Brexit could be deadlier than Covid-19 for the UK

Boris Johnson's government is doggedly sticking with Brexit which might kill Britain’s economy with the country in a crisis situation and expected to suffer the most of any European nation from the pandemic.

The UK is on course to suffer 66,314 deaths from Covid-19, the greatest amount in Europe. Far more than Italy (23,000) and Spain (19,209), according to the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation.

That's a sobering thought for anyone in the UK or who has loved ones there.

Proving that everyone is in the firing line, the Prime Minister Boris Johnson ended up in intensive care as he struggled to breath due to Covid-19 and even the next king, Prince Charles, was struck down by the virus.

There's also been shocking scenes as British supermarket shelves were stripped bare of toilet paper. It took weeks for fresh stock to appear. It was the same with hand sanitiser and even now almost a month on from the population realising how serious things could be, it's a welcome surprise to find flour or baking supplies.

The fruit industry has also buckled as they don't have anything like enough employees to pick their produce. Most have gone back to their home countries due to the pandemic. There have been reports of a surge in new applications, but these people are only trying to get work after already losing their initial jobs.

Covid-19 also finished off airline Flybe, which operated 40 percent of the UK's domestic flights and department store Debenhams has joined them – resulting in a loss of around 25,000 jobs.

Reports suggest that billionaire Sir Philip Green’s Arcadia Group could be next, that would see another 14,500 lose their employment.

Let's not even think about if Nissan decides not to re-open Europe's most productive car factory in the North East of England, which has 6,000 workers.

The Institute for Employment Studies expects up to two MILLION people to lose their jobs.

The civil service is hampered too with all their offices shuttered, so the processing of visas and the EU settlement scheme has ground close to a halt.

There's more, but that's enough to frame the situation right now in the UK. Desperation.

And despite it being talked about non-stop for the past four years, now no one is talking about Brexit. But unlike the Olympics, it's still slated to go ahead.

The biggest ever economic and political shift in the UK's history is going to take place on December 31, while the country is suffering the deepest, darkest problems it has ever encountered in modern times.

Covid-19 has shown how easy it is to shake our foundations and watch things come crashing down. If a mild panic about toilet roll empties the shelves, what does it mean for everything else we regard as normal day-to-day items?

We're supposed to be continually negotiating our agreement to leave the EU, to secure supply chains and stability for businesses. Well, our leader and chief Brexiter is in hospital, with medics saying he may need several weeks of complete rest to recover.

So who is orchestrating things on the British side of the tunnel? And what about on the European side?

All 27 of their governments are caught up dealing with the pandemic and its fallout. Everyone is in chaos right now and even simple basics are a mess. It's likely social distancing will be implemented in some form past the summer, but the EU Parliament only has five conference rooms where that could be practised. Those five rooms would have to host all of its business, not just Brexit.

These discussions, particularly on Brexit, will contain some forthright speech where politicians will say controversial things which would normally be kept within the four walls of the room.

Since everything will have to be done via video calls for the next few months, there's a far greater chance of the calls being recorded or listened to by any number of other people in each of the 28 governments, meaning language will be altered and points of views altered which isn't a positive.

Britain has taken a shellacking and needs to regroup, but its leaders don't seem to have thought about that – or if they have, they don't care.

It's officially full steam ahead with trying to complete the most complicated negotiation ever, while the country is on its knees.

Brexit has always been like a muddy puddle, now it's like peering into an oil slick. 

If Boris Johnson doubles down and refuses to delay it, he could totally destroy the UK and the rest of the world won't come running as they'll have their own recovery efforts to worry about.

Covid-19 has and is predicted to continue severely weakening the UK.

Brexit will finish it off.

The UK's fate is like a chair balancing on one leg.

If nothing changes, that leg will be callously kicked away on December 31.

Think your friends would be interested? Share this story!

The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.