Brexit

Background:  While Brexit is no longer front and centre of our campaign we should not be afraid to point out the damage it has caused where appropriate and criticise the people responsible for it.

• Brexit has been immensely damaging for our economy, our society and our democracy. It has reduced living standards, diminished accountability and polarised our nation. It is being used to remove workers rights, environmental protections and food standards. It has cost jobs, investment and billions of pounds from the public purse.
• By every metric, Brexit has been bad – More expensive food, fewer doctors for the NHS, more difficult to travel and trade – the opposite of what was promised and is making every crisis worse
• There have been few if any discernible benefits from leaving the EU.
• Our massive and first of its kind poll in May 2023 revealed that public opinion in Britain has moved from being pro-Brexit, to believing Johnson’s deal has done more harm than good, to now supporting a closer relationship with the EU. It shows that with deepening ties being the most popular option in every constituency in Britain. There are votes to be won for any political party prepared to make this case to the electorate
• In May 2023, The cross-party UK Trade and Business Commission, organised by Best for Britain made  114 recommendations to overcome some of the issues created by Brexit.

Reactive

• The vaccine rollout: EU member states were not obligated to adhere to the same vaccine procurement policy. E.g Hungary and Poland used Russia’s Sputnik vaccine.
• Ending free movement: Even if you think immigration is a bad thing, which it is not, net migration to the UK has increased since Brexit. Meanwhile, the fall in seasonal workers from the EU has hit the British agriculture and hospitality sectors in particular. As countries like Germany have, the UK could have introduced stricter immigration rules and border policy while an EU member, but chose not to.
• Laws are now made in the UK: The UK Parliament was always sovereign, even within the EU. When new regulations were introduced by the EU parliament, UK lawmakers could decide how and even if they were implemented and British lawmakers decided to make this an automatic process for efficiency. The narrative that the UK had no voice in the EU is also completely false. The UK elected legislators to the European parliament using a fairer proportional electoral  system, and enjoyed massive influence in both the EU Council and the EU Commission, with British lawyers and diplomats drafting many of the laws and treaties central to the EU today. Indeed Margaret Thatcher was the driving force behind the EU’s Single Market. After Brexit, we ironically now have no voice in the EU but due to the nature of global trade, will still need to align with their rules  to reduce costs for businesses, save jobs and attract investment.
• New trade deals:Prioritising trade with other countries over our closest neighbours in the EU will almost certainly increase costs and the UK’s carbon footprint while reducing British standards and protections. Apart from the Trade and Cooperation Agreement with the EU, The Government has only made two new trade agreements since Brexit that have not simply been rollover agreements continuing the trading conditions we enjoyed while EU members. These new trade deals highlighted the weaker negotiating position of the UK outside the EU and have undercut important British industries while delivering almost no significant benefits to the UK.

Supportive Statistics

•  Find specific examples of the issues caused by Brexit  in our Brexit damage factsheet.

Previous lines: 

Kim Darroch: “Whether in Europe, South America or the Pacific, the general direction of travel has been the same for decades; nations working together to make trade easier and less expensive while entwining economic interests to reduce the potential for conflict. In an increasingly hostile world, our economic and political interests align with our closest neighbours and allies. A majority of voters now understand that.”

Peter Norris – “From higher inflation to fruit rotting in fields, we can see the economic impact of both labour shortages and divergence from our largest trading partner, the EU. And from this polling, it is clear that the majority of voters knows that Brexit is a key factor. As the UK economy continues to underperform, regulatory alignment with our largest market to help stimulate growth makes total sense, as does improving the ability of businesses of all types to hire the people they need.”

Geoff Mackey: “For some, Brexit was always about creating a race to the bottom on things like food standards, workers rights and environmental protections and ignoring the fact that diverging from our largest market will only increase costs for businesses and consumers. Aligning with high EU standards where beneficial and as recommended by our commission, is something the Government could do to boost the economy and it is positive that at least the Labour leader recognises this.”

Juergen Maier:  “UK businesses have never faced a more challenging trading environment and especially SMEs, from almost every part of the economy, need an urgent, pragmatic and meaningful intervention. The EU is the UK’s largest trading partner and a key driver in setting standards globally, so ending dogmatic divergence and replacing it with regulatory alignment where beneficial along with a new cooperation body to facilitate it really is a no-brainer. This opportunity is now neatly wrapped up in a bow in this report for policy makers to adopt.”