If trade is a Cinderella indicator, the UK has stopped coming to the ball

The Centre for European Reform’s latest assessment, to be published shortly, which compares the UK’s performance with a “doppelganger” UK of similar countries but unaffected by Brexit, is expected to report significant negative effects on both exports and business investment.

That matters. Exports and investment are the drivers of productivity, and hence prosperity and competitiveness. Their weakness is dragging us down. The trade figures are telling us something, and it is not encouraging.