Britain seems such a funny little country when the Brexiters bluster

BRITAIN sometimes seems like a funny little country these days.

True, it still ranks as one of the world’s big economies. But Chancellor Philip Hammond conceded in November that it had fallen from fifth to sixth-biggest, having been overtaken by France. And the UK’S own woeful performance and policy errors, and the rise of other countries, such as India, look set to ensure the drift down the rankings continues.

It is important to recognise that a country’s standing on the international stage is about much more than just size. It is also about influence, and attitude, and behaviour. Unfortunately for the UK, there is surely no arguing with the assertion that, in the strange days since the Brexit vote, the description of “funny little” could be applied to the mindset of so many Brexiters when it comes to the wider world.

It has been another most curious, though unfortunately no less lamentable, week on the Brexit front.

We have had blustering Tory Brexiters in the House of Commons declaim (to summarise) that the people voted for Brexit and they must not be denied it.

In the same week, we have had a further raft of dismal economic figures which show the UK, weighed down by Brexit uncertainty, is in grim shape even before we get to the horrors of the actual breakaway from the huge free-trade bloc.

Yet, we are told, the Brexiters will jolly well have what they voted for. They will not be swayed by the realities of the situation, which they seem to regard as propaganda by people they oh-so-tiresomely refer to as “Remoaners”. Albeit the schoolboyish “Remoaner” jibe is certainly preferable to the “traitor” comments you sometimes hear bandied around when it comes to Brexit. “Traitor” is an extreme word, and its use by some Leave voters underlines the divisive and intolerant nature of Brexit.

Fears over the state of the UK economy intensified this week when official data revealed the sharpest monthly drop in manufacturing output since October 2012. The 1.4 per cent month-on-month plunge will surely be a disappointment to some in the Brexit camp (even if they will not admit it). It highlights not only the domestic economic malaise but also the fact that sterling weakness arising from the UK’S Brexit vote does not appear to have been the catalyst for a lasting export boom.

Not than anyone should have expected it to be such a catalyst. After all, you would imagine all the uncertainty around trade arrangements after Blighty quits the European Union would not be trumped by a pricing advantage for UK exporters arising from sterling weakness. Especially given the pound’s troubles have sent UK companies’ import costs rocketing.

Also this week, we have had figures from the Office for National Statistics signalling underlying weakness in the UK construction sector. The data showed construction output rose by just 0.5% in April, having tumbled by 2.3% in March as freezing weather disrupted activity. Economists had forecast construction output would have bounced back by 2% in April.

Meanwhile, trade figures this week from the ONS were dire.

The UK’S global goods trade deficit widened from £12 billion in March to £14.04bn in April, much worse than the £11.35bn forecast by economists, as exports fell sharply and imports rose. The deterioration was driven by a widening of the UK’S deficit on trade in goods with countries outwith the EU, from £3.79bn to £5.37bn.

Many Brexiters still believe that increased trade with non-eu countries – perceived by the Leave camp to be wildly enthusiastic about doing more business with the mighty UK – will be an economic panacea. The Brexiters’ head-in-the-britishsand attitude has meant the absence of any catalyst for their imagined boom in UK trade with countries outside the EU has not dampened their bizarre enthusiasm.

At the end of the day, Brexit is a fool’s errand driven by ideology and not by considerations of people’s standards of living, which are dictated in large part by economic success or otherwise. Xenophobia and opposition to immigration look to have been key factors in the Brexit vote.

You still hear the Brexiters bang on about the benefits of leaving the EU. These remain entirely elusive but that, it seems, does not matter one whit to the Brexiters. All the while, some of them harp on about the fabulous bounties which Blighty is going to reap from a raft of new freetrade deals. This would be laughable in its ridiculousness if the consequences for the economy and people’s living standards were not so serious.

And what about the growing protectionism when it comes to world trade? One of those countries at the forefront of this is the US, which some in the UK Government seem to believe is going to be falling over itself to do one of the fastestarranged trade deals of modern times with Britain, even though nothing of substance has happened on this front in the two years since the Brexit vote.

Meanwhile, there is no sign that the other countries which the UK Government has had its sights on, in its desperate lobbying mission to try to make Brexit look like a good idea, will be putting Britain ahead of the massive and powerful EU bloc in the queue for trade deals. Why would these countries prioritise foolishly by putting an isolated UK ahead of the huge EU bloc?

And this brings us back to the essence of the problem.

The UK is a sizeable economy. However, its influence is dwindling as other countries rise. Faced with such challenges, being part of a powerful bloc such as the EU has been hugely important.

Many in the Brexit camp seem to believe the UK is the most important country in the world. They need to wake up to the fact the UK Government’s ridiculously overelevated sense of the country’s importance does not chime at all with the reality of today’s world.

Chance would be a fine thing though. Instead, the Brexiters and their Government at Westminster seem hell-bent on pursuing a dream of making the UK an economic backwater, with a funny little mindset when it comes to the big world out there.