Quitting EU is a huge upheaval

THE UK should be prepared for a profound shift in its economy – similar to that of the 2008 financial crisis – once Brexit takes place, the UK’s Brexit secretary has said.

David Davis told a House of Commons committee that the UK government had made no detailed assessment of the economic impact of leaving the EU, as it would be difficult to accurately predict.

Committee chairman Hilary Benn described the decision as ‘rather strange’ given the historic decisions at hand and that officials wish to start renegotiating Britain’s trade relations with the rest of Europe within weeks.

Mr Benn said: ‘You have said that there are no impact assessments. You were hoping that, at the October [European] Council, the door would be open to phase two of the negotiations, where the question would be asked “What does the UK government want?”

‘Are you telling us that the government hadn’t at that point – and still hasn’t – undertaken the assessment?’

Mr Davis told the committee he did not want a formal impact assessment. He said: ‘I’m not a fan of economic models because they have all proven wrong. When you have a paradigm change – as happened in 2008 with the financial crisis – all the models were wrong.’

The Lords EU Committee stated that withdrawing without an agreement in place would not only impact on the UK economy but also hit areas such as aviation and counter terrorism.