Brexit has cost the UK economy £600 million per week since the referendum in 2016 – and the country could be hit even harder if we leave without a deal.
A new report published by investment banking giant Goldman Sachs argues that had UK voters opted to Remain the economy would have been in a much stronger position, instead of underperforming and lagging behind other advanced economies.
The analysis shows 2.5 per cent has been shaved off GDP since June 2016, with investment one of the biggest casualties of the Brexit debacle.
It echoes Bank of England analysis that suggested around £40 billion per year, or £800 million per week, of lost income for the country as a whole since the result of the leave vote.
“The component-level breakdown reveals that output losses have been concentrated in investment and private consumption.
“The outsized impact on investment suggests that political uncertainty associated with the Brexit process may, indeed, be one of the major sources of the economic cost of Brexit,” the report read.
Under a no-deal scenario the UK will suffer large output losses, as well as a “substantial global confidence shock marked by a sharp sterling depreciation”.
Conversely, a “status quo” Brexit transition deal would reverse part of the UK’s output underperformance and, under a Remain scenario, the UK “fully recoups Brexit-related output costs and business confidence rebounds”.
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