A Scottish Conservative MSP was left floundering on BBC Newsnight last night as the live audience revealed what they really thought about the state of the country right now after Brexit.
Global Britain has failed – what next?
16/02/2024
The vision of post-Brexit Britain was one of international trade deals that would propel the country into a new era of prosperity. That vision of “Global Britain” is now dead. Thomas Sampson argues that the only viable alternative is a closer trade relationship with the EU.
Liars of the year: Our rundown of the terrible pork pies that disgraced and degraded public life in 2023
20/12/2023
After holding off some formidable competition, Michelle Mone has claimed the coveted title of The New European’s Liar of the Year for 2023.
The year in Brexit
20/12/2023
The past 12 months have been littered with grandiose claims about the benefits of Brexit and the ability of the UK to demand what it wants from the EU. But the sad and inescapable conclusion is that none of those benefits exist and that the UK has been forced into a number of embarrassing retreats and compromises.
he OBR pours cold water on hopes for a big boost from the Pacific trade deal. / Have you ever wondered how the UK, based firmly in the north Atlantic, managed to join the free trade area known as the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP)? After all, as the name suggests, it is for countries around the Pacific.
Flagship post-Brexit trade deal worth even less than ministers claimed, official estimates show
25/11/2023
The Independent revealed earlier this year government’s predicted 0.08% boost risked being an overestimate. / Business Secretary Kemi Badenoch was mocked for a prediction the deal with Asia-Pacific countries would grow the economy by 0.08%.
The ability for Parliament to shape and scrutinise trade deals is weaker now than when the UK was a member of the European Union, former Brexit negotiator Lord Frost has said.
Top trade experts say conditions for hidden benefits claimed by Kemi Badenoch are ‘highly unlikely’.
Academics say any gains will depend on the possible future expansion of the CTPPP, which as things stand looks both unlikely and undesirable.
The commercial departments of Brexit-supporting newspapers know the damage being caused to the UK economy, and newspaper advertising revenues, by Brexit. Their editorial colleagues continue to support it anyway.
Malaysia stands to gain from free palm oil exports but few other benefits seen. / "The impact appears mainly cosmetic, for the U.K. to show it made a trade deal after Brexit." / "No one in Asia is taking the pact very seriously."
Tokyo is the biggest winner of the UK’s accession to the CPTPP.
The UK’s approach to trade since it left the European Union lacks substantial objectives beyond signing as many free trade agreements (FTAs) as possible, and has now hit a dead end, according to new research from The Economy 2030 Inquiry.
The U.K.'s anticipated accession to an encompassing trans-Pacific economic agreement in July will provide an "imperceptibly small" boost economically and will not compensate for its exit from the European Union, said Bill Emmott, former editor-in-chief of The Economist, in a recent interview with Nikkei.
The UK is using its post-Brexit role in global digital trade and data governance to promote economic growth and deregulation through free trade agreements and domestic data protection reforms.
A CERTAIN dreary and dismal familiarity has developed around the Tories’ desperate efforts to secure trade deals with countries outwith the European Union, having decided to turn their back on the UK’s biggest export market.
The UK egg industry has reacted with disbelief that import tariffs on eggs and egg products are to be phased out following the government announcement that the UK is set to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).
Forecasts suggest the UK will be 15 years late in hitting £1 trillion annual export target set by David Cameron before the Brexit referendum.
CPTPP will not make up for Brexit
16/04/2023
The UK’S membership of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership offers little gain for the British economy.
The impact of Brexit on people’s earnings could be ‘substantial’, say experts. / Millions of workers in Britain will be about £1,300 worse off a year due to Brexit, leading experts have said.
Rachel Donald looks at how the Trade Minister’s justification for a zero-tariff trade deal with Malaysia only accelerates global deforestation.
Brendan Donnelly and John Stevens review the British decision to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership or CPTPP. They believe that this decision will bring at best minimal benefits to the UK and some disadvantages. Its importance is being overstated by the British government simply as a distraction from the unfolding difficulties of Brexit.
‘Brexit is a joke’: New analysis shows projected 0.08% from UK-Asia trade deal could be an overestimate
11/04/2023
Hidden in the small print of a technical document published by the Department for International Trade is an admission that officials could have juiced up the figures.
CPTPP member countries have a combined population of 500 million and GDP of £9 trillion. For reference, although the EU is a similar size, with a GDP of £11 trillion, the value of our total trade to the EU is much higher, at £557 billion.