaranteed back.”
And Labour’s Gisela Stuart, who chairs Change Britain, said: “The referendum was a vote for real change and most importantly a vote to take back control. It would be unacceptable if the UK continued to be subject to rules designed and imposed by Brussels.” But he was accused of being a “shameless hypocrite” by Lib Dem Brexit spokesman Tom Brake MP. Mr Brake added: “He rails against the so-called EU gravy train but is happy to cash in when it suits him.” Mr Farage and other British MEPs were allowed to sign up to a subsidised EU second pension scheme that is now at least £187million in the red. The European Parliament’s Additional Voluntary Pension Scheme was closed to new entrants in 2009 because of its debts. But during the 15 years the second fund operated, an MEP’s monthly contribution was £982 – topped up by £1,965 of public money. The additional payments are on top of the main MEP pension scheme, which is 100 per cent funded by taxpayers. Mr Farage will have served four terms as an MEP when Brexit forces him into retirement in 2019. He told the Sunday People: “Given the arbitrary nature of the EU I’ll be lucky if I get it. Anyway, there are 22,000 UK citizens entitled to EU pensions so why are you only asking me?”