Brexit – the British have clearly come out losers
Spain eyes the pain in the UK caused by the break with Europe
A REPORT from Spain’s national broadcaster – RTVE – has found that Brexit has been ‘bad business’ for the UK.
Economics professor at Bristol University, Albert Sánchez Graells told them on the anniversary of the break with the European bloc: “The British have clearly come out of this worse off.”
Their interview was published on the same day this week that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) reported that the UK is expected to be the only major economy to shrink in 2023.
According to the IMF, the British economy will contract by 0.6% in 2023 and perform worse than other advanced countries, including Russia.
RTVE noted that ‘despite the promises of a more prosperous country outside of the EU, the balance of two years of Brexit appears to be full of shadows’, with an economy ‘that is not recovering’ and ‘political chaos’ affecting government.
Sr Sánchez’s analysis is that ‘the only thing that has happened up until now is very large complications on all fronts’.
“The UK has ended up a little bit like a middling economy, in the second tier,” he said.
RTVE also quoted economics professor from Warwick University, Dennis Novy, who said: “There has been an economic decline. There is less investment in the UK than there would have been without Brexit.”
He noted that the UK government would now have to work to ‘limit the damage’, adding that Brexit was not only bad for the UK economy,
but also for the European Union.
Director of the Winston Churchill observatory at the Pontificia Comillas university in Madrid, Emilio SáenzFrancés, noted that Leave supporters had presented Brexit as ‘the possibility for Britain to advance towards a golden age of economic prosperity’.
But he added: “Nothing from Brexit has brought this prosperity.”
He claimed that the UK economy has entered in a ‘self-destructive spiral’ never been seen before in the history of the country.
RTVE’s figures state that UK trade with the EU has shrunk by 15% since Brexit.
They also noted that 77% of British companies have noted that the trade agreements which followed ‘have not helped them to grow their businesses’.
Some businesses have even stopped trading with the EU because of the red tape which has come with being a ‘third country’.
Professor Novy claims that Brexit is the cause of the political chaos which has afflicted the UK in recent years.
“It polarised society and has been very painful politically for the UK,” he told RTVE.
“Many politicians did not tell the truth when they were talking about Brexit.
“Many of them said that it would not affect the economy and that everything would stay the same. Now we know that was not true.”
No going back – at present
Despite the woes, RTVE found that ‘it is improbable that another referendum will be held’.
They quoted a poll in The Independent which stated that 65% of Britons want to vote again.
However, the political will is not currently there and neither of the two biggest parties – Conservatives or Labour – are prepared to risk opening up the divisions once more, they found.