Britain is a seagull that wants to eat on its own. But can it catch fish alone?

By George ILIEV
Brexit Metaphor No 122. 

Seagulls fly in flocks when hunting for fish in the sea or scavenging at landfill sites. However, as soon as they catch something, they dash off on their own away from the flock so that no other seagull would steal their catch.

You may know the phrase "run with the hares, hunt with the hounds." In this case, the seagulls are behaving in a way that can best be described as "hunt with the hounds, eat without the hounds."

Britain went hunting together with Europe in 1973 and has since managed to snatch a few tasty morsels thanks to Europe's vast and wealthy hinterland: financial services, professional services, pharmaceuticals, IT, aerospace, automotive, etc. And now Brexiting Britain wants to consume and digest these morsels on its own. But how likely are these to be sustained and maintained after leaving the EU? Or could it turn out that the proverbial "moving bicycle" theory which is often used to describe the EU ("stop moving forward and it collapses") would be even more relevant as a description for the export-dependent industrial and services sectors of the British economy? No Europe, no finance. No Europe, no pharma.

It sounds like Britain is heading towards a hybrid-proverb scenario after March 29: "Hunt without the hounds, eat garbage on a landfill."

Seagulls (Source: Wikipedia)

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Notes:
1. Timeline: This article is part of a series of original #BrexitMetaphors published daily. A total of 122 have been posted so far and another 39 Brexit Metaphors will be published every day until the planned Brexit date of March 29, 2019.
2. Disclosure: The author has a master's degree in European Integration. He also thinks he knows a bit about business, economics, entrepreneurship, China, history, geography, nature, science and Rubik Cubes.
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