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English FrançaisThis article seeks to review the major challenges raised by Brexit to UK-based financial services as well as to the European Union. It argues that planning for a no-deal crash-out Brexit has likely diminished the worst risks to financial instability. Over the long term however, Brexit raises significant regulatory challenges, as access to the European market based on 'equivalence' will be far more difficult than the automatic access currently enjoyed on the basis of mutual recognition and passporting. Both the UK and the EU will face costs in this process.Cet article a pour objectif de passer en revue les principaux défis posés par le Brexit aux services financiers basés au Royaume-Uni et à l'Union européenne. Il avance l'idée que les institutions financières ayant anticipé la possibilité d'un Brexit sans accord, les risques les plus graves d'instabilité financière sont moindres. Cependant, à long terme, le Brexit soulève des problèmes réglementaires importants, car l'accès au marché européen fondé sur « l'équivalence » sera beaucoup plus difficile que l'accès automatique actuel fondé sur la reconnaissance mutuelle et les « droits de passeport ». Ce processus engendrera des côuts pour le Royaume-Uni comme pour l'UE.

International audienceHaving begun by pursuing an extremely conservative fiscal policy during the late 1990s, Gordon Brown, as Chancellor of the Exchequer and then Prime Minister, presided over a massive expansion in public spending to improve public services. This expansion of spending was justifiable in many ways, given poor investment in public services during the Thatcher-Major years. But it was arguably not sufficiently financed through taxation, and direct taxation in particular. The result was a run up of public deficits prior to the current financial and economic crisis, which broke the government's own fiscal rules. This in turn prepared the way for a substantial deterioration in public finances when the current crisis broke, a deterioration which may take years, if not decades to set right

The financial crisis of 2008 and ensuing recession led to falls in earnings in the UK, not seen since the Great Depression of the 1930s, and it was only in 2014 that overall household income returned to its pre-crisis levels. At the same time, according to one official measure, income inequality has actually fallen, although different data indicate no change. This situation follows from several factors, notably the continued growth in pensions, higher earnings of lower income households as these have worked more since the recovery in 2013, and the continued stagnation of earnings in higher income households (even if very high incomes have continued to pull away from the rest of the population). Incomes of younger workers also remain below their pre-crisis peak. This chapter shows however that the picture of poverty and inequality in the UK is far more complex than suggested by the main measure of income inequality. To this end, it begins by reviewing the definitions of poverty and inequality, in order to provide a broader overview of these pressing but complex social problems. The review here goes on to examine wealth inequalities, the impact of housing costs on inequality and poverty, and it concludes by presenting recent studies suggesting that Brexit may well lead to future rises in inequality, as higher inflation could well hit lowerincome households most.