True cost of UK leaving EU without trade deal revealed

The damage to Britain’s goods exporters of leaving the European Union without a new free trade deal in place would be at least £4.5bn a year – and in all likelihood many multiples of that – an investigation by The Independent has found.
David Davis, the Brexit Secretary, admited earlier this month that it was possible the UK could leave the EU without a deal and would be forced to trade with the rest of the continent under World Trade Organisation rules.

And the International Trade Secretary Liam Fox issued a press reales in August that suggested to exporters this could be the ultimate outcome of Brexit.

Some trade experts are concerned that even if the Government tries its best to negotiate a free trade agreement with the EU it could be impossible to complete within the two-year timetable for Britain to leave after Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty is triggered.

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This is what would actually happen if we left the single market

World Trade Organisation rules mean that UK exporters would be hit with the EU’s common custom tariff – a wide range of taxes on imports.

These would serve to push up the price of UK exports, rendering them instantly less competitive in local markets and damaging British-based exporting firms.

Research by The Independent published today confirms that trading under WTO rules would have a serious impact on several important UK goods export industries, including car manufacturing, plastics production, machinery and clothing.

In 2015 official statistics show the UK exported £133bn worth of goods to the rest of the European Union, almost half of our global goods exports.

This included £10bn in food and drink, £16bn of fuel and around £10bn of motor vehicles.