UK FOCUS
UK, but how do you think it could affect business in Europe? GEORGE OSBORNE: The European Union will be affected because the UK is one of its largest markets deciding to potentially step away, reduce trade with it, or potentially completely collapse trade in the case of no deal. That would particularly affect communities in France, Belgium, the Netherlands, anywhere close to the UK where trade would be particularly strong. I think Europe’s main concern is just maintaining the integrity of the European Union, maintaining the single market, making sure the full freedoms are adhered to, and that its members stay on side. Their biggest concern would be the collapse of the union. The EU was designed initially as a vehicle for increasing peace on the continent, bringing people together, preventing them from fighting with one another, so it’s within that context that politicians in Europe principally understand the European project. Then their biggest concern is about defending that and that means they would much rather be tougher on the UK to ensure that they keep that in place. They are also concerned about things like finance. The UK has got a very strong financial sector, and they want to make sure that European businesses can still get access to that capital. On top of that they’re also concerned about the idea of the UK potentially breaking away and
FEED: Looking at it from the other end, are there any benefits Brexit
creating like a Singapore in Europe, with low regulation or really absolutely free trade. If that were to happen, it could lead to things like the deformation of the farming industry, because standards of agricultural production would disappear and any old people could start trading with us. FEED: Could it possibly mean a boost for EU creative industries as fewer artists and developers come to the UK? GEORGE OSBORN: Already, earlier this year, Sega moved part of its testing away from the UK to Bulgaria. They said, “This isn’t related at all to Brexit. We promise it’s not related.” But at the same time, they have chosen to relocate part of their business to a country that sits within the European Union and its framework and allows them to freely move employees there and take advantage of the lower cost in terms of labour. What I think will happen is businesses will start looking at the examples of companies like easyJet, whch has headquarters now in Vienna. Companies currently in the UK will find a way to headquarter themselves in Europe instead. It will be harder for the UK to attract those talented people. They will be increasingly inclined to say, “If I’m not welcome in the UK, or it’s harder to do business in the UK, I will set up elsewhere. I will go to Germany, to France, to one of the Scandinavian countries.”
could bring to the UK?
GEORGE OSBORN: One of the Brexit benefits right now is the fact that the pound is weaker, so that means that video games companies who usually sell their games in dollars are actually making a bit more money at the moment. That could be between 10% to 15%, so that is a short-term benefit. The industry is quite resilient and self-reliant – and because there are already workers across borders working effectively, it would be well-placed to deal with the damages there. I think the biggest thing that’s happened is that Brexit will have a negative effect on the country as a whole. Whenever I travel abroad, one of the things that I’m always struck by is how people talk to me about the UK in a way they’ve never spoken about us before. They say things like: ‘We used to know you as the sensible ones. You were pretty rational, pretty pragmatic. We knew we could do business with you.’ Every week that this process goes on, the more it seems like Britain has become an inward-looking nation; that it doesn’t understand how the modern world operates and that it wants to go back to when the Empire was still a big thing, rather than actually a country that’s ready for the modern economy. This couldn’t be further from the truth of what this country is.
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