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“The results are sobering,” says John Springford, the author of the report that removes all doubt that it is more Brexit rather than the pandemic that is bringing Britain to its knees.The report by the Centre for European Reform think-tank unveils findings that show leaving the free trade market will have a bigger impact on the UK economy in the long term than Covid-19.

Brexit is “largely to blame” for billions being lost in trade and tax revenues in recent years, according to a new study by top economists.The Centre for European Reform (CER) said that by the end of last year, Britain’s economy was 5.2 per cent – or £31bn – smaller than it would have been without Brexit and the Covid pandemic.“We can’t blame Brexit for all of the 5.2 per cent GDP shortfall …. but it’s apparent that Brexit is largely to blame,” said John Springford, author of the CER study.

It comes as research from the Centre for European Reform (CER) showed that by the end of last year the UK’s economy was 5% smaller than it would have been had we still been members of the European Union. CER’s figures showed that this amounted to around £31 billion.

Brexit and the pandemic have reduced the size of the UK economy by 5.2 per cent compared with its peers, according to research that largely blames Britain’s exit from the European Union for stunted growth.Analysis from the Centre for European Reform think-tank found that Brexit was the main driver of weakening growth, falling goods exports and chronically low business investment.Using a model comparing the UK with similar countries to provide a shadow economy as a point of reference, the analysis concluded that Britain’s GDP was £31 billion, or 5.2 per cent, lower than its “doppelganger” at the end of last year.

The Centre for European Reform (CER) has modelled the economic performance of a UK that remained in the EU - using data from countries like the US, Germany, New Zealand, Norway and Australia - whose performance was similar to ours before Brexit.It then compared this with the real performance of the UK economy since the referendum six years ago.

The Centre for European Reform (CER) asks why central banks are pursuing central bank digital currencies (CBDC) in a recent post. The CER is a pro-European think tank that aims to make the European Union (EU) work better. “The EU should not be distracted by the prospect of a digital euro – which may sound impressive and exciting, but may give Europeans few benefits they cannot enjoy already,” states the post written by CER Senior Research Fellow Zach Meyers.

Central-bank-issued digital currencies run the risk of turning into a costly waste of time, according to the Centre for European Reform.Europe --one of the most advanced economies considering the initiative - should instead use regulation to make payments cheaper and more competitive, the London-based think-tank said Tuesday in a report. It warned that the cost benefits and privacy incentives of a so-called CBDC are unlikely to be sufficient to entice consumers to use it.

"You only have to look at the struggle to get the oil embargo," says Ian Bond, director of foreign policy at the Centre for European Reform, referring to the tortured weeks of negotiation that resulted in this week's partial EU embargo on Russian oil.
..."There's a kind of calibration going on," says Ian Bond. "As though we're saying 'we want the Ukrainians to win but not to win too much'".
..."If either side begins to make decisive gains, then they become more of a problem," says Ian Bond.