Remoaners hate fact that economy is performing well
EVER since the EU referendum last summer the Remoaners have been sounding the mournful drumbeat of economic gloom. But their dire predictions have turned out to be baseless. Far from sinking into crisis the British economy continues to perform well.
Yesterday official figures revealed that growth in the second quarter of the year reached a solid 0.3 per cent, confounding the talk about a relentless slowdown.
Even more encouraging was a survey by the Confederation of British Industry that showed factories are now increasing production at their fastest rate for 22 years, helped by an increase in export orders.
The expansion of factory output also helps to explain the surge in job creation. Contrary to the Remoaner propaganda about mass unemployment because of the Brexit vote the number of people out of work continues to fall dramatically. This month unemployment stood at just 4.5 per cent, the lowest level since 1973.
Yet to the surprise of experts the British jobs miracle has not sparked any serious inflationary pressures. Indeed inflation actually dropped last month to 2.6 per cent, a figure that would have been unthinkable in the 1970s when price rises were out of control.
HOWEVER, these welcome developments have not stopped the Remoaners from peddling their message of doom. They do not allow the economic facts to get in the way of their pro-EU dogma. Their narrative of disaster must be maintained with every report seen through the prism of their anti-Brexit negativity. Yesterday’s growth figures were therefore hailed by the pro-Brussels lobby not as a tribute to our economy’s resilience but as a harbinger of calamity.
This attitude has regularly descended into absurdity where even indisputably good economic news has to be qualified by the phrase “despite Brexit”, simply because the prophecies of ruin have again proved false. There was a classic example yesterday in the wake of the uplifting announcement that German car giant BMW is to build its new electric Mini in Oxford, having previously warned that it might move production to the Netherlands. On its front page the ultra Europhile Financial Times newspaper had the headline: “Electric Mini to be built in UK by BMW despite Brexit.”
But the Remoaner lobby has it wrong. The reason that Britain is generating growth, creating jobs and attracting investment is not despite Brexit but because of it.
Our economic independence from Brussels means that we can strengthen our pro-business culture where enterprise matters more than regulation, where flexibility is celebrated rather than discouraged.
In addition the ability to choose our own economic destiny will enable us to establish new global trade agreements instead of having to rely on Brussels negotiators who care nothing for our national interests. President Trump’s recent pledge of a “very big and exciting” deal with Britain indicates the enormous potential of this new trade freedom.
The inconvenient truth for the pro-EU fanatics is that the British economy is still fundamentally sound. Despite some serious problems such as mass immigration and public sector debts we retain a host of advantages including a vibrant labour market, a phalanx of worldbeating universities, unrivalled expertise in sectors such as biotechnology and aerospace, and low corporate taxation. In fact, thanks to seven years of Tory rule, Britain now has the lowest rate of corporation tax in the entire G20 group and it is due to fall to just 17 per cent in 2020.
That is why all the forecasts about the post-Brexit flight of companies from the UK have turned out to be so wrong. The opposite has happened with a series of major firms showing faith in the strength of our economy. This week budget airline easyJet announced plans to expand its workforce in Britain by 1,200 new cabin crew positions, the largest recruitment exercise in its 21-year history. Online retailer Amazon revealed that it is to double the number of research staff at its
BUSINESSES whose operation depends on our physical links to Europe are far more relaxed than Remoaners suggest. On Tuesday the Eurotunnel group said that the “outlook for the British economy remains positive” and “it did not see any significant impact from Brexit on its business”.
The Remoaners still indulge in Project Fear but economic reality has nullified all their scaremongering. House prices have not collapsed, nor have there been food shortages.
In March Ryanair warned that planes could be grounded because of Brexit. Two months later the airline posted its biggest ever profit. Even the fall in the pound’s value has turned out to be a blessing, boosting exports and tourism. The number of visits to Britain was up 27 per cent in the first quarter of this year compared with the same period in 2016.
The real danger will come not from Brexit but from the Government losing its nerve and surrendering to Brussels. As the news of our economic robustness demonstrates we are great enough to thrive on our own.
‘No post-Brexit flight of companies from UK’