Tuesday, October 22, 2024
Too high a price
The Independent reports that Keir Starmer has come under pressure to publish the true costs of Brexit after a minister confirmed Britain has spent £24bn alone withdrawing from the EU – with a further £6.4bn still to pay. Treasury minister Tulip Siddiq replied to a parliamentary question to say that Britain has paid the EU £23.8bn as part of its “financial settlement” agreement.
Naturally this has created waves, even though I think we all suspected that this was the sort of ball park figure that Brexit had cost us:
Best for Britain chief executive Naomi Smith told The Independent: “Exiting the European Union not only cost the UK vast amounts of money, but economic growth, opportunities for young people, influence on the world stage, and much more.
“But this government has the opportunity to reverse that downwards trend, building on a strong start to bring us closer to the EU through policies like beneficial alignment and a reciprocal youth mobility scheme.”
Deputy chief executive of campaign group the European Movement, Emma Knaggs, told The Independent: “It’s encouraging to see more data being shared about the cost of the UK’s exit from the EU. However, we remain in the dark about the full extent of the impact of leaving the EU and its repercussions on areas such as the economy, the NHS, the cost of living and UK businesses, to name just a few. We need an independent, forward-looking inquiry on the UK’s relationship with Europe to identify those opportunities and rebuild those closer bonds.”
Despite this Labour are still sitting behind their red lines of not rejoining the single market or the customs union, a position that is doing irreparable damage to the UK economy and its future prospects.
Starmer's ambition to rebuild public services on the back of sustained economic growth will prove almost impossible unless he carries out a u-turn on that position.
