Brexit vote costs Britain

EMBATTLED PM: ‘LET’S COME TOGETHER TO GET BEST DEAL’

Britain’s decision to leave the European Union has cost the government £500 million (about R9.24 billion) a week, wiping out for the moment any future savings from stopping payments to the bloc, according to a study published yesterday.

The economic impact of the Brexit vote has been the subject of intense debate, with supporters and opponents of leaving the EU seizing on positive and negative data to reinforce their case.

The Centre for European Reform, a research group that focuses on the European Union, said the British economy was about 2.5% smaller than it would have been if the public have voted to remain in the bloc in June 2016. Its findings were based on the impact on the economy until the end of June 2018.

Public finances have been dented by £26 billion pounds a year, the equivalent of £500 million a week and a figure that is growing, the group said.

The Centre for European Reform, which describes itself as “pro-European but not uncritical”, said it created a model of how Britain’s economy could have performed had the campaign to remain in the EU won the referendum in 2016.

The group said its analysis was based on 22 advanced economies whose characteristics closely matched Britain and that did not vote to leave the EU. They then compared it with Britain’s actual economic performance since the vote.

British economic growth in the first half of this year was the weakest for a six-month period since the second half of 2011 and companies were cutting investment, suggesting they were taking a cautious approach before Brexit.

With just six months to go until the United Kingdom is due to leave the EU on March 29, Prime Minister Theresa May has warned that negotiations are at an impasse and that the EU must come up with new proposals on how to craft a divorce settlement.

Many business chiefs and investors fear politics could scupper an agreement, thrusting the world’s fifth largest economy into a “no-deal” Brexit that they say would spook financial markets and damage the arteries of trade.

During the 2016 referendum campaign on EU membership, supporters of leaving the EU claimed that Britain would benefit because it would no longer be sending £350 million a week to the bloc. They say Britain will benefit over the long term. – Reuters

Analysis was based on 22 advanced economies whose characteristics closely matched Britain and that did not vote to leave the EU.

Johnson calls her Chequers plan ‘deranged’.

Prime Minister Theresa May called on her party yesterday to unite behind her plan to leave the European Union, making a direct appeal to critics by saying their desire for a free trade deal was at the heart of her own Brexit proposals.

At the start of what is set to be a stormy annual conference, May’s plans were once again attacked by two former ministers, with former foreign secretary Boris Johnson calling them “deranged”.

Just six months before Britain is due to leave the EU, the debate over how to leave the bloc is still raging in the Conservative Party, and even in the government.

May’s already fragile leadership was put under further pressure this month when the EU rejected parts of the Chequers plan. But she said she was ready to consider the EU’s concerns.

“My message to my party is let’s come together and get the best deal for Britain,” May told the BBC in Birmingham.

“At the heart of the plan is a free trade deal, a free trade area and frictionless trade ... Chequers is the only plan on the table that delivers on the Brexit vote ... and also delivers for the people of Northern Ireland.”

May has shown little sign of shifting away from her Chequers plan, named after her country residence where she hashed out an agreement on Brexit with her ministers in July.

Johnson, who quit May’s Cabinet after Chequers was agreed, did not hold back.

“Unlike the prime minister I campaigned for Brexit,” Johnson, the bookmakers’ favourite to succeed May, told the Sunday Times.

“Unlike the prime minister, I fought for this, I believe in it, I think it’s the right thing for our country and I think that what is happening now is, alas, not what people were promised in 2016.”

Former Brexit minister David Davis, who also resigned in protest, said her plan was “just wrong”. But he also said he thought it was 80-90% likely the government would strike a deal. May’s first announcement – for a levy on foreign home buyers – did little to reset the conversation.

She refused to be drawn on Johnson’s comments and did not refer to him by name in a lengthy interview with the BBC. But her response was sharp.

“I do believe in Brexit,” she said. “But I believe in delivering Brexit in a way that respects the vote and delivers on the vote of the British people, while also protecting our union, protecting jobs and ensuring we make a success of Brexit.” – Reuters

Unlike the prime minister I campaigned for Brexit.