Brexit again - nothing to see here...

[Jordi Culé]

Indeed. UK exports have increased. Again, this is actual data and not predictions

You can see how culture wars happen. Cos the media outlets that many on the left read simply do not report this stuff, so we end up with the kind of arguments we saw earlier in this thread.

It is beyond frustrating

https://www.cityam.com/why-uk-servic...w-post-brexit/

"So has Brexit been a boon for British trade? Well, its more complicated than that.

The UK’s goods exporters have not performed anywhere near as well as the service sector. Although global goods trade has come under pressure in recent years, the UK goods exports have fallen much faster than the G7 average.

Goods exports have under-performed the G7 average by 15 per cent since 2020

Barriers to trade between the UK and EU have certainly contributed to this fall. The Office for National Statistics said that around half of exporting firms had faced extra costs due to Brexit.

The BCC has previously called for primary regulations on traded goods should mirror the EU’s in order to keep business costs low."

[Swiss Peter]

"So has Brexit been a boon for British trade? Well, its more complicated than that.

The UK’s goods exporters have not performed anywhere near as well as the service sector. Although global goods trade has come under pressure in recent years, the UK goods exports have fallen much faster than the G7 average.

Goods exports have under-performed the G7 average by 15 per cent since 2020

Barriers to trade between the UK and EU have certainly contributed to this fall. The Office for National Statistics said that around half of exporting firms had faced extra costs due to Brexit.

The BCC has previously called for primary regulations on traded goods should mirror the EU’s in order to keep business costs low."

Indeed. Also service sector growth is heavily focussed on London and the SE. Is this service sector growth making the slightest difference to the life of most ordinary people across the UK? Is the goods sector decline disproportionally impacting ordinary people? I don't know the answers to these questions, though I have my own views.

Aggregate export figures from the government's website actually show a small decline overall for the last 12 month period, though there's not much in it. https://www.gov.uk/government/statis...rs-web-version

James's "UK exports have increased" statement (apart from being factually incorrect) is just as guilty of over-simplifying a complex situation and cherry-picking to support a case as he accuses other people of. Beyond frustrating, indeed.