Press
True cost of Brexit vote 'is £440m every week'
23 June 2018
The Times
The economy is 2 per cent smaller than it would have been had Britain not voted for Brexit, a leading think tank has claimed. The Centre for European Reform (CER) said that the performance of the economy, compared with what it would have been if the 2016 referendum had gone the other way, was significant.
Bruchlinien quer durch Europa
23 June 2018
Wiener Zeitung
Nicht einmal die Visegrad-Vier, die in so manchem westeuropäischen Land oft als schwieriges Gegenüber empfunden werden, sind ein geschlossenes Gebilde. "Die Visegrad-Staaten sind keine einheitliche Gruppe", sagt Agata Gostynska-Jakubowska von der in London ansässigen Denkfabrik CER (Centre for European Reform).
Boris Johnson warns against 'bog roll Brexit' as pro-EU campaigners prepare to march
23 June 2018
Sky News
Research by the Centre for European Reform has shown Brexit has already made the UK economy 2.1% weaker than it would have been if voters had decided to stay in the EU.
Johnson calls for 'full British Brexit' two years after historic referendum
23 June 2018
The Irish Examiner
Meanwhile research by the Centre for European Reform (CER) think tank indicated Brexit had already made the UK economy 2.1% weaker than it would have been if voters had decided to stay in the EU. ...The CER estimate of a 2.1% smaller economy than if the UK had voted to remain in the EU is equivalent to a knock-on hit of £23 billion a year to the public finances, some £440 million a week.
The Brexit vote has already wiped £440 million a week from Britain's economy
22 June 2018
Business Insider
A report from the Centre for European Reform (CER) found that — thanks to lower tax revenues — the knock-on hit of the vote to leave the EU to public finances has been £23 billion per year. The findings comprehensively refute Prime Minister Theresa May's recent claim that she would boost NHS funding significantly with a "Brexit dividend" when Britain stops paying into the EU's budget.
Sky News: Two years on from the referendum are we better of worse off?
22 June 2018
John Springford, deputy director of the Centre for European Reform speaks to Adam Boulton on Sky News about his research published tomorrow on the effect of the referendum on UK growth.
Aljazeera: As EU slaps tariffs on US, has world trade war become inevitable?
22 June 2018
The EU has imposed tariffs on a wide range of US goods in response to American duties on steel and aluminium, Sam Lowe a research fellow at the Centre for European Reform speaks to Aljazeera 'Inside story' to discuss tariffs, trade wars and Trump.
Plugging in the British: Completing the circuit
22 June 2018
Financial Times
“On foreign policy, the risk is that the UK will be more autonomous but less influential, while the EU will be more united but less active. On defence, if the EU excludes the UK from operations it would also potentially undermine its own efforts, while the future economic relationship will shape defence-industrial co-operation.” (Centre for European Reform report)
Two years on from the Brexit referendum
22 June 2018
Financial Times
There is plenty of evidence that the UK economy has suffered since the vote (as John Springford spells out in this new report).
Nationalists are ripping up the Franco‑German map of Europe
22 June 2018
The Times
“In the past the Franco-German motor worked when the other countries went in behind France or Germany, depending on their point of view” said John Springford, deputy director of the Centre for European Reform in London. This meant that when Paris and Berlin agreed, everyone agreed. “The problems now are the new dividing lines between the traditional allies of France and those of Germany. Anti-European integration nationalism is taking hold in traditional partners of internationalism.”
Brexit has already cost the UK more than its EU budget payments, study shows
22 June 2018
Bloomberg
The damage to the U.K. economy caused by the vote to leave the European Union two years ago already exceeds the size of the budget contributions Britain will be able to claw back when it finally leaves the bloc, according to an economic study by the Centre for European Reform.
Uncertainty caused by Brexit has already caused a 2.1 percent dip in economic output, even before Britain’s departure next March, the CER said late Friday in an emailed statement. That’s cost the public finances 23 billion pounds ($30 billion) in lost tax revenue, the think tank said
Uncertainty caused by Brexit has already caused a 2.1 percent dip in economic output, even before Britain’s departure next March, the CER said late Friday in an emailed statement. That’s cost the public finances 23 billion pounds ($30 billion) in lost tax revenue, the think tank said
Single Market for goods, not services is only way to solve Brexit headaches, argues CER boss Charles Grant
21 June 2018
City A.M
The only way to resolve the Irish border problem and prevent disruption of manufacturers' supply chains is for the UK to remain in the Single Market for goods, the head of a leading think tank has claimed. Writing for the Financial Times, Charles Grant of the Centre for European Reform, claimed that "it is a proposal under current consideration, thanks to the specific requirements of the Irish border as well as a desire to protect EU-UK trade".
After Trump tweets, how is immigration really affecting Europe?
21 June 2018
CBS News
"It's been one of the biggest crises that the European Union has faced in a decade where there have been several crises in a row," John Springford, deputy Director of the Centre for European Reform, tells CBS News. The European Union is a borderless travel zone, meaning that once someone enters, he or she is able to move between EU countries freely. This "freedom of movement" allows citizens of EU member states to live and work in any EU country they please, but it also means once migrants cross over the bloc's external border, they are relatively free to move anywhere within the Eurozone.
May risks row with Brexiters over plan for single market for goods
21 June 2018
The Guardian
Charles Grant, the director of the Centre for European Reform, said on Wednesday that a single market for goods was the only way to resolve the Irish border problem and prevent disruption of manufacturers’ supply chains. However, he acknowledged the move would cross the prime minister’s red lines on freedom of movement and would require a degree of oversight by the European Court of Justice.
Theresa May's testing weeks
21 June 2018
Channel 4 News
As Charles Grant at the Centre for European Reform has written, this big ask from her pro-Brexit colleagues will not necessarily be followed by an open-armed welcome from the EU27.
May and the single market in good
21 June 2018
Financial Times
Is Theresa May about to propose that the UK should stay in Europe’s single market for goods? ... The question was raised by Ivan Rogers, the former UK ambassador to the EU, at the end of his recent Glasgow speech. It was touched on by Martin Wolf in a recent column. It was fully discussed yesterday by Charles Grant of the Centre for European Reform in an FT op-ed which, like the other pieces, is required reading.
A potential Brexit landing point moves slowly into view?
21 June 2018
Prospect
Something like single market membership for goods would go a way to solving the Irish issue.
Brexit must-read: Single market in goods will come at a price for Brexit Britain
20 June 2018
Politico London Playbook
This op-ed in the FT by the well-informed director of the Centre for European Reform think-tank, Charles Grant, predicts Theresa May is about to request customs union membership for UK goods, but not services. He warns Europe may not be open to the idea, and that the plan may trigger a Cabinet resignation or two. Worth your time.
Single market in goods will come at a price
20 June 2018
Financial Times
“For now, the odd couple of Mr Johnson and Mr Barnier is working to keep Britain out of the single market for goods. But a fightback may be approaching in both Britain and other EU countries from those who are prepared to compromise on legal principles and wish to maximise future trade.” (Charles Grant, director of the Centre for European Reform, in the FT).
CER podcast: Is Macron becoming isolated in Europe?
20 June 2018
Sophia Besch asks Charles Grant about Macron's progress on his reform agenda so far.