MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
UK economy losing momentum as Brexit impact begins to be felt
Britain's economy slowed more sharply than first thought in early 2017 as consumers felt the hit from the rise in inflation that followed the Brexit vote and exporters struggled to benefit from the weak pound. Thursday's downbeat official data - which contrasts with signs of acceleration in many other economies - comes two weeks before Britons vote in a national election. Read full article
Comments
Disclaimer & comment rulesThe British are very smart, it must be admitted.
May 27th, 2017 - 08:33 pm - Link - Report abuse -3They have seen how first Germany in the early 2000s was called the “sick man of Europe”. Then it was Spain in 2010/11, then France and Italy... So when this crown is to be rotated to the UK, they decide to leave Europe!
Very smart... Now they will be called “The sick AND orphan Man” :)
NeanderTroll,
May 28th, 2017 - 02:51 am - Link - Report abuse +2C'mon, admit it - you don't want to see them go !!
:-D
Economic restructuring is always difficult but will eventually adjust to a post-Brexit world.
May 29th, 2017 - 04:59 pm - Link - Report abuse +2Poor Nostrils has been living his whole life on a country that has been economically declining for decades with no great prospects of that changing any time soon. Very difficult for me to understand when I live the opposite to that.
And where are all the Brexit cheerleaders now? No doubt the economy will adjust, but that doesn't mean it'll ever do as well as it could've done. Britain was going to be the biggest, richest country in the EU by 2050, taking Germany's place. Now we're going to be struggling to get by for however long it takes to adjust and will still be on the outside afterwards.
May 29th, 2017 - 10:01 pm - Link - Report abuse -3Demontree, your predictions are just as much guess work as everyone else's. The deed is done and you need to stop living with what-ifs.
May 30th, 2017 - 12:32 am - Link - Report abuse +2Plenty of countries flourish outside the EU. You cannot predict future prosperity on the current economic restructure that is taking place. Australia and New Zealand have extremely high levels of economic and social integration and didn't see the need for a monolithic superstate to manage it. There are lessons to be learnt outside the EU and the UK is probably the country that will most succeed as a former EU member.
And the EU knows this so will make it as difficult as possible but in the end they won't succeed in that as much as the UK will by going it alone
@Skip
May 30th, 2017 - 10:43 am - Link - Report abuse -3They're not my predictions; I still listen to what the experts say. And the deed isn't done yet because there are all the negotiations still to come, and I don't trust either the current government or the opposition to do a good job, let alone expect the EU to act sensibly. It's like watching your car crash in slow motion and there's nothing you can do about it.
As for Australia, they are currently leading the fight to save TPP, and pushing for a deal with the Pacific Alliance, despite already having trade deals with both the US and China. Evidently your government thinks these things are pretty important. I agree the 'monolithic superstate' is not necessary, but the free trade definitely *is*, and Britain will be starting from nothing the way things are going.
I'm all for free trade-this is one of the major pillars for Australia's current prosperity. And yea the UK will be starting from nothing and I think this is disingenuous of the EU that a free trade deal cannot be negotiated until the UK has left. But I'm pretty sure that Australia will be one of the first countries to sign an FTA with the UK, soon followed by NZ and Canada. The US and EU will probably be next. And then there is India, Japan and China.
May 30th, 2017 - 05:58 pm - Link - Report abuse 0It will happen because countries want trade. And the UK isn't a small economy no matter how much they try to play thatdiwn by comparing it to the EU. If people want free trade with NZ then they want it with an economy 10x larger.
And I'm also for free movement with limited countries. Currently we only have this with NZ but I see no reason it cannot be extended to countries such as Singapore, Canada and the UK with similar living standards.
The UK will lose a lot out of Brexit but so will the EU, even though they are pretending they won't. The UK will gain a lot of flexibility while Brexit will actually constrain the EU as it will now have to contend with the leaving as an option.
And as for decade long predictions. Just that, predictions. I've never seen an economic prediction with any precision last a couple of years.
Yes, we know the UK cannot sign any free trade agreements until we've left the EU, but it's unnecessarily harsh to say we can't even start negotiating them. These things take a long time.
May 31st, 2017 - 10:19 am - Link - Report abuse 0I'm sure you are right that other countries will want to sign FTA's with us, but as well as what happens in the meantime, I'm worried the government will be in a rush and sign us up to bad deals, and that we won't have much negotiating power with big countries like US and China. It would help if I didn't think our government were a bunch of incompetents, but unfortunately that always seems to be the case.
Are you sure you want free movement with the UK? You already have over 1m Brits in Australia even with strict immigration restrictions, but I guess if you don't mind more people coming... I suspect it would be more popular here than free movement with the EU, anyway, since people could take advantage of it without having to learn a new language.
You are right about predictions anyway, this was a demographic one but I'm sure they are just as unreliable in the long term.
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