An economist has explained how the infamous Brexit bus was actually advertising the ‘bargain of the century.’
One of the enduring images of the Brexit campaign was the bus which stated the UK sends the European Union £350 million a week, money which the Leave campaign claimed should be used to fund the NHS instead.
Of course, after leaving the EU, this money has not been used to fund the NHS and with every passing week, month and year, Brexit has shown itself to be a economically disastrous move for the UK.
Now, economist Tim Leunig has explained how the £350m figure paraded by the Brexit bus was actually a total bargain.
Speaking on Thursday’s edition of the Financial Times’ podcast The Economics Show, Leunig, who was a former advisor to two chancellors, was asked about Labour’s shifting stance on blaming Brexit for the UK’s economic malaise.
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It has previously been estimated by the Office for Budget Responsibility that Brexit reduced productivity by 4% compared to what it would have been had we remained in the EU.
Leunig was asked whether the government is “right to be talking again about the legacy of Brexit,” to which he responded that he didn’t think “anything has changed in the last year or two in terms of the legacy of Brexit.”
But the London School of Economics professor continued: “If we take the OBR’s number of 4% at face value, and I don’t know any economist who thinks it’s wildly out, then that’s £109 billion a year off UK growth. That’s a lot.
“I said earlier that nothing could move the dial by more than 0.1%. The one thing that could is reversing Brexit, and if you work it out weekly, that comes out at £850 million a week.”
“I think that’s the sort of number you could put on a bus, and indeed it is rather bigger than the £350 million that the Brexit campaigners used.
“If we take their number at face value I’d say it was great value. Pay £350 million, get £850 million. That’s the bargain of the century.”
He added: “And that’s what membership of the European Union was; economically exceptional value and the sooner we can rejoin the better.”
Even after all these years, the stupidity of Brexit continues to reveal itself.