Brexit and the Bluebirds

[JamesWales]

The big three EU states:
France 6.1%
Germany: 7.5%
Italy: 7.9%

and then there's the UK: 9.4%

Where do you hire your cherry picker from mate?

Inflation is nothing to do with a countries size. You need to compare like with like. The debate here seems to be that Brexit has caused inflation (it hasn't) and so we should compare the UK with the EU. Inflation is currently higher in the EU..

You compare the biggest 3 for some reason. Why don't we compare the UK with the biggest 7 EU countries?

Poland - 15.5%
Romania - 15.05%
Spain 10.8%
Netherlands - 10.3%
UK - 9.4%
Italy - 7.9%
Germany - 7.5%
France - 6.1%

https://tradingeconomics.com/country...ntinent=europe

If you move the goalposts, you get a different result. And next month it will change again. The fact is inflation is not being caused by Brexit, it's high everywhere and is slightly higher in the EU at the moment. The causes lie elsewhere.

FWIW, comparing the UK with the G20 is perhaps the most useful way to analyse anything. G7 is a very small and selective group.

[superflyblues]

Where do you hire your cherry picker from mate?

Inflation is nothing to do with a countries size. You need to compare like with like. The debate here seems to be that Brexit has caused inflation (it hasn't) and so we should compare the UK with the EU. Inflation is currently higher in the EU..

You compare the biggest 3 for some reason. Why don't we compare the UK with the biggest 7 EU countries?

Poland - 15.5%
Romania - 15.05%
Spain 10.8%
Netherlands - 10.3%
UK - 9.4%
Italy - 7.9%
Germany - 7.5%
France - 6.1%

https://tradingeconomics.com/country...ntinent=europe

If you move the goalposts, you get a different result. And next month it will change again. The fact is inflation is not being caused by Brexit, it's high everywhere and is slightly higher in the EU at the moment. The causes lie elsewhere.

FWIW, comparing the UK with the G20 is perhaps the most useful way to analyse anything. G7 is a very small and selective group.

I picked the biggest three because they are in the G7, like the UK. It makes more sense to compare the UK to G7 countries than a EU average that includes lots of very small economies (Estonia is half the size of Wales) and countries bordering a war.

How does the UK’s inflation rate compare to the other G7 countries? What are the forecasts for the UK economy for the next 18 months and beyond? It’s not great, is it?

Nobody suggests Brexit is the cause of inflation, but it plays a part and makes dealing with it and fuelling growth that much more challenging. We have barriers to trade with the worlds biggest market, our biggest trading partner (50% of UK foreign trade in goods in 2019), that we didn’t have before. And we haven’t even implemented the checks for food imports yet. So the damage of Brexit isn’t even fully impacting. Those checks when implemented, do you think they will help with inflationary pressures?