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Re: Brexit
7.5% smaller than it would have been means - for example - instead of £100bn total growth in the size of the economy, we have £92.5bn growth.
Growth. Not shrinkage. Growth, just slightly less of it.
For comparison, because of the 2008 credit crunch, the UK economy is 16% smaller than predicted by the pre-crunch growth trend. Yet even here, using hard facts and not forecasts, the economy has grown since 2008 and despite endless shrieking headlines about austerity we aren’t on our uppers.
Clearly there is going to be an initial cost in loosening our ties with the EU single market. My contention has always been that the cost of being a part of the EU in terms of sovereignty and all that flows from that is simply too high. And in the longer run our freedom from the EU’s market and customs rules will allow us to forge our own relationships with the world markets that are really growing.
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