How time doesn’t always fly. It is a long five years since the UK voted to leave the EU in the 2016 referendum and the country still seems as divided about the impacts as ever. But as a Leave voter and Brexit optimist, I’m feeling increasingly positive. Let’s start with three things that have gone … Continue reading Brexit: the good, the bad, and the little bit ugly
Tag: trade
Brexit tide is finally turning
Brexit is not yet done and there are plenty of problems that still need fixing, especially in Northern Ireland and in the service sectors. Nonetheless, public perceptions of Brexit have improved significantly, business concerns are fading, and now we have hard evidence of a quick rebound in UK goods exports to the EU too. According … Continue reading Brexit tide is finally turning
A ‘thumbs up’ to the Brexit deal
The agreement reached between the UK and the EU is as good a deal as we were ever likely to get. I will leave others to comment in detail on the legal and technical aspects, but here are five key points (my personal views) on the economics. First, it important to be clear about the … Continue reading A ‘thumbs up’ to the Brexit deal
Would a ‘no deal’ Brexit really leave the UK friendless?
At the weekend former PM Gordon Brown claimed that a ‘no deal’ Brexit would leave Boris Johnson isolated ‘with no friends around the world’. This is a familiar theme. In 2019, for example, Brown warned that the UK was ‘sleepwalking into oblivion', and that a nation once admired for its tolerance and pragmatism now presented … Continue reading Would a ‘no deal’ Brexit really leave the UK friendless?
Plain-speaking Economics 