On Brexit
This is another “above-my-paygrade” issue to write about, but I read an interesting opinion column today in The Irish Times.
Sometimes outsiders can have a clearer view of things than insiders. And the point of this essay is basically that Brexit was a mistake. I lived in England almost three years, and there is a concept there of “Little England” which I think means a slightly self-deprecratory reference to the fact it has given up world empire and doesn’t even want entanglement with continental Europe now.
From the opinion piece by John FitzGerald:
“All the economic assessments prior to Brexit suggested that it would have a substantial negative impact on the UK economy.
However, when it finally happened in 2020, it coincided with th outbreak of the pandemic, a smoke screen that hid the initial negative economic effects of leaving the EU. More recently, the outbreak of the war in the Ukraine has caused major disruption, further obscuring how Brexit is impacting on British living standards.
On joining the EU in 1973, the UK’s national income per head was about the same as the EU15, and remained very similar to the euro area up to the time of the 2015 referendum.
However, the last few years have not been kind to the UK economy. Its standard of living today is 3 per cent lower than the euro area, principally reflecting inferior economic performance since 2019.
Based on International Monetary Fund forecasts, over the period 2019 to 2023 cumulative growth in the UK will be less than in other major world economies, and between 1 and 1.5 per cent less than in the euro area. Britain will slip down the world economic rankings.”