cliff edge
cliff edge – sostantivo
[Chancellor] Philip Hammond has claimed “literally nobody” wants a post-Brexit migration “cliff-edge” as he suggested that businesses and public services would be in trouble without migrant workers.
The Bank of England has been asked to reveal how City firms are preparing for a cliff-edge Brexit.
Speaking to BBC1’s Breakfast programme, [Health Secretary] Hunt insisted ministers were united behind a plan which would avoid a “cliff edge” departure.
The UK is risking a security and trade “cliff edge” if it doesn’t secure an arrangement that allows data transfer with the European Union to continue after Brexit, a report has said.
D’estate, con la sospensione dei lavori parlamentari, nei media prende corpo la cosiddetta silly season: a corto di materiale serio si pubblicano pezzi su argomenti frivoli o triti e ritriti, magari legati alle condizioni meteo del momento. Quest’anno però, nonostante la premier sia in vacanza come molti dei suoi colleghi parlamentari, la politica continua a dominare le prime pagine dei giornali e non mancano vignette satiriche che raffigurano Theresa May nell’atto di saltare in un baratro, mano nella mano con i suoi ministri.
Dietro tutto questo c’è ovviamente la Brexit. Con Theresa May indebolita dalle recenti elezioni e un governo diviso su una Brexit dura o una morbida (e qualcuno in privato ammette che sarebbe meglio evitarla del tutto), vari ministri stanno prendendo posizione sullo sfondo di studi e relazioni che dipingono l’uscita dall’UE a marzo 2019 come un saltare nel baratro.
Origini del termine
Quest’uso metaforico di cliff edge in politica è recentissimo. In origine il termine è stato usato per descrivere situazioni di grave rischio di povertà o esclusione sociale legate a un aumento della pressione fiscale o alla revoca di alcuni sussidi.
Traduzione di Loredana Riu
cliff edge – noun
[Chancellor] Philip Hammond has claimed “literally nobody” wants a post-Brexit migration “cliff-edge” as he suggested that businesses and public services would be in trouble without migrant workers.
The Bank of England has been asked to reveal how City firms are preparing for a cliff-edge Brexit.
Speaking to BBC1’s Breakfast programme, [Health Secretary] Hunt insisted ministers were united behind a plan which would avoid a “cliff edge” departure.
The UK is risking a security and trade “cliff edge” if it doesn’t secure an arrangement that allows data transfer with the European Union to continue after Brexit, a report has said.
The period over the summer when Parliament is in recess is often known as the silly season. Deprived of serious political stories, the media often resort to frivolous pieces with headlines such as ‘Phew what a scorcher’ or ‘Britain shivers in coldest July for decades’. This summer, however, even though the Prime Minister is on her holidays and MPs have dispersed to their constituencies or to holiday destinations around the world, political stories continue to dominate the front pages. Meanwhile the comment pages of left-of-centre newspapers have been carrying cartoons of the PM and her ministers hand in hand, jumping off a cliff.
The reason for both of these things is, of course, Brexit. With the Prime Minister weakened by a poor election result and the Cabinet riven over whether the country should seek a hard or soft Brexit (with some privately thinking it would be better to have no Brexit at all) ministers have been setting out their positions against a backdrop of reports that a disorderly departure from the EU in March 2019 would be akin to jumping off a cliff.
Origin
The non-literal use of cliff edge is so recent it has not yet made it into most dictionaries. It was originally used to talk about a situation where a rise in taxes or fall in benefits led to some people suffering disproportionate losses, with the expression being applied to Brexit only in the past few months.
