The Deputy Prime Minister has broken ranks to suggest Britain should reverse swathes of Brexit.
David Lammy said Brexit has hit British economic growth (Image: Getty)
David Lammy has been slapped down after claiming Brexit had “badly damaged our economy” and that Britain could rejoin the customs union. The Deputy Prime Minister sparked fury last night as he suggested the government could break yet another manifesto pledge and begin reversing the 2016 vote.
He said Britain should consider closer integration with Brussels, and that while rejoining the customs union is not “currently” government policy it is “self-evident” that other countries had “seen growth” as a result of doing so. “But you can see countries like Turkey with a customs union seemingly benefiting and seeing growth in their economy, and again, that’s self-evident.” Labour sources last night said the Prime Minister holds the same views as his deputy.
David Lammy was a keen remainer during the Brexit rows (Image: Getty)
However Mr Lammy’s claims about Brexit hitting economic growth were dismantled by a senior economist this morning.
Julian Jessop, a fellow at the Institute for Economic Affairs, tore apart a recent pro-EU paper that claimed GDP would have been approximately 8% higher if it weren’t for Brexit.
The chart shows the GDPs of the UK, France and Germany from 2014, revealing that the UK’s growth has been identical to that of France’s since the referendum, and substantially better than Germany’s.
Mr Jessop used a unicorn symbol to show where UK GDP would be on the chart were it 8% higher.
Sharing a substack article he wrote last week, Mr Jessop described the pro-EU argument as “almost entirely wrong”.
“The UK economy has grown by about 12% since 2016, outpacing Japan, Germany, Italy and France. If you add another 8% the UK would have been the fastest growing economy in the G7 – bar only the US – and left its EU peers far behind.
“This would not be impossible, but it is surely unlikely.”
He argued that the paper, by NBER, making absurd claims about hypothetical GDP growth had Britain not left the EU, had been based on comparisons to countries that have nothing in common with Britain, and ignored comparable countries like France and Germany.
Mr Jessop concluded: “In summary, my take is that the NBER paper is heavy on data and prior assumptions, but light on common sense!”
Earlier this week the Health Secretary Wes Streeting said he doesn’t “think” the government is planning on reversing Brexit.
After failing to rule it out, he continued: “I think we are looking at a new relationship with the European Union in which we want to both repair some of the economic damage done by Brexit, which I think is evident, was warned about in advance of the referendum.
“And the country, I think largely for reasons of sovereignty and as the Brexit campaign slogan said, to take back control, people were warned about the economic harm.
“And there were lots of voters I spoke to who said, yeah we get that, but I think it’s worth it to take back control. Well, that’s happened now.
“There is economic damage. And we want to both minimise that damage, but also I think get this country onto a better partnership with the European Union.”
On Monday Nigel Farage slammed Sir Keir’s attacks on Brexit, saying voters “won’t be fooled” by the scaremongering.
Writing in the Daily Express, Mr Farage, the Reform UK leader, warned: “According to Labour Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer the real blame for our economic disaster lies with the 17.4million British people who dared to vote for Brexit in the 2016 EU referendum.
“Few will be fooled by Starmer’s transparent attempt to shift the spotlight away from his chancellor and her disastrous Budget.”
