Economists: Brexit Will Cost the British Economy £100 Billion a Year

Brexit will cost the British economy about £100 billion annually, economists from data and news agency Bloomberg have calculated. Converted, that is almost 114 billion euros. According to the experts, the departure of the British from the European Union will be felt in several ways.

For example, investments are under pressure, and British companies are struggling with a major shortage of workers. As a result, the British economy would now be 4 percent smaller than it would have been without Brexit.

Economists Ana Andrade and Dan Hanson ask in a new Bloomberg Economics report whether the UK has harmed itself by turning its back on Brussels. “Evidence so far still suggests it does,” they write. “The main takeaway is that the break with the single market may have hit the UK economy faster than we, or most other forecasters, had expected.”

Hanson and Andrade estimate that if the UK had stayed in the EU, there would have been some 370,000 workers from other EU countries who are not working there now. According to them, this lack can only be partially compensated by arriving migrants from outside the EU.

With their findings, the economists contradict Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s claims that Brexit is just starting to pay off for the British economy. Earlier this week, he described Brexit as a “huge opportunity”. By cutting ties with the EU, Sunak said Britain could create free havens to boost trade and reform financial services rules to benefit the City of London banks.