Still searching for those elusive Brexit benefits

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/nov/10/still-searching-for-those-elusive-brexit-benefits

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Readers respond to an article by Larry Elliott in which he said that Brexit remains an opportunity to transform an underperforming British economy

I am glad that Larry Elliott has given us his latest take on Brexit, but his contention that there is an absence of evidence that Brexit has done much harm has holes in it (Brexit isn’t to blame for our current problems; it is still an opportunity, 6 November). Most fundamentally, the pound was trading at $1.49 on the day of the referendum. Two days later, it was $1.36. Now it is $1.15. Prior to the referendum result, £1 equalled €1.31. Now it is €1.15. Imports are more expensive and exports are not helped because manufacturing is such a small proportion of our economy, and uses a lot of imported materials anyway.

He claims that Britain attracts more foreign direct investment than any other European country. Perhaps a chunk of this is buying up British assets at bargain basement prices? He does not mention the businesses relocating to mainland Europe to survive, undoubtedly reducing the British economy.Daphne SandersInglewhite, Lancashire

Another very interesting article from Larry Elliott – in particular, the first sentence of the final paragraph: “After six years, the argument for Brexit remains what it always was: an opportunity to look at an under-performing economy in a new light and to do things differently.” Isn’t this exactly what Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng attempted to do, only to be thwarted by “the markets”, the media and panic in the Conservative party? Until we have a government that is prepared to do things differently and ride out the resulting short-term chaos, nothing significant will change. It’s impossible to make an omelette without breaking eggs.Geoff Smith Endon, Staffordshire

Larry Elliott says economists claimed in 2016 that Brexit would “crash the economy”. In fact, that was mainly George Osborne’s scaremongering. Elliott rightly points out that Mark Carney’s recent remarks about the UK’s economic performance were hugely misleading, but at the time disinterested observers merely argued that Brexit would be a long-term drag on the economy, and nothing has yet happened to change our minds.

So what would be helpful would be for Elliott to give us examples – just one would be nice – of what these opportunities “to look at an underperforming economy in a new light and to do things differently” actually are.Simon Price Professor of finance, Essex Business School

According to Larry Elliott, Brexit is an opportunity, but he gives not one example of this. He says there is no Brexit gorilla in the room, just a mouse. I would suggest that there is a herd of very large Brexit elephants not only in his office but also at the BBC and most newspapers. They can’t be ignored for ever.Sue HumphriesYork

Larry Elliott’s article struck me as a discussion about whether Brexit has made the country’s current predicament a lot worse, as remoaners like me would maintain, or just a bit worse, as Jacob Rees-Mogg and his strangely quiet chums are trying to convince us. Elliott might stop the mice squeaking by outlining the specific benefits of Brexit that he has identified and the measurable improvements that they have made a full six years after the vote. Pass the cheese.Trevor CromeHarpenden, Hertfordshire

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