Services badly served....
The hit that the services sector has suffered from Brexit has so far concentrated on hospitality and hotels and occasionally stories about touring bands facing problems.
But the latest report from The UK in a Changing Europe lays bare the full damage. The TCA between the UK and EU has virtually nothing to say about trade in services, which is a pity to say the least, because the UK economy is dominated by services.
The TCA is so bad that Singapore and the USA have better access for their financial services industries to the EU than the UK. A shocking result considering the UK was in the EU when the rules were written and London is the dominant European financial centre.
But the figures are clear. Over the past two years the report found “UK exports of financial services to non-EU countries increased by around 5% but decreased to EU countries over the same period by 30%.”
The figures can even show the difference between Covid and Brexit for the sector. For services as a whole “Recent figures from the ONS show that UK services exports globally were down around 14% in quarter 2 2021 compared to the same quarter in 2019. The equivalent figure for EU exports over the same period is close to 30%.”
The really depressing aspect is not the damage already done but that this sector now realises that although there is a lot of talk about improving UK access to the EU, the actual talks are going nowhere.
As far as the EU is concerned that is fine by them, they are being handed billions of pounds worth of business because of the inadequate trade deal agreed by the UK, why should they improve it, it works very well for them?
The UK’s services industry was ignored before, during and after Brexit. This is the price they are paying.
The full report is here
https://ukandeu.ac.uk/research-papers/the-impact-of-brexit-on-uk-services/
Economics, trade and Brexit, not necessarily in that order but the dog always comes first.