EDITORIAL: With Brexit outcome as clear as mud, SA must get cracking on contingency plans
The EU is our biggest trading partner and within that, the UK is the second largest
With all the intrigue in our own politics, it is understandable that events in the UK have taken a backseat. While we weren’t looking, the Conservative Party’s divisions over Europe consumed yet another prime minister, with potentially dire consequences for the UK and countries that do business with it. Theresa May, who became prime minister almost by accident when the original 2016 vote in favour of Brexit led to David Cameron’s departure, was never up to the job. Untangling Britain from a more than 40-year economic and legal relationship with its biggest trading partner required skills she just didn’t have. May was no Nelson Mandela, so she didn’t have the ability to compromise with adversaries, or the political courage to neutralise the radicals in her own party. Instead, she spent years ignoring the 48% of the population who voted to stay in the EU, seemingly oblivious to the simple fact that the country didn’t vote for the sort of departure that the Brexit fanatics in her party...
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