The UK has 1.8m fewer jobs now that it would have been had Brexit not happened – a drop of 4.8 per cent. There are approximately 290,000 fewer jobs in London in 2023 compared to a scenario in which Brexit did not occur.· There are 523,000 fewer jobs in construction nationwide, with 81,000 less in London under this scenario.· There are 388,000 fewer jobs in financial services nationwide, with 92,000 less in London under this scenario.· The average Briton is nearly £2,000 worse off, while the average Londoner is nearly £3,400 worse off as a result of Brexit. · UK real Gross Value Added (GVA)- a measure of the size of the economy- is approximately £140bn less in 2023 than it would have been had the UK opted to remain in the Customs Union and Single Market - a drop of six per cent. The capital’s real GVA is more than £30bn less in 2023 under this scenario.· This economic damage is set to increase should the UK retain its current relationship with Europe. For example, by 2035, the UK’s real GVA would be about £311 billion lower (10.1 per cent) than had it not left the EU. London’s real GVA would be about £63bn lower. * Brexit has also made the cost-of-living crisis more severe in the UK. City Hall analysis shows that 30% of the increase in food prices between December 2019 and March 2023 could be attributed to the effects of Brexit, and other research from the LSE confirms this by showing that Brexit added an average of £210 to household food bills over the two years to the end of 2021, costing UK consumers a total of £5.8 billion.”
Steve Taylor ● 11d