The US economist and former Monetary Policy Committee member on how Britain became so poor and where Labour is going wrong.
Brexit cut profits for ‘nearly all’ independent retailers trading with EU, industry leader says
04/08/2023
Brexit made some businesses “suddenly uncompetitive” as costs and red tape increased, says the CEO of the British Independent Retail Association
A brutal Financial Times investigation has unveiled the “all pain no gain” trading conditions many British businesses face post-Brexit.
“Car crash!” exclaimed managing director Andrew Varga, whose Brexit progress I have been following since the referendum. News of the latest Brexit U-turn landed on him on Tuesday out of the blue. All his years of preparation for a new UK product safety mark, all his thousands of pounds wasted, all the uncountable hours and effort were rendered pointless, at a stroke.
Opposition parties and pro-remain groups have criticised the Brexit secretary, Dominic Raab, after he admitted that until recently he did not fully appreciate the importance of the Dover-Calais crossing for UK trade.
Former European trade commissioner Peter Mandelson said trying to circumnavigate Brussels was always going to backfire.
The Windsor Framework improves the original Northern Ireland Protocol but does not resolve all its problems, a House of Lords inquiry has concluded.
The prime minister’s Windsor Framework, agreed with Brussels this year, will create ‘more burdensome’ bureaucracy for many firms than the status quo, peers said.
NI firm sourcing ‘cheaper’ tins of tuna from Mauritius after Brexit… but wrong ticked box leads to nine month wait
25/07/2023
Henderson Foodservice sought supplies from Mauritius as it was cheaper than Great Britain under post-Brexit rules, boss says.
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.
World-renowned economist Adam Posen reveals some tough truths about Britain’s situation.
Brexit: nine UK regions where exports have fallen since 2018, including Wales, the South East and Yorkshire
11/07/2023
Northern Ireland has been hardest hit, with exports to the EU falling by a third between 2018 and 2021, analysis of official figures shows.
Brexit is nowhere near done
10/07/2023
At this point, asymmetry of UK-EU trade dynamics verges dangerously on the edge of being normalised. Food import checks have been postponed four times over the past two years, symbolic not only of the unlevel playing field that continues to penalise British poultry meat exporters but adding to inflating production costs as a reminder that Brexit is Unfinished Business.
The impact on trade overall appears to have been broadly consistent with predictions so far, that on immigration much less negative (and perhaps even positive) and on investment somewhat worse. Perhaps the best estimate of the negative impact on Brexit on UK GDP to date is 2–3% of GDP.
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.
Politicians and industry call for Government to level up EU import rules.
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.
From NHS staff shortages to export woes, the effects of the 2016 vote are still being felt.
Brexit has been an “economic disaster” for trade and investment ties between the United Kingdom and Germany, leading to a fall in German direct investment and seeing the UK decline in importance as a trading partner, German economists said.
Badenoch slammed for ignoring Brexit realities and telling UK firms global trade ‘isn’t too tough’
20/06/2023
Kemi Badenoch has been criticised by business groups for trying to “shift the blame” after she told British businesses that international trade “isn’t too tough”.
EU and UK businesses will face ‘inevitable’ extra costs while the post-Brexit trade deal remains in place, European Commission Vice-President Maroš Šefčovič warned on Monday (12 June), playing down the prospect of a major overhaul of the agreement.
The leader of the GMB union said the UK ‘needs a new settlement’ with the EU as Brexit was ‘hitting trade’.