As polling booth fatigue kicks in are you any clearer on where your business is going?

Political analysts and journalists have certainly been earning their corn over the last couple of years, and for those armchair politicos amongst us, three invitations to mark our cross during that time have also produced some “very good telly”.

Of course working equally as hard, if not harder, are those poor business owners whose job it is to make decisions about growth, investment and hiring amid the calamity that is the current state of UK politics.

After the shockwaves of the Brexit vote, followed by our friends across the pond choosing a questionable orange hotel builder with a penchant for tweeting to be head of the most powerful nation on earth, the recent General Election result shouldn’t really have been a surprise.

The eternal optimists out there will no doubt be saying “we are where we are” however that phrase could come to grate rather when Philip Hammond, Boris Johnson and David Davis all appear to say slightly different things on the Brexit transition arrangements.

Heads you win

That said there are already winners and losers out there created just by the Brexit decision and before any real deal has been hammered out.

With the pound falling, exported goods have become a lot more attractive to overseas buyers, however that could only be a temporary boost given the real possibility of tariffs and quotas being imposed on a country sitting outside of the single market.

Conversely, the weakness of the pound has hit importers with the obvious knock-on effect to consumers. In particular, the fall against the US Dollar could have widespread consequences.  As the international currency of the oil industry the impact will not be limited to the petrol pumps given the myriad of end products containing the black stuff.

 On the bright side

It is more than slightly odd that business owners are expected to make plans when the government responsible for exiting the EU has yet to prove it actually has some if its own. And with such a flaky majority it’s not beyond the realms of possibility that we will all be called to the ballot box rather earlier than the proposed five years.

We can then all look forward to another eight weeks of insult hurling, posturing and sound bites followed by a night of watching Jeremy Vine walking down a graphically mocked-up Downing Street in pursuit of red and blue tiles; who said politics was boring!!!?

By Steve Leeves