Press
Integrated Review Refresh 2023 – towards a more pragmatic chapter in UK foreign policy?
21 March 2023
The UK in a Changing Europe
Luigi Scazzieri analyses the recent ‘refresh’ of the 2021 Integrated Review, arguing that it marks a new more pragmatic chapter in UK foreign policy and underscores a renewed willingness to engage with the EU.
If it’s growth the chancellor wants, here’s one suggestion: Rejoin the EU
19 March 2023
The Observer
John Springford of the Centre for European Reform estimates that the negative impact of gratuitously imposing trade barriers on our nearest trading partners – via higher import prices, loss of vital immigrant workers, and general uncertainty affecting business confidence – had cost our economy 5.5% of GDP by the summer of 2022.
Made in the UK advertising campaign 'trying to hide Brexit mayhem'
19 March 2023
The National
Research by the Centre for European Reform think-tank in 2019 suggested that Brexit had shrunk Britain’s economy by 2.9% and said exports had fallen by 3.4%.
EU kontert Subventionspläne Chinas und der USA
17 March 2023
Süddeutsche Zeitung
Experten der Berliner Denkfabrik Centre for European Reform können den Plänen deshalb einiges abgewinnen. Ihnen zufolge sendet Europa mit den Plänen "ein wichtiges politisches Signal, dass die EU sich nicht kampflos deindustrialisieren wird und dass die Dekarbonisierung eine Chance für eine grüne Industrialisierung ist."
Europe looks to beef up border security as illegal migration surges
17 March 2023
Yahoo News
“You can only claim asylum if you arrive in Europe,” Luigi Scazzieri, senior research fellow on migration and security issues at the Centre for European Reform, told Yahoo News. “If the thrust of Europe’s immigration policy becomes to keep people from arriving in the first place, then that right is being eroded.”
The last UK budget nearly crashed the economy. It’s still stuck in the doldrums
15 March 2023
CNN Business
John Springford, deputy director at the Centre for European Reform, estimates that Brexit had cost the UK economy 5.5% of GDP by June 2022.
UK Budget: Why the economy has grown so slowly
14 March 2023
Financial Times
John Springford, deputy director for the Centre for European Reform, think-tank estimates that these effects and more had cost the UK economy 5.5 per cent of GDP by the summer of 2022. “Weak investment from 2016 is curtailing today’s output, car manufacturers are running down capital and stocks, immigration from the EU has slowed, and the retained EU law bill could mean divergence from EU rules,” he says.
UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak tries free-market recipe to fix Britain's woes
14 March 2023
The Wall Street Journal
Together with other factors, such as increased trade barriers with Europe after Brexit, the British economy is 5.5% smaller than it otherwise would have been, according to estimates by John Springford, the deputy director at the Center for European Reform think tank in London.
Energy prices, not US subsidies, are Europe's biggest headache
14 March 2023
EurActiv
The EU should put more effort into lowering energy costs rather than subsidising industry in response to the US Inflation Reduction Act, argue John Springford and Elisabetta Cornago.
How has Brexit affected business investment in the UK?
13 March 2023
Economics Observatory
John Springford for the Centre for European Reform conducts a ‘doppelgänger’ analysis to explore the costs of Brexit. This analysis uses statistical techniques to find the best combination of other countries that match a range of economic variables for the UK before the referendum, and uses this same combination to project what might have happened thereafter.
CER podcast: What does the Windsor Framework mean for EU-UK relations?
10 March 2023
In this week’s episode of the CER podcast Charles Grant is joined by Catherine Barnard to discuss the recently agreed Windsor Framework.
Spectator podcast: Will Sunak’s charm offensive with Macron work?
10 March 2023
Cindy Yu speaks to Fraser Nelson and Charles Grant, director of the Centre for European Reform after Rishi Sunak's visit to Paris to meet with President Emmanuel Macron.
France-UK summit kindles ‘Le bromance’
10 March 2023
The Wall Street Journal
Mr Macron needs fresh allies in Europe, as tensions with Germany rise on issues including energy policy and Germany’s at times hesitant support for military aid to Ukraine, said Charles Grant, the director of the Centre for European Reform, a think-tank. “Macron needs to diversify, he needs a few new friends in Europe,” Mr Grant said.
Sunak and Macron prepare show of unity in Paris as Vladimir Putin looks on
09 March 2023
Politico
Charles Grant, director of the think tank the Centre for European Reform, said Putin’s invasion of Ukraine has made Sunak and Macron realize “they need to get on better.”“Britain and France can’t be at loggerheads if that’s going to make the West weaker vis-a-vis Russia, and potentially China as well,” he said.
Brexit U-turn: Builders to get special immigration status to tackle construction industry crisis
09 March 2023
The Independent
Brexit has led to a shortfall of around 330,000 workers in the UK, mostly in low-skilled sectors, a report by the Centre for European Reform (CER) and UK in a Changing Europe found earlier this year.
Investors should buy Lloyds shares as the interest rate outlook improves
05 March 2023
Yahoo Finance
The UK economy is estimated to be 5.5% smaller than it would have been had it stayed in the EU, according to a study by the Centre for European Reform. And since the Brexit vote, foreign direct investment and business activity in the UK have fallen.
Radio France - France Culture: Post-Brexit: les tourments du Royaume-Uni
04 March 2023
Rishi Sunak est attendu à Paris pour un sommet franco-britannique, le 10 mars. Le premier ministre de Charles III gouverne un pays rongé par l’inflation et des crises sociales. Le Royaume-Uni serait-il devenu l’homme malade de l’Europe, comme s’interrogeait récemment l’hebdomadaire The Economist ?
Avec Hélène Rey économiste, professeur à la London...
Avec Hélène Rey économiste, professeur à la London...
Tras acuerdo y una era de insultos? zanjago el Brexit?
03 March 2023
El Universal
“El deal que se viene negociando desde la activación del artículo 50 [con el que se notifica la intención de un Estado miembro de retirarse de la UE] finalmente, con el acuerdo de Windsor, se puede considerar que está hecho del todo”, afirma Camino Mortera, jefa de la Oficina en Bruselas del think tank Centre for European Reform.
Les Britanniques ont raison de regretter le Brexit
02 March 2023
Les Echos
Le Centre for European Reform publie régulièrement ce qu'aurait été l'évolution de l'économie britannique si elle n'était pas sortie de l'UE. Pour ce faire, des « sosies » de l'économie britannique sont construits grâce à une combinaison de pays dont les performances économiques correspondent étroitement à celles du Royaume-Uni avant le référendum sur le Brexit.
Brexit slammed the UK economy. The new Northern Ireland deal gives it hope
28 February 2023
CNN Business
“There’s still a lot of uncertainty about what the ultimate steady-state relationship between the UK and EU is going to be, particularly how much the UK is going to diverge from EU regulations,” said John Springford, deputy director of the Centre for European Reform, a think-tank.That could trigger fresh conflicts in future, but resolution on Northern Ireland increases the likelihood that these will be settled in a way that involves “more compromise and less confrontation,” he said.