Brexit Cost UK enonomy £140b?

The London mayor recently blamed Brexit for costing the UK economy £140 billion (US$178 billion or RM828.58 billion). The government, he said should “urgently” rebuild relations with the European Union (EU) to stem further decline. 

Britain’s EU divorce has also meant there are two million fewer jobs nationwide than there otherwise would have been, including 290,000 lost positions in London. This is according to research by Cambridge Econometrics commissioned by City Hall. Half of the total job losses are in financial services and construction.

Britain’s economic output would have hit £2.34 trillion in 2023 if the nation had remained inside the EU, 6% more than the £2.2 trillion it logged, according to Cambridge Econometrics. It predicted that the impact will worsen, shaving £311 billion off projected output in 2035 compared to a non-Brexit scenario, equivalent to a 10.1% hit. The analysis used historical data to predict how the economy of a non-Brexit “counterfactual UK” would have performed.

The report also suggested London’s economy was £30 billion smaller than it would have been without Brexit. The average Londoner was £3,400 worse off in 2023 due to the vote, compared to the £2,000 estimate for the average Briton.

Bloomberg had reported that Brexit will impact the U.K. economy by £100 billion per year. U.K. trade with rest of the world and the E.U. have fallen. “Global” Britain has become less open. Trade deals have been signed with 71 countries but impact is tiny. Investment has stalled. In terms of workers, there are 330,000 fewer workers in the U.K. It may only be 1% of total workforce but transport, hospitality and retail have been hard hit.

The office for Budget Responsibility thinks the U.K. is 4% worse than if it had voted “No”. So much for Boris and Farage and their deceit.

Reference:

Brexit cost UK enonomy £140b, London mayor says, Irina Anghel/Bloomberg, The Edge Malaysia, 12 Jan 2024