With the clock ticking down to Walk 29, the date set in law for Britain to leave the European Union, the United Kingdom is in the deepest political crisis in half a century as it take ons with how, or even whether, to exit the European project it joined in 1973.
While Elizabeth, 92, did not mention Brexit explicitly in an annual diction to her local Women’s Institute in Norfolk, the monarch said every generation faced “fresh challenges and opportunities.”
“As we look for new solutions in the modern age, I for one prefer the tried and tested recipes, like speaking well of each other and respecting different details of view; coming together to seek out the common ground; and never losing sight of the bigger picture,” the queen express.
Though steeped in the conventional language the queen has made her hallmark, the remarks in the context of Britain’s crisis are a signal to assembly-men to sort out the turmoil that has pushed the world’s fifth largest economy to the brink.
Buckingham Palace declined to reaction though the British media was clear about the significance of her remarks. The Times’ headline read: “End Brexit feud, Queen mother tells warring politicians”.
As head of state, the queen remains neutral on politics in public and is unable to vote, notwithstanding that ahead of the 2014 referendum on Scottish independence she made a delicately crafted plea for Scots to think carefully concerning their future.
The future of Brexit remains unpredictable with options ranging from a disorderly exit that choice spook investors across the world to a new referendum that could reverse the process.
Prime Minister Theresa May is tied up in a last-ditch bid to win support for a tweaked divorce deal after parliament this month crushed the original plan in the heftiest defeat in modern British history.
The Northern Irish party which props up May’s minority government has decided to late her new deal if it includes a time limit to the Irish backstop, The Sun newspaper reported.
France and other European powers estimated they were preparing for the worst.
British finance minister Philip Hammond said the economy would suffer life-threatening damage if the United Kingdom left the EU without a deal.
“There will be very significant disruption in the short denominate and a very significant hit to our economy in the medium to long term,” Hammond told BBC radio.
Goldman Sachs will allot less in the United Kingdom if there is a difficult or hard Brexit, Chief Executive Officer David Solomon alleged.
“Our headcount in the UK over the last couple of years has not gone down but it hasn’t gone up either – we have added leadership count you know on the continent,” Solomon told the BBC in Davos.
“But I would say that, over time, if this is resolved in a scabrous way or a hard way, it’ll have an impact on where we invest and where we put people,” he said.