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Brexit debate – should we stay or leave

By March 2, 2016February 12th, 2019No Comments

The Brexit debate – should we stay or leave  – continues. On Friday 19th February, David Cameron came back from Brussels. After an endless round of negotiations – and a seemingly equally endless round of dinners – he had struck a deal with the other EU leaders. It would, he said, give the UK ‘special status’ within the EU, and he would campaign for it with all his ‘heart and soul.’

A cabinet meeting was held on the Saturday morning and it was announced that Britain would hold the long-anticipated referendum on continued membership of the European Union on Thursday, June 23rd.

Battle lines were swiftly drawn. Most of the cabinet lined up behind the Prime Minister – but first Michael Gove and then Boris Johnson announced that they would be campaigning for Britain to leave the EU.

The UK media were equally quick to pick sides – if they hadn’t done so already:

Cameron’s deal not worth the paper it’s printed on

Europe: a great deal for Britain says PM

Nevertheless, the Prime Minister promised a ‘civilised’ debate – a promise which appeared to last until around 3pm on Monday afternoon. But the fall-out from the announcement wasn’t simply confined to the House of Commons and the jockeying to replace David Cameron. The pound fell to its lowest level against the dollar since 2009 and ‘bosses of some of Britain’s biggest companies’ wrote to the Times saying that a Leave vote ‘would threaten jobs.’

Not surprisingly, some of our clients have been in touch to ask for our views and advice. ‘What are the economic implications?’ and ‘How will this affect my savings and investments?’ have been the questions most frequently asked.

So click here for our current reading of the situation: please don’t take it as specific financial planning advice – but please do get in touch with us if you have any further questions.