Press

Barring reform of the EU, any current member has the power to derail any application, notes Luigi Scazzieri of the Centre for European Reform, a think-tank in London. 

John Springford, deputy director of the Centre for European Reform noted there was “some disagreement among economists about the extent to which the TCA has reduced UK trade. But, he added, “all agree that it has made the British economy significantly more closed”.

The Centre for European Reform estimates goods trade is 13.6% lower than had the UK remained an EU member state. Comparing the British economy to a basket of countries with similar economic performances prior to Brexit, the Brussels-based think tank suggests UK GDP is 5% smaller and investment 14% lower as a result of leaving the bloc. 

If England votes for Brexit, this policy, which latest Centre for European Reform figures show has cost the UK economy £31 billion so far, shall be visited on the four constituent parts of the UK, even if it damages business and, in the case of Northern Ireland, threatens a hard-won peace.

While Joel Hills, the ITV's Business and Economics Editor, did acknowledge the “greater political freedoms” of Brexit, including being able to “enact immigration reforms and a speedy vaccine rollout”, he went on to argue the “economic benefits are far harder to identify”.
He argued this point in an online article on the basis of research by the Centre for European Reform (CER), which found that by the end of last year the UK’s economy was 5.2 percent, or £31billion, smaller than it would have been had it stayed in the EU.

Johnson’s £31billion Brexit damage to the UK economy – the respected Centre for European Reform calculated a 5.2% growth hit – combined with polls finding most people wish we had stayed in the EU expose the protocol push as a naked attempt to appease his party’s Right-whingers.

“The results are sobering,” says John Springford, the author of the report that removes all doubt that it is more Brexit rather than the pandemic that is bringing Britain to its knees.The report by the Centre for European Reform think-tank unveils findings that show leaving the free trade market will have a bigger impact on the UK economy in the long term than Covid-19.

Brexit and the pandemic have reduced the size of the UK economy by 5.2 per cent compared with its peers, according to research that largely blames Britain’s exit from the European Union for stunted growth.Analysis from the Centre for European Reform think-tank found that Brexit was the main driver of weakening growth, falling goods exports and chronically low business investment.Using a model comparing the UK with similar countries to provide a shadow economy as a point of reference, the analysis concluded that Britain’s GDP was £31 billion, or 5.2 per cent, lower than its “doppelganger” at the end of last year.