Boris Johnson Can Limit Brexit’s Economic Damage

Last week, the U.K.’s opposition Labour Party broke its three-month silence over Brexit to accuse the government of hiding evidence by not publishing an economic impact assessment. Shadow Cabinet Office minister Rachel Reeves cited Office for Budget Responsibility estimates that leaving the European Union has reduced Britain’s gross domestic product by 0.5% in the first quarter of 2021 and will lead to a 4% hit to U.K. productivity over the longer term.

It’s the latter estimate that’s worrying. Without improved productivity, the economy will struggle to expand quickly enough. Britain’s lagging productivity growth — described by the Office for National Statistics as “unprecedented in the postwar era” — has blighted the country since the financial crisis. There has been much discussion about its causes, and some debate about how productivity is measured, but inadequate investment, skills and infrastructure share much of the blame.