Forum Topic

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

'I find that 'if you haven't broken the law you have nothing to fear' argument specious in the extreme.One of the things I value in this country is that we don't have an ID card and we have the right to chose how we live most aspects of our lives.This is using a sledgehammer to crack a nut.'On balance I agree with you, I remember when the DBS checks first started, in the first instance part of 'safeguarding' for those people dealing with children and vulnerable adults. Apart from the whole industry that mushroomed up around this, and the time that it could take, it also got to the point where people volunteering in various capacities found that one check wasn't enough. If you volunteered at more than one club for instance - you then had to get a DBS check at everyone, hence a lot of places lost a lot of people who really got very fed-up with this overkill. Then came the update service, which meant for an initial fee and also an annual one as well, you could register your DBS certificate to save constantly having to apply all over again. Then of course someone else had a wheeze that in education recruitment that would not do, so a new DBS check had to be carried out at yet more expense. Then everyone and his dog decided if they were employing someone - perhaps a cleaner - then they should avail themselves of this. This is just an example of what starts off as a seemingly reasonable scheme - that morphs into a money spinning and largely ineffective palaver. That is my fear of digital I.D. - assurances that you won't have to keep producing it and not to worry too much - don't wash. It won't be long before someone comes up with a brilliant idea of making money from it somehow, or some overly officious twerp in a high-vis starts demanding to  have your I.D. produced for him/her to inspect for some spurious reason. 

Vanessa Smith ● 33d