In the months after UK Prime Minster Boris Johnson signed his post-Brexit trade deal with the EU, the coronavirus masked the economic damage of leaving the bloc. As the pandemic drags on, the cost is becoming clearer — and voters are noticing.
In recent days, David Frost, Johnson’s key partner in negotiating Brexit, resigned, becoming the third Brexit minister to quit. In his resignation letter, Frost urged Johnson to use Brexit to turn the UK into “a lightly regulated, low-tax, entrepreneurial economy” but expressed dismay at the prime minister’s direction of travel, a sign that Brexit is disappointing those who saw it as a once-in-a-generation opportunity to roll back government regulation.
But the figures may be flattered by the fact the UK has delayed implementing many of its post-Brexit border controls until 2022. From January, imports from the EU will need to be immediately accompanied by a customs declaration, and food products will face extra physical inspections from the summer. “A loss of 4-5% of GDP is a big deal,” wrote John Springford, deputy director of the CER, in a research note, agreeing with the OBR’s prediction. “Governments everywhere would leap on a policy that would raise GDP by 5%.”
Ironic seeing as the voters voted for Brexit in the first place.
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