Bank of England Governor states Brexit has 'cost UK households £900'

25 May 2018

The Brexit vote has left UK households ‘£900 worse off’, according to the Bank of England (BoE) Governor, Mark Carney.

In addition, the BoE stated that the UK economy is currently 2% smaller than forecast before the referendum.

Mr Carney did, however, state that there could be a ‘sharp pick-up’ in business investment once a Brexit agreement has been finalised.

Furthermore, government officials have suggested that post-Brexit customs declarations are set to change, potentially increasing the cost of Brexit. Currently, exports and imports to and from the EU, which total around 200 million each annually, do not require a customs declaration. Research carried out by the University of Nottingham’s business school and KPMG has revealed that each new customs declaration could cost an average of £32.50.

Commenting on the matter, former Conservative Cabinet Minister, John Redwood, said: ‘We have a perfectly good functioning trade system with the rest of the world at the moment. It does not cost anything like these figures.’

Meanwhile, figures published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show an improvement in the government’s finances, with borrowing at £7.8 billion in April – the lowest figure for April since 2008, and £1.1 billion less than in April 2017.