An unlikely marriage: Coronavirus and Brexit Coronavirus has undoubtedly been the biggest threat to human life in generations. Aside from directly threatening our survival, the virus completely shut down the UK economy by forcing a nationwide lockdown. Restaurants, bars, hotels, car dealerships, offices and schools are ghostlike shells of their former hustle and bustle. The resilience of British business is on the floor. April to May saw the single steepest contraction on record: the UK economy shrunk by a whopping 20.4%, according to the Office for National Statistics. As of the 4th of May 2020, more than one in five British workers have been furloughed – accounting for 7.5million people. There is no doubt that the virus will leave deep scars on the economy that will take years to heal. Any good experiment as you know has its control variables. One variable is changed, all others are kept ‘ceteris paribus’ as economists call it. And this is precisely why the legacy of Brexit can never be accurately traced. Now that our economy is in tatters, the economic effects – be it positive or negative – will always be shrouded by the COVID 19 impact: a marriage of two phenomena with no divorce. The effects of Brexit and Coronavirus will simultaneously intermingle – the ‘jab and punch’ to struggling business’ - and the ‘£350 million a year’ – a phrase used and abused by both sides of the Referendum campaign – will disappear into the abyss of unproven claims. The virus is not a political invention and thus it is without sides; it does not discriminate. Yet it has infected our ability to scrutinise the success of one of most pivotal turning points in British politics. With the lead negotiator himself falling ill for a period of time, the end of the transition period on December 31st looms ever closer. 2020 will by then have passed us by, along with all traces of Brexit accountability. LINKS AND REFERENCES – PART OF THE FIGHT AGAINST MISINFORMATION GOVERNMENT FURLOUGHING STATISTICS: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/chancellor-extends-furlough-scheme-until-october ECONOMIC CONTRACTION, GDP MONTHLY ESTIMATE: https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/grossdomesticproductgdp/bulletins/ gdpmonthlyestimateuk/april2020