Brexit?
Which Brexit?
The British government is currently acting a little like the Gauls from the Asterix comics, who claim never to have heard of the defeat at Alesia.
In addition to the effects of the pandemic and war, Brexit is a main cause of the British economic crisis.
'It just doesn't get talked about.
It's the elephant in the room, so to speak," says Jörg Schindler, SPIEGEL correspondent in London. "Everyone knows it, everyone sees it, but everyone acts as if it doesn't exist.
And that's what makes things here so really depressing at times
."
In addition, since David Cameron's election victory in 2010, the people of Great Britain have been governed by the conservative party, the Tories, which established a rigid austerity program back then in order to reverse the consequences of the financial crisis.
An austerity program that is still active today and has led to many municipalities seeing little opportunity to save money.
"And now we're in a situation where savings may have to be made again and no one really knows how," reports Jörg Schindler from his talks with city representatives and municipal boards.
»You can only privatize social housing once.
You can only close a swimming pool and library once.
And if Rishi Sunak and his Chancellor of the Exchequer come up with the idea 'Nevertheless, we still have to drastically reduce public spending' – that will be anything but subject to an entertainment tax«.
more on the subject
Future British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak: Next, pleaseBy Jörg Schindler, London
Great Britain's new Prime Minister Sunak: His ancestors would not have made it into the country under his government An analysis by Jörg Schindler
Next British Prime Minister: This is what you need to know about Rishi SunakBy Florian Pütz
Rishi Sunak has a difficult legacy at the top of Great Britain, and not only in economic terms.
Scotland is striving for independence from the kingdom, the formation of a government in Northern Ireland seems impossible due to the agreements in the relevant Brexit protocol and, above all, the new prime minister must unite his party, which has been hopelessly fragmented after the wild Johnson years.
Otherwise he has to reckon with massive resistance to his plans.
After all, Sunak can count on a well-established PR team that has already successfully changed its image as a very rich upper-class banker.
But is that enough to heal the country?
Jörg Schindler talks about this in this episode of the SPIEGEL foreign podcast »Eight Billion«.
Listen to the current episode here: