New research has found Brexit has cost the UK government £40 billion a year in lost tax revenue.
John Springford from the Centre for European Reform (CER) has been modelling the economic performance of a UK that remained in the EU since 2018, using data from countries like the US, Germany, New Zealand, Norway and Australia, whose performance was similar to the UK’s before Brexit.
According to his findings, the difference in performance between his “doppelgänger UK economy” and the real thing is stark.
Springford’s latest update estimates that Brexit reduced Britain’s GDP by 5.5 per cent by the second quarter of 2022.
Put another way, between April and June economic output was £33 billion lower than it would have been had the UK voted to stay in the EU, costing the government around £12 billion in lost tax revenues.
In the year to the end of June 2022, Springford estimates the tax loss at around £40 billion.
The figures have been revealed as NHS workers – including ambulance drivers – walked out on strike over pay and conditions.
In 2016, the Vote Leave campaign pledged an additional £350 million to the NHS, money which remains unaccounted for.