Cost of Brexit: Figures revealed today show that Brexit is forecast to hit the economy to the tune of over £50bn.
In the aftermath of the Autumn Statement, journalists, academics and economists poured over the figures from the OBR (Office for Budget Responsibility). It became clear that their budget forecasts for the next few years had had to take into account what they saw as the massive negative impact of Brexit on the UK economy.
And we’re not talking about trivial figures here. According to the OBR’s report the decision to leave the European Union will add an additional £58.7bn in borrowing over the next five years.
In coming up with this figure the OBR obviously had to take some of their own assumptions into account. They assumed that that new trading arrangements would slow growth in imports and exports over the next 10 years, and that tighter controls on immigration into the UK would make it a less attractive place for foreign workers. Given the current state of the UK’s plans to leave the EU, they both seem like fairly reasonable assumptions.
In addition to this forecasted cost of Brexit to our economy, the BBC also reported on another, more direct cost: the cost to Whitehall departments of going through the process of Brexit. This cost is estimated at £412m.
With a significant proportion of people in the UK still opposed to leaving the EU, and many calling for a second referendum on what type of Brexit we want to see for the UK, will these not-at-all insignificant financial figures have any impact on the Brexit debate going forward?