London’s Mayor Sadiq Khan, on Thursday, blamed Brexit for costing the British economy £140 billion ($178 billion), urging the government to “urgently rebuild relations with the European Union to stop the decline.”
Brexit also meant that there are 2 million fewer jobs across the country than there would have been without Brexit, including 290,000 lost jobs in London, according to research conducted by Cambridge Econometrics commissioned by the city council, which Khan from the Labour Party referred to in a speech he delivered at Mansion House. Half of the total job losses are in financial services and construction.
In the speech that Khan is scheduled to deliver on Thursday, according to excerpts published by his office, he said, “The hard version of Brexit we ended up with is dragging our economy down and raising living costs.” “The cost of Brexit crisis can only be solved if we take a mature approach and are open to improving our trade arrangements with our European neighbors.”
While Khan’s criticism of Brexit aligns with the UK capital, which primarily voted to remain, it contrasts with the more cautious line that Labour Party leader Keir Starmer is trying to follow ahead of the expected general elections in the second half of the year. However, Starmer, himself a Brexit supporter, seeks to regain votes from former Labour supporters who are pro-Brexit in North England and the Midlands, who switched to the Conservatives in the 2019 elections. Starmer said last September, “There is no justification for returning to the EU or its single market and customs union,” according to Bloomberg, which Al Arabiya Business reviewed.
While Starmer also said he wants a closer relationship with the EU, he has shied away from overstating the negative impacts of Brexit, which was supported by 52% of voters in the 2016 referendum that led to Britain’s exit from the bloc.
The British economic output could have reached £2.34 trillion in 2023 if the country had remained within the EU, 6.5% more than the £2.2 trillion it recorded, according to Cambridge Econometrics. The impact is expected to worsen, leading to a £311 billion reduction from the expected output in 2035 compared to a non-Brexit scenario, equivalent to 10.1%. The analysis uses historical data to predict how the UK’s economy would have performed in an alternate reality without Brexit.
The report also indicates that London’s economy was £30 billion less than it could have been without Brexit. The average Londoner was around £3,400 worse off in 2023 due to the vote to leave the bloc, compared to £2,000 for the average Briton.
Khan will use the report to make a case for addressing London’s labor shortage after Brexit through an evidence-based, bias-free approach to immigration and pushing for new arrangements with the EU.
Khan said, “We urgently need to build a closer relationship with the EU.” “The new settlement will not only stimulate our economy and help raise living standards but will also help unleash the growth and prosperity we need.”
