At one year out from Brexit, Bruges Group Director Robert Oulds discussed UK economics, the Northern Ireland border, and trade with Chief Economic Advisor of the Centre for Economics and Business Research Vicky Pryce on TRT World.
Interviewer Mobin Nasir highlighted the uncertainty in these areas, and suggested that economic statistics are signs of confidence "that the government is handling Brexit reasonably well." For example, Nasir mentioned that the "UK's economy looks like it has slowed down, but it's not nearly as bad as some of the doom-sayers have said prior to the Brexit vote," and he cited a recent Reuters survey which said that banks in the city of London are looking to shift out about 5,000 banking jobs to the EU, which is about half of what they were predicting just 6 months ago. These figures, Robert pointed out, force those behind "project fear" to abandon the narrative of a doomed post-Brexit Britain, saying that "the economic Armageddon that was facing us has not materialised, and it will not be materialising.
"We waste a lot of time debating issues to do with how the economy would fall apart. It's not going to, unemployment is down, our current account deficit is reducing, trade is up, we are taking advantage of the fact that the IMF says that 90 percent of global growth will be outside of the EU. That is what we need to take advantage of, and we need to get out of the EU to do that."
Express reporter Aurora Bosotti wrote on Oulds and Pryce's debate and included that a Daily Express survey "revealed that 65 percent of Britons would not back calls for a second vote on EU membership, with 4 in 10 people supporting Remain now demanding the Brexit results be respected"
The opportunities of a Britain outside the European Union should be focused on, and Oulds and Nasir touched on the increasing rejection of the EU's centralised structure: "There is a growing opposition to government from Brussels and from Frankfurt, and we see how, in the continent, unemployment is so high. It is a lot higher than in the UK because they've got the euro, and they've got austerity programs – they've caused utter harm."
The fear forecast mentality is unproductive. In order to realise a more independent and sovereign Britain, politicians and the people need to look for solutions, not problems, and look forward, not backward.
