Gloomy predictions never came to pass
SADLY the past five years has seen a stubborn virus which has proved difficult to cure. It is better known as “long remainer syndrome”.
The virus survives on the misleading statements; some would more correctly say lies, pedalled by those who believed in remaining in the EU. Here are few examples:
■ House prices will plummet by up to 18%;
■ the UK stock market will crash;
■ up to three million jobs will be lost in the UK;
■ 66% of manufacturing jobs in the UK are associated with exports to the EU;
■ and millions of EU nationals will return home.
Here is the truth:
■ The UK housing market has risen annually since the Brexit vote. Average house price in 2016 was £209k, average house price 2021 is £268k;
■ the stock market is around the same level in 2021 as it was in 2016;
■ the UK employment rate in 2016 was 74.2% and in 2021 is 75.1%;
■ the true figure was 15% of manufacturing jobs were associated with exports to the EU in 2016 and that figure remains the same in 2021;
■ and to date 5.6 million EU and EEA nationals have applied for UK settled status. Far from leaving the UK they have shown that they wish to stay.
All of this achieved in the face of the worst pandemic to blight the world in 100 years.
Although neither a cure nor vaccine has been found for “long remainer syndrome”, perhaps it would be therapeutic to ask why 5.6 million EU/EEA nationals prefer to remain in the UK rather than returning to EU countries.
John A Turner, Vale of Glamorgan