Trade with Europe falls

BRITAIN is becoming less reliant on Europe for trade, official figures showed yesterday.

In a boost for the Brexit campaign, less than half of exports of goods made in UK factories went to the EU in March. It was the nineteenth month in a row that Britain has sold more to the rest of the world than to the EU.

At the same time, UK imports from the Continent hit a record £19.4billion, resulting in an £8.1billion trade deficit with the EU – the largest ever. It means Britain buys far more goods, such as German cars and French wine, to the EU than it buys from us.

Eurosceptics claimed the report, from the Office for National Statistics, meant it was more likely than ever that the UK would strike a free trade agreement with the EU following a Brexit. The figures also undermined a warning by the National Institute for Economic and Social Research that leaving the EU would be a ‘significant shock’ to the UK economy.

It said Brexit could knock 7.8 per cent off gross domestic product by 2030 and send the pound tumbling. But Professor Patrick Minford, a former adviser to Margaret Thatcher, said quitting the EU would boost trade.

Matthew Elliott, chief executive of Vote Leave, said: ‘The EU is not working. The eurozone is collapsing, millions of people are unemployed and Europe’s economies are massively underperforming.

‘That means that European countries are buying less from us than ever before as we trade more with the rest of the world.

‘If we vote Leave we will be able to take back control of our trade and do deals with growing economies rather than being shackled to the failing economies of Europe.’