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.

'...my self-imposed task of documenting the Brexit impact has become a challenge not so much because of the difficultly of weighing up the positives and the negatives, but rather due to the sheer amount of damage Brexit is doing up and down the country, left, right and centre, and across sectors.'

I have started reading the Brexit literature again. A recent paper – ‘What impact is Brexit having on the UK economy?’ by Graham Gudgin, Julian Jessop and Harry Western (GJW) from October 2022 argues there is no hard evidence of harm and that studies that claim to find harm are biased and/or incompetent! In this blog, I consider a few of their points in four areas.

Liz Truss is campaigning as a committed Brexiter to become Conservative leader. Six years ago, her view was different. ... Her support for an “In” vote was plainly wholehearted. Her analysis was clear and, as events have shown, correct.

Bob Hancké reports on a recent study which suggests not only that the agreement has made trade in goods between the UK and the EU very difficult, but that it has also severely limited Britain’s ability to conclude free trade agreements with the rest of the world.

Fox hopes for increased trade with far flung nations post-Brexit—but there’s a problem with his strategy.

This is my last Brexit Briefing. / Because it is the last it is longer than usual. A long goodbye if you will. Over the past 5 years I have written 130 of them, following the twists and turns of the Brexit saga, as various UK actors came and went upon the stage, generally full of sound and fury, but often signifying little.

Brexit will never be over.

"The first week of Johnson’s new administration has seen both speculation about, and the beginning of some answers to, how he intends to undertake Brexit. The outrageousness of that situation shouldn’t pass without comment."

How has the Leave vote affected the UK economy, ask Swati Dhingra and Thomas Sampson (LSE) in this second of two blogs based on the CEP Election Analysis briefing on Brexit.

“We want to use GATT Article 24” means “We want a free trade agreement in goods that complies with WTO rules”. It doesn’t say much.

So is there a business case for CANZUK as a primary relationship for any of these four countries? Let’s look at where our potential partners currently sell goods and services.

I loathe the term ‘World Trade Deal’ more than words can express. It is everything I hate about trade politics. It combines a pithy soundbite politicians with an agenda can deliver with confidence, with a layer of deception reliant on the complexity of trade to pass unchallenged on Sunday talk shows.