It’s a stark message from one of the most senior financial authorities in the country. Andrew Bailey, the Governor of the Bank of England, has encouraged the UK government to go faster and further with its EU reset deal – in order to counteract the downsides of Brexit.
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Bank of England Governor encourages ‘further co-operation with EU’
The intervention came earlier this week, and echoes the calls for greater alignment between Britain and the EU that Bailey made himself last year. This time around, the Governor openly addressed the ‘negative effects’ of Brexit, stating that we now face ‘more uncertain supply side conditions’.
“Brexit has weighed on the UK economy. This does not mean that Brexit is wrong, because there can be other reasons for it, but it does suggest, I think powerfully, that we should do all we can to minimise negative effects on trade.”
“The inevitable conclusion is that we cannot assume the supply sides of our economies behave as efficiently as they did before. Our jobs are much harder if we face more inflexible and uncertain supply side conditions in our economies, as we appear to do today.” | Andrew Bailey
UK must ‘minimise negative effects of Brexit’ – Andrew Bailey
Earlier this month, Prime Minister Keir Starmer confirmed an updated trade deal with the trading bloc. The new agreement delivers energy security, fewer checks on goods at the border, and the easing of certain travel restrictions. However, some critics believe he should be doing more.
While largely in favour in Sir Keir’s diplomatic deal, Bailey has warned that the current tariff chaos being wreaked by the US and President Trump ’emphasises the need’ for the UK to pull out all the stops, and continue to rebuild ties that were damaged as a result of Brexit.
“I think the current situation does emphasise the need [for the UK to align with the EU], by doing everything we can to rebuild the relationship. The agreement with the EU is a good thing. Even with the UK-US agreement we will still have tariffs higher than before this all started.” | Andrew Bailey