Press

Tories taking one wrong decision after another

06 February 2023
Gulf Today
The Centre for European Reform reported that during the initial 18 months of Brexit trade was lower by 7 per cent, investment by 11 per cent, and Britain’s GDP had shrunk by 5 per cent, costing the economy £40 billion ($48.4 billion).

Downton Abbey venue forced to scrap weddings thanks to Brexit

05 February 2023
The Independent
A recent report by the think-tanks UK in a Changing Europe and the Centre for European Reform found Brexit has caused a shortfall of around 330,000 workers in the UK. It said the ending of freedom of movement had “contributed significantly” to current labour shortages with hospitality, retail, construction and transportation hit the hardest.

Inside the mind of frustrated Leavers: How would they fix Brexit?

05 February 2023
The Sunday Times
The Centre for European Reform reckons the UK economy is about 5 per cent smaller than it would otherwise have been — equivalent to an annual loss of more than £120 billion. 

Klubradio: Egyre többen csalódnak a Brexitben

05 February 2023
 Az elmúlt hat és fél évben, a Brexit-referendum óta, megosztott az ország, de azt kell mondjam, az elmúlt fél évben történt változások következtében ez az arány megbomlott és most már a megkérdezettek nagyjából 60 százaléka tartja azt, hogy az Unióban kellett volna maradni – mondja Charles Grant, a Centre for European Reform igazgatója Londonban. Ez persze nem jelenti azt, hogy csatlakozna az ország az Unióhoz. Nem akarnak az emberek egy újabb, mocskos kampányt végigcsinálni.

Sunak 'risks full-scale trade war' with Brussels by scrapping EU laws

04 February 2023
The Observer
Charles Grant, director of the Centre for European Reform think-tank, said the worries in Brussels were real and ran deep. “The EU is getting seriously concerned about the impact of the retained EU law bill on the level playing field. It fears that if the UK abandons high social and environmental standards, its companies will have an unfair advantage over EU firms.

Euronews: Bruselas, ¿te quiero? La migración en la UE y el envío de tanques a Ucrania

Camino Mortera-Martinez
04 February 2023
Camino Mortera-Martinez from the CER joins MEPs Juan Fernando López Aguilar and Javier Zarzalejos to discuss the most popular European topics of the week.

Alemania, Rusia y Ucrania: de ‘punto de inflexión’ a ignorar lo esencial

03 February 2023
ES Global
La lentitud de Berlín a la hora de autorizar el envío de tanques Leopard 2 a Ucrania ha sido una mala noticia para este país, la seguridad europea y la propia Alemania.

EU details plan to protect its net-zero industry – but questions remain

02 February 2023
Science|Business
“The sticking point is that the countries with deep pockets, like France and Germany, can open the subsidy spigots whereas other countries will be left behind, possibly creating unfair competition and fragmentation of the EU market,” commented Sander Tordoir, a senior economist at the Centre for European Reform.

Atlantic Debrief: What's in store for transatlantic industrial policy? | A Debrief from Zach Meyers

01 February 2023
On this episode of #AtlanticDebrief, Jörn Fleck sits down with Centre for European Reform Senior Research Fellow Zach Meyers to discuss the latest developments in the transatlantic industrial policy debate.

Spectator podcast: Are we close to a breakthrough on the Northern Ireland Protocol?

01 February 2023
The Times has reported that a partial agreement has been made over the Northern Ireland Protocol. Why are the government playing down the progress made over the Irish border? Cindy Yu speaks to Katy Balls and Charles Grant, director of the Centre for European Reform. 

Brexit 3 years on: The UK's tech and innovation sector is yet to see the promised 'sunlit uplands'

01 February 2023
Euronews
"On the academic side, I would say that's been unequivocally bad, which any scientist or academic will tell you, and that's largely because of this dispute around Horizon and the fact that the UK still hasn't managed to get its membership," Zach Meyers, a senior research fellow at the Centre for European Reform (CER), said.

Why is the UK economy doing worse than the rest of the G7?

John Springford, Jonathan Portes
31 January 2023
The Guardian
Tougher post-Brexit migration rules are also adding to the shortages. The think-tanks UK in a Changing Europe, and the Centre for European Reform, estimate there that there is a shortfall of more than 300,000 workers due to the end to “free movement”.

Europe needs to dial down its anxiety over the Inflation Reduction Act

31 January 2023
Politico
There’s a whiff of hypocrisy about the EU’s response to America’s electric vehicle subsidies — a matter of do what I say rather than do what I do.

What impact has Brexit had on the UK economy?

31 January 2023
BBC News
A study by the think tanks Centre for European Reform and UK in a Changing Europe suggests that there are 330,000 fewer workers in the UK as a result of Brexit. That may only be 1% of the total workforce - but sectors such as transport, hospitality and retail have been particularly hard hit.

Labour wants to fix Brexit. Good luck with that

31 January 2023
The Washington Post
The Centre for European Reform’s John Springford developed an algorithm that compares data on UK performance with that of 22 other advanced economies; it is weighted to form a non-Brexiting (or doppelganger) UK for contrast. Updated results in December found that UK GDP is 5.5% lower than it would have been had Brexit not happened. Investment is 11% lower and goods trade 7% lower (services trade was mostly unaffected). That equates to roughly £40 billion ($50 billion) in lost tax revenue, which is making it harder for the government to cut taxes or meet other spending priorities. 

EU IRA response

31 January 2023
Politico Brussels Playbook
The EU needs to dial down its anxiety, argues Zach Meyers from the Centre for European Reform in this opinion piece for POLITICO. “There is a whiff of unrealism and hypocrisy about European complaints regarding the IRA - a matter of do what I say rather than do what I do,” Meyers writes.

Who will repair broken Britain?

31 January 2023
Carnegie Europe
According to the latest research by the Centre for European Reform, an independent think-tank, the UK’s economy is now 5.5 per cent smaller than it would have been had the UK remained in the EU.

Sunak reminded of Brexit hit to tax receipts as he tells NHS staff there’s no money for pay hike

31 January 2023
The London Economic
John Springford from the Centre for European Reform (CER) has been modelling the economic performance of a UK that remained in the EU since 2018, using data from countries like the US, Germany, New Zealand, Norway and Australia, whose performance was similar to the UK’s before Brexit.According to his findings, the difference in performance between his “doppelgänger UK economy” and the real thing is stark.

Is it just coincidence that a gloomy IMF forecast arrives on the anniversary of Brexit?

31 January 2023
The New Statesman
John Springford of the Centre for Economic Reform published research in December that pointed to the hit Brexit made on the UK’s trade and investment, and suggested Britain’s GDP is up to 5.5 per cent lower than it otherwise would have been.

Three years on, Britain still waits for Brexit dividend

30 January 2023
Reuters
"It's been more than a slow burn. It's been a serious reduction in economic performance," said John Springford, deputy director at the Centre for European Reform think-tank."If you impose barriers to trade, investment and migration with your biggest trading partner (EU), then you're going have quite a big hit to trade volumes, and to investment and to GDP," he said, pointing to a string of dismal economic data.