Pound slumps as PM Johnson's Brexit rhetoric toughens
LONDON — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson visited Wales on Tuesday on a national tour to reassure voters that his push to leave the European Union “come what may” won't hurt the economy and rip apart the U. K. The move failed to persuade currency markets, where the pound slid to a new 28-month low amid rising concerns about a chaotic no-deal Brexit.
A day after Johnson was booed in Scotland, he faced another tough reception from farmers—a group central to the Welsh economy — who fear economic havoc if Britain leaves the EU without a divorce deal. They say millions of sheep might have to be slaughtered if tariffs are slapped on lamb exports to the EU.
Johnson said after visiting a south Wales poultry farm that his Conservative government would support farmers if their markets became “tricky.”
“We will look after the farming sector,” he said. “We will make sure t hat they have the support that they need.”
But National Farmers' Union President Minette Batters said Britain exports 40% of its lamb and mutton, most of it to EU nations.
“(If) we're tariffed out of the EU market, where does that 40% go?” she said.
Helen Robert soft he National Sheep Association accused Johnson of playing “Russian roulette” with the agriculture industry.
Johnson' s government argues that leaving the 28-nation trading bloc and i ts Common Agricultural Policy will be “a historic opportunity to introduce new schemes to support farming” and will open up new markets for U.K. agricultural exports.
The government's Wales Secretary Alun Cairns said “90% of global growth will come from outside of the EU.” However, trade with the EU accounts for almost half of all British exports and any new trade deals are years away.
The Welsh trip follows Johnson' s visit Monday to Scotland, where he was booed by protesters and warned by First Minister Nicola Sturgeon t hat his vow to take Britain out of the EU on Oct. 31 with or without a divorce deal was “dangerous.”
Britain' s 2016 vote to l eave the EU divided the country and also strained the bonds among the four nations that make up the U. K .: England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
A majority of voters in England and Wales backed leaving in the referendum, while Scotland and Northern Ireland voted to remain. That has emboldened Scotland' s nationalist government to demand another vote on independence, arguing that Scotland should not be forced out of the EU against its will.
In Parliament last week, Scottish National Party law maker Ian Black ford mockingly welcomed Johnson as “the last prime minister of the United Kingdom.”