All parts of Britain will suffer if there is No Deal Brexit: CBI report

LONDON, JAN 23 — All parts of Britain will suffer economic hardship if there is a No-Deal Brexit, leading business representative group Confederation of British Industry (CBI) claimed in a report Tuesday.

The CBI’s report “Impact of a ‘No Deal’ Brexit Across the UK”, claimed that if Britain left the European Union (EU) without an agreement, every region and each of the three constituent nations outside England would suffer an economic loss running into billions of pounds each year by 2034.

The CBI, which represents 190,000 businesses employing seven million workers, said that the North East of England region would be hardest hit.

The North East would lose 10.5 percent of its real gross value added (GVA), which is a measure of the value of goods and services produced in the region, a cost of seven billion pounds by 2034.

Each of Britain’s constituent nations would suffer a fall in GVA — Northern Ireland 9.1 percent reduction; Wales, 8.1 percent reduction; and Scotland, 8 percent reduction.

When these figures are represented as monetary costs, the London the most, with an annual fall in GVA of 40 billion pounds (51.8 billion U.S. dollars), followed by the South East of England with a reduction of 28 billion pounds.

Carolyn Fairbairn, CBI director-general, said that a No Deal Brexit needed to be avoided, for the sake of businesses. The CBI has in the past backed British prime minister Theresa May’s Brexit Withdrawal Agreement.

“A March no-deal must be ruled out immediately. This is the only way to halt irreversible damage and restore business confidence,” Fairbairn said.

“Our analysis of the government’s own figures shows that Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales and every English region would pay an unacceptable economic price.” – XINHUA