Rishi Sunak under fire for his silence on costs of Brexit to Britain three years after leaving EU

Rishi Sunak was set on Tuesday to maintain his silence on the costs of Brexit to Britain amid growing warnings of the economic harm it is inflicting.

On the third anniversary of the UK quitting the European Union, the Prime Minister claimed the country had taken “huge strides” in taking advantage of the opportunities opened up by Brexit.

He trumpeted eight new freeports, plans to review or abolish EU red tape and the overhaul of the regime for business subsidies among the benefits of the break with Brussels.

But many experts, including the Government’s own watchdog the Office for Budget Responsibility, are warning of the economic damage to the UK, as well as to the EU, from Brexit.

Mr Sunak, though, was showing no sign of acknowledging this or issuing any Government analysis on this issue.

Asked if Mr Sunak, on the third anniversary of Brexit, would give an economic assessment of its impact, the Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “I’m not aware of any plans to publish anything along those lines this week.”

Opposition MPs have criticised the Government’s refusal to be open about the costs of Brexit.

Shadow Foreign Secretary David Lammy, MP for Tottenham, told the Chatham House think tank last week that there was a need to “recognise the damage the Government’s bad Brexit deal has done to our economy”.

Liberal Democrat Treasury spokeswoman Sarah Olney, MP for Richmond Park, added: “Why should the public believe anything this Conservative Government says on the economy when it can’t be open and honest about the cost of Brexit.”

Measuring the impact of Brexit is proving difficult given the Covid pandemic and Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine.

But the OBR has warned that quitting the EU will have had a “significant adverse impact” on UK trade.

It has stressed that the new trading relationship between the UK and the EU will reduce long-run productivity by four per cent relative to remaining in the European bloc.

Both exports and imports will be around 15 per cent lower in the long run than if the UK had remained in the EU, it added.

Other economists have warned of multi-billion pound blows to Britain’s trade, a slump in investment, and some sectors such as hospitality are struggling to recruit enough workers with less migration from the EU.

Leading pollster Professor Sir John Curtice, from the University of Strathclyde, said voters had become “more pessimistic about the economic consequences of Brexit”.

He pointed to a shift in polls over the past three years with 58 per cent saying they would vote to join the EU when presented with a binary choice and 42 per cent backing remaining outside the bloc.

The PM’s upbeat analysis contrasted with the recent polling suggesting growing unhappiness with the way Brexit has turned out.

Mr Sunak said: “In the three years since leaving the EU, we’ve made huge strides in harnessing the freedoms unlocked by Brexit to tackle generational challenges.

“Whether leading Europe’s fastest vaccine rollout, striking trade deals with over 70 countries or taking back control of our borders, we’ve forged a path as an independent nation with confidence.”

A poll published by Ipsos on Monday found 45 per cent thought Brexit was going worse than they expected, up sharply from 28 per cent in June 2021, including just over one in four (26 per cent) of those who voted Leave in the 2016 referendum.