The Mail on Sunday, August 28
Doom-mongering economists are wrong to blame Brexit for Britain’s difficult trading relationship with the EU, a new report reveals.
Earlier this year, analysts at the Office for Budget Responsibility branded post-Brexit Britain a ‘less trade intensive economy’ after it was revealed that exports to the EU dropped 12 per cent – £20.3 billion – in 2021 compared with 2019.
A number of commentators, as well as Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey, suggested the figures proved leaving the EU had damaged Britain’s economy.
But a landmark study by the Centre for Brexit Policy suggests there are multiple unrelated reasons why markets appear in decline, including domestic issues and Covid-19.
The think-tank’s report, which has been obtained by The Mail on Sunday, also delivers a warning shot to sceptics, calling on them to refrain from ‘crying wolf’.
The researchers said: ‘Many of these reasons [for decline in trade] are due to factors that are either temporary, or predate Brexit, or are independent of it.’
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