UK could lose half a million jobs with no deal

UK - A no-deal Brexit could cause the UK to lose half a million jobs and nearly £50bn in investment by 2030, according to an economic forecast commissioned by the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan.

The report, which models five possible scenarios for leaving the EU ranging from a nearstatus-quo situation to leaving on World Trade Organization terms without any transition agreement, warns that the worst option could be a “lost decade” of economic slump. The analysis by Cambridge Econometrics predicts that a no-deal Brexit could shed as many as 87,000 jobs in London alone, with the capital’s economic output 2% lower in 2030 than what would be expected under a soft Brexit. “If the government continue to mishandle the negotiations we could be heading for a lost decade of lower growth and lower employment,” Khan said. “The analysis concludes that the harder the Brexit we end up with, the bigger the potential impact on jobs, growth and living standards.”

The Labor mayor was a strong supporter of the remain campaign and has since vigorously argued for the UK to stay in the EU’s single market and customs union, or for London to be granted its own deal, especially on maintaining rules on banking and financial services. The report concludes that while every Brexit outcome would harm the UK economy, “the harder the Brexit, the more severe the economic damage could be”. (The Guardian)