The OBR has today confirmed Brexit will cause both a short-term and long-term drop in UK GDP, with the Government's Trade & Cooperation Agreement set to cause a 0.5 per cent short-term hit to GDP and a 4 per cent reduction in productivity in the longer term. 2/
"This paper-thin Brexit deal has already dealt a thousand cuts to UK exporters," says @pimlicat. "In the first month of Brexit, our pork exports to the EU were down 70 per cent, chocolate was down 68 per cent and beer 62 per cent on January 2020 levels." 3/
"Cheesemakers are being told to sell across the Atlantic instead of trading with our nearest neighbours, and shellfish exporters have launched a legal challenge against DEFRA." @pimlicat 4/
"Against this pitiful backdrop, the Government uses taxpayer money to sponsor pro-Brexit articles in our newspapers and dissolves the only parliamentary bodies that offered any scrutiny of the deal. It takes an independent body like the OBR to tell us the truth..." @pimlicat 5/
"The economic pain we've so far experienced is only the start. The Govt's TCA is now destabilising our economy, devastating businesses and threatening peace in Northern Ireland." @pimlicat 6/
"It's time ministers took responsibility for the pain their deal is causing. We call on the PM to get back around the negotiating table to claw back the lost GDP the OBR forecasts before it's too late." @pimlicat /ENDS
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
A THREAD: The war of rhetoric between UK and EU cannot be deescalated while dismissing their complaint as sour grapes over Brexit. It creates a narrative that the UK cannot influence, by declaring fatalistically the EU already decided to 'punish us'. It's also not true. ~AA 1/7
Of course there is an equitable solution to be found but both parties have to look for it. And a precondition to finding it is the ability to see their grievance from their point of view - a skill for which our gov't (and much of our press) has shown little aptitude. ~AA 2/7
This is how it looks to EU leaders: they're battling a variant third wave, for which they see the UK as partly responsible, while our gov't wastes no opportunity to provoke them, humiliate them in front of their electorates, and gloat about its own vaccination programme. ~AA 3/7
This morning’s @DCMSCommons committee evidence session on touring musicians and EU arrangements for them post-Brexit - a thread 🧵:
“I think we’re already seeing damage to individuals. We’re also hearing that some of the touring bodies that are based in the UK are facing immediate insolvency. We have about 4 months, until the festival season, to tackle this issue” - @DeborahAnnetts@CommonsDCMS
2/ “If you’re at an early stage in your career then you’re going to find [touring] problematic. If you’re the Foo Fighters you won’t have a problem” @CommonsDCMS
"We have ended up with a trading regime that has become complex, costly, slow, prone to break down at its best, and at worst that the door to the EU markets has been closed altogether for some food exporters across Scotland and the UK." - @scotfoodjames at @CommonsScotAffs 1/
"Unfortunately it's a very predictable outcome of trying to test a multibillion pound new trading system in realtime during a global pandemic. We pleaded for a grace period and that plea fell on deaf ears." @scotfoodjames 2/
"Trade is not flowing smoothly and it hasn't done for 5 weeks now. One business I spoke to said that it feels as though Britain has made history and become the first country to impose economic sanctions on itself." @scotfoodjames 3/
Titled 'Britannia Unchained', the pamphlet argued for tearing up rules which protect workers and the environment, Euroscepticism, and lower tax rate; saying that the UK’s culture “rewards laziness” and that “too many people in Britain prefer a lie-in to hard work”. 3/
Commenting BfB CEO @pimlicat "From the Beatles to backing singers, British music is without question one of Britain’s best exports. But this Government is thwarting our place in the global charts."
"Given the huge contribution of British music to the UK economy and the way in which musicians and other performers carry British values worldwide, it is bewildering to hear that the Government rejected the offer of short-term visas."