I strongly recommend watching, and rewatching, this Financial Times video about the impact of BREXIT on the UK.
It leaves little doubt that BREXIT, as it has been implemented by the Conservative Government, has been immensely damaging to our economy and to the hopes of the young.
The video likens the impact to a “slow puncture”, with massive cumulative impact since the 2015 vote, though sometimes masked by the Covid pandemic and the Ukraine conflict. The negative outcomes include:
Post-Brexit devaluation failing to spur on Britain’s exports
Britain falling behind EU countries in terms of post-Covid trade recovery
Smaller companies unable to handle the extra regulations and paperwork
Britain losing 30% of its buyer-seller trade relationships in the EU after the “Trade and Cooperation Agreement” came into force in January 2021, according to estimates by the London School of Economics (LSE).
Financial, warehousing, haulage and other jobs moving to the EU
Business investment in the UK plateauing while that of EU partners continues growing
Much vaunted “deregulation” leading to duplicate regulation, with extra bureaucracy and costs
End of free movement leading to a recruitment crisis, a “painful period of adjustment” for some industries, and permanent obstacles for young Britons seeking employment in the EU
A question mark over whether the City of London is the natural place to do financial business
The ripping up of the Northern Ireland Protocol is blocking our access to the Horizon Research Project, worth Euros 95 billion.
Lower projected economic growth for 2023 than any country in the EU. However, Northern Ireland, which has unfettered access to both EU and UK markets has become an unexpected economic success story.
As for overall impact, the Office for Budget Responsibility expects the UK to be ultimately 4% worse off. "It's about £100 billion a year that the economy is not producing, £40 billion in tax revenues or so", says the FT.
People often make mistakes, but what really matters is our ability to recognize them and change direction in timely fashion. It is precisely here that we have failed. The FT highlights two causal factors:
Brexiteers have never made a cogent case for a “BREXIT dividend”. They have been dishonest about the trade-offs involved, and the costs – which outweigh the benefits.
A “political conspiracy of silence” spanning the Government, the Labour Party and the Governor of the Bank of England. It is not difficult to see why the Government and the supportive or compliant mainstream media avoid mentioning the downside, but the FT finds that the Labour Party has also acquiesced in this:
“the Labour Party doesn’t want to talk about Brexit because it reminds voters why they voted Tory - - - People don’t want to go anywhere near BREXIT, but that shields us from an honest debate which we should be having, about how we can make BREXIT function in a way that doesn’t distort the economy”.
And this brings us to CAMPAIN’s biggest bugbear, and cause for reform, Britain’s grossly biased news media:
“People who speak out against BREXIT are often decried as Re-moaners or Re-maniacs. We are all being asked to accept something which in 2015 was only the official policy of the UK Independence Party (UKIP)”.
Our democracy severely malfunctions when many of our leading figures remain silent on key issues - under the watchful eye of a mainstream media that tends to regulate the Overton Window of acceptable discourse. Fortunately the FT is seeking to expand that window on the topic of BREXIT. Let us know your comments below.
The most blatant lie about £350 million/week for the NHS was a cheap ploy to garner support for Brexit, and entrusting responsibility for negotiations to a vagabond and liar like Johnson was the equivalent of the UK putting a noose around its neck. A sensible and competent politician could have negotiated to achieve a superior result; though leaving the EU made such an outcome problematic. The ruse used by those responsible is to claim that they are democrats (a particularly virtuous breed) despite them being responsible for the gross mis-selling that led to the referendum result. Evasion and avoidance by a future Labour government for PR reasons will do nothing to attempt a correction and improvement.
Noel Hamel 2 years…
I think it's wrong to refer to people who speak out against Brexit in a derogatory way. We live in a democracy and people have a right to express a view. Economic benefits or loss of dividend was probably a red herring. I say this because the Rowntree Foundation report (https://www.jrf.org.uk/report/brexit-vote-explained-poverty-low-skills-and-lack-opportunities) indicates that many people who voted for Brexit were from the most vulnerable sectors of our society (poorest households, unemployed, people in low-skilled and manual occupations, low education etc) and the reverse for those who voted to remain. To me, our society was divided into 'haves' and 'have nots' when we voted in 2016. I wonder if the EU would have preferred not only for the UK to vote…