The kingdom seems more divided than untied.

British Prime Minister Theresa May suffered a second defeat in the House of Commons yesterday in a non-binding vote which rejected a motion to support her plan to seek changes from the European Union (EU) on her Brexit deal. May had hammered out a deal with the EU over 2 years of negotiations but earlier, in January, this deal was rejected by the Commons by a historic 230 votes. The Brexiteers, those who support Brexit at any cost, want an option to leave the EU without a deal, the so-called 'hard Brexit'. However, most politicians and business leaders fear a catastrophic damage to the economy if Britain left the EU without a deal. "Leaving the European Union without a transitional trade deal would cost Britain about 6% of GDP -- roughly fours years of economic growth -- compared with staying in the bloc," the International Monetary Fund warned. "Britain's economy has slowed since the Brexit vote" from near top of the G7 group of nations to near bottom. It will not be one sided. A German institute claimed that a hard Brexit could see a 50% drop in exports from the EU to Britain. Germany could lose 57% of current exports to Britain at a cost of 3.3 billion euros. The Netherlands would lose 12 billion euros by the year 2026. Denmark could lose 1% of GDP in the event of a hard Brexit, its economy minister warned. India's exports to the EU, worth 44.2 billion euros in 2017, should not be affected but the CEO of Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) warned that a hard Brexit could cost the company $1.6 billion a year and thousands of jobs. JLR was acquired by Tata Motors for $2.3 billion in 2008. The biggest sticking point is the only land border between Britain and the EU, which is between Northern Ireland, a part of the UK, and the Republic of Ireland, a member of the eurozone. In the event of a hard Brexit there would have to be customs and immigration check posts at this border. To avoid that May and the EU agreed on a customs union between Northern Ireland and the EU for 2 years, until a new trade agreement is reached. This is the 'Irish backstop'. The fear is that a hard border could reignite violence between Catholics and Protestants, which was stopped by the 'Good Friday Agreement'. "Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley, and Citigroup have moved nearly $300 billion of balance-sheet assets from London to Frankfurt, and Barclays has won approval to move another $215 billion to Dublin," wrote Prof B Eichengreen. London acquired "its international financial prominence sometime in the eighteenth century" so it is not going to lose that advantage in a hurry but a hard Brexit will surely weaken that prominence. The most serious consequence of a Brexit will be an exodus of professionals from Britain, wrote E Campanella, which will hurt its economy. France suffered serious decline for decades when Huguenots were driven out when Louis XIV revoked the Edict of Nantes in 1685. Britain tried its old successful policy of 'divide and rule' but has failed so far. In the process it is hopelessly divided itself. Will the United Kingdom fall apart? We shall see.