Brexit snarling again amid more grim economic news

John Springford at the Centre for European Reform, who has been tracking its increasingly dire impact on the UK economy, released his latest update this week.

Based on the performance of similar countries before and after the event, he calculated that the UK’s economy was 5.5 per cent smaller in the second quarter of the year than it otherwise would have been. In real money, economic output was £33bn lower and tax revenues were £12bn lower.

For the year to the end of June 2022, he put the tax hit at roughly £40bn. That number is, obviously, made all the more significant by the bitter pay disputes involving public sector workers who have been told there’s no more money in the kitty.