What happened to the ‘Brexit dividend’? It has turned into an economic nightmare

Letters to the editor: our readers share their views. Please send your letters to letters@independent.co.uk

Official estimates from the Office for Budget Responsibility point to a Brexit loss of more than £1,250 per person over the coming years (AP)

It was intriguing, but not unexpected, to note that all of Boris Johnson’s new post-Brexit trade deals put together will have an economic benefit of just £3-£7 per person over the next 15 years, according to the government’s own figures.

Analysis by top academics at the University of Sussex’s UK Trade Policy Observatory have highlighted that the tiny economic boost – amounting to just 0.01 to 0.02 per cent of GDP, and less than 50p per person a year – is dwarfed by the economic hit from leaving the EU, which the government estimates at 4 per cent of GDP over the same period. The analysis suggests that the much-trumpeted free trade agreements (FTAs) “barely scratch the surface of the UK’s challenge to make up the GDP lost by leaving the EU”.

Mr Johnson has boasted of the deals creating a “new dawn” and representing “global Britain at its best” – but just two of the dozens announced since the UK left the EU are expected to have any measurable economic impact at all. Official estimates from the Office for Budget Responsibility point to a Brexit loss of more than £1,250 per person over the coming years – more than 178 times the most optimistic prediction for the benefits from the trade deals. The dream of a so-called “Brexit dividend” has turned into the economic nightmare many of us have been warning of for years.

Alex Orr

Edinburgh

Chaos reigns

You recently published a letter from me (‘Is the Conservative Party now broken beyond repair?’, 6 November) where I likened the possible future of the Conservative Party after the damage done by Johnson to that of Labour following Jeremy Corbyn’s damage – endlessly wandering in the wilderness. But there is a significant difference between the two of them and their legacies that I failed to mention.

Corbyn was not in power; his damage was confined to the Labour Party. Johnson, on the other hand, has control of the country and its institutions, and is busily making dangerous changes. He will do permanent irreversible damage to the country, not just the Conservative Party, unless he is stopped now – and the only people who can stop him are the very Tory MPs for whom, with his latest U-turn, he has shown utter contempt.

The immediate future rests with these Tory MPs but if both parties are unable to sort themselves out so that the electorate trusts them, what does the future hold, apart from chaos?

John Simpson

Ross on Wye

Is this who we voted for?

Once upon a time, in a land that now seems far, far away, some Tories got elected to improve the lives of the people. Today, Conservatives only seem to want to conserve their own privilege, unaccountability and party donations.

My MP, Maria Miller, voted to protect Owen Paterson from the consequences of his atrocious actions. I once suggested to her that an MP’s job is like any other: you do what your boss says. But equally, an MP’s job isn’t like any other: you’re answerable to your constituents, whether they voted for you or not, and not to a buffoon in Westminster.

This bunch claimed the EU was corrupt, but the ripe stench of corruption, cronyism, hypocrisy, misuse of funds and accountability-dodging hangs over them, like that of the sewage sludge they allowed to be dumped into rivers. Johnson lectured others to “grow up” on climate issues, then left Cop26 by private jet to plot how to further dilute accountability. Saving a disgraced colleague (and his own skin) is clearly more important to him than saving the planet.

“We make the law, so of course we can break it,” seems to be their mantra.

Geoff Burnes

Basingstoke

The more they earn, they more they want

There has been much focus on MPs’ pay in the wake of the Owen Paterson scandal, the implication being that our democratic representatives are so poorly paid (at more than twice the national average) that they naturally turn to other sources of income to get by. If only they were paid more, the logic goes, there would be less need for surreptitious earnings and therefore less corruption. Unfortunately, if the history of humankind tells us one thing with clarity it is that those with a larger share of the economic cake always believe they are entitled to more.

Nick Donnelly

Dorset

Major surprise

I was surprised that, in Sir John Major’s critique of egregious breaches of lobbying rules (and other predictable government shenanigans over two years), he omitted Groucho Marx’s dictum/quip: “Those are my principles. If you don’t like them, I have others!”

Mike Bor

London W2

Crowd surges at music events

The problem of crowd surges at music events is relatively new in music, but they have been happening for many years in other events, are well researched and the solution is simple.

The venues, and no doubt some of the fans, will howl with protest but a solution that eliminates the problem almost totally is already in use in football and rugby grounds: make music event venues all-seater venues. No more mosh pit, but no more deadly surges either, and a more civilised atmosphere to appreciate the actual music in.

Ian McNicholas

Ebbw Vale

Boosterism

I read with interest Simon Calder’s reply today (‘Back to the US: After travel ban lifts, how new rules for British visitors work’, Travel, 8 November) to the question on booster jabs. He points out that Austria and Israel are already imposing time limits for the efficacy of vaccinations, making this booster essential for travel. It will only be a matter of time before other countries do the same.

I am planning to travel to the US in February. My second jab was in late March, and the booster given to me in October. The NHS tells me they are not adding the proof of booster jabs to Covid passes. Surely it is essential to have this included in the Covid pass considering the time that has elapsed since my second jab?

The NHS should strive to put this in place very soon, as otherwise for travellers it could make a nonsense of the initial Covid pass. This would also serve as a means of encouraging people to have the booster jab, thus supporting the government’s current campaign.

Geraldine Lofting

Bath

Manchester by train

I was delighted to read the article “Manchester city guide: where to eat, drink, shop and stay in the ‘world’s third best city’” (Travel, 6 November), an excellent piece on the delights of Manchester. It has certainly encouraged me to visit again soon. However, I was disappointed when the “Getting There” section demonstrated your London-centric perspective. Yes, Manchester has a regular service from Euston, but not from St Pancras, as stated. Manchester does have the benefit of regular direct trains from the southwest, south coast, south Wales, East Midlands, Yorkshire and the northeast, Glasgow and Edinburgh. Arguably Manchester is better connected than any London termini.

Adrian Caltieri

North Yorkshire