Brexit: The Ruling Class Shoots Itself in the Foot Brexit finally came into force on 1 January 2021, over 4 years after the referendum of 2016. During these four years the leading bodies of the British capitalist class had fought a delaying and rear-guard type of campaign to stop it happening but failed. Brexit appears to be against the interests of the UK capitalist class as a whole. The Christmas Eve deal, so-called Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA), makes the UK a “third” country and restricts trade between the UK and its main trading partner, the EU, which accounted for 49% of the country’s trade in 2019.1 Mountains of new paperwork, red tape and new charges have come into effect causing trade with the EU to drop by 40% in the first month of the new dispensation. The main sectors of British capital are certainly not happy. Manufacturing now has masses of new forms to complete to access its main market and supply chains are significantly delayed or broken putting a stop to “just in time” production. Foreign capital which used the UK as a manufacturing base to access the EU market now finds itself located in a “third” country without free access to the EU. Agriculture now faces certification of all products and veterinary certificates for all animal food exports. The fall in exports for this sector in January was some 60%. EU support grants to agriculture have, of course, also ended. Services, which make up 80% of the UK economy, are totally excluded from the TCA. Financial services, which contribute 12% of the government’s tax income, are now excluded from the valuable Euro clearing trade and have lost their right to operate freely across the EU. It is estimated that £900bn of bank assets, equivalent to 10% of the UK banking system, has been transferred to the EU since the referendum.2 Amsterdam has now replaced London as Europe’s largest trading hub. The Office for Budget Responsibility estimates the long term effects of the TCA will be a 4% reduction in productivity, partly through the unproductive new red tape, and a 15% drop in exports and imports.3