Why would any business locate themselves in a country that has cut itself off from the world’s largest trading bloc when it could just do business in the world’s largest trading bloc? That is the question investors are no doubt asking themselves at Britain’s big investment summit this week. As the International Investment Summit begins, Brexit is the elephant standing across our trade flows.
Brexit has not been a “big bang” of damage but a slow drain of talent, investment and, ultimately, growth. Now the pandemic has receded, that is painfully clear. Aston University research shows a 27% drop in UK exports and a 32% decline in imports from the EU since 2021, which translates to an annual loss of £183bn.
