Specialists say report exhibits EU exit to not blame for export challenge

A brand new evaluation of UK commerce has exploded the parable {that a} post-pandemic downturn in exports might be blamed on Brexit.

Pro-remain commentators have used decrease export figures to argue the UK could be higher off within the EU.

But consultants on the Centre for Brexit Policy say this ignores international issues resembling a scarcity of laptop chips following the pandemic.

In a paper to be printed this week additionally they warn the UK is failing to benefit from its pure sources, following a fall in North Sea oil and fuel manufacturing.

Report writer Phil Radford stated the character of the UK financial system meant it was more durable hit than others by disruption attributable to Covid.

He stated: “In 2019, the motor vehicle and aerospace sectors were easily our biggest goods-export industries.

They delivered a combined 20 percent of all UK goods exports in 2019.

“Yet this sectoral study shows that in the UK, these two sectors were easily the hardest hit by recent global events, including the pandemic, microchip shortages and the temporary collapse of civilian aviation. In G7 terms, this made UK trade uniquely vulnerable to global events.”

He added: “UK exports missed out on recent surges in global demand. Declining long-term investment in the North Sea meant our trade did not benefit from the energy crisis, as happened in the US and Canada.

“Meanwhile, offshoring in our pharmaceutical industry meant we failed to gain from the spike in demand for vaccines, like Germany and the US.”

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But Brexit has had a “trivial” impact on UK-EU commerce, the report will say.

It contradicts claims from our bodies such because the Tony Blair Foundation, which claimed in February that Britain’s commerce “has been hit significantly by its departure from the single market”.

The UK exported £340 billion of products and companies to the EU final yr. 

Energy trade physique Offshore Energies UK final month warned that 90 % of companies concerned in North Sea oil and fuel have been reducing funding because of the vitality windfall tax often known as the Energy Profits Levy imposed by the Treasury, which is predicted to boost £40 billion over 5 years.

Political uncertainty and elevated prices have additionally diminished funding, the trade says.