The Pulse：Brexit discussion: Martin Chung, HKBU & John Bruce, Scottish Business Group of Britcham &

On Tuesday, British Prime Minister Teresa May faced an unprecedentedly crushing defeat in the House of Commons. Her Brexit deal which sets out the terms under which Britain might leave the European Union was rejected by 230 votes. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn tried to capitalise on this with a motion of no confidence in the government. However this manoeuvre was defeated with the help of Mrs May’s Northern Ireland allies, the DUP who dislike Mr Corbyn even more than the government – so she survived but only with a margin of 19 votes. Parliament however has forced her to come back with another exit plan by the 21st. So what does all this mean for Britain? With us to talk about that are Martin Chung, Assistant Professor of the Dept. of Govt. & International Studies at the Baptist University and John Bruce, Chairman of the Scottish Business Group of the British Chamber of Commerce Hong Kong.

According to a report from the European Commission released last year, an average Hong Kong person consumes almost 103 kg of pork, beef, poultry and other meat every year. It’s one of the highest per capita intakes in the world, higher than Europe and the United States. And it’s fed by a sizeable daily movement of live pigs across the border that’s now threatened by an outbreak of African swine fever across the mainland. Worried for the health of their own livestock, Hong Kong’s 43 pig farmers have urged the government to stop the highly contagious virus coming here.