NEW research has further shed light on the negative impact Brexit is having on UK trade.
A study from Ireland’s Economic and Social Research Institute found that Brexit had cut exports from the UK to the EU by 16%, compared to expected levels if the UK had voted to remain.
The study also estimated that Brexit had decreased trade flowing from the EU to the UK by 20%.
In its conclusion, the paper found that “Brexit has led to a significant decline in trade with the UK in almost all cases although by varying magnitudes”.
The report also found that while trade between the EU and the rest of the world (RoW) strengthened in the wake of the Covid pandemic, UK exports to the RoW experienced slower growth and that the UK was importing “considerably more”.
Commenting on the findings, SNP MP Pete Wishart said that “despite overwhelmingly rejecting it” Westminster had imposed a “damaging Brexit” on Scotland that had “wreaked havoc on our economy and crippled our hard-working exporters”.
He added: “[This report] shows clearly that Brexit doesn’t work.
“The economic vandalism of the Tories - which Labour’s Keir Starmer now fully supports - knows no bounds. Across Scotland, businesses were already struggling because of Brexit red tape, but Liz Truss’s premiership has seen the pound tank, bills soar and forced unprecedented intervention from the Bank of England to protect UK pensions.
“Scotland has also lost the economic and social impact of those from the EU who would have chosen to live and work here but have been turned off by the horrific rhetoric from the UK Government, who have pulled up the drawbridge to our European neighbours.
“While independent Ireland enjoys full access to the EU Single Market, Customs Union and freedom of movement, Scotland is held back by Westminster governments. That’s why we need the full powers of independence - and why the Scottish Government is committed to giving the people of Scotland that choice.”
