A decision to halt Brexit would boost the struggling UK economy, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has said.
In a report published on Tuesday, the international economic body said a second referendum or a change of government that would keep the UK within the EU would have a “significant” positive impact on the UK’s economic growth.
The OECD also warned that a “no deal” Brexit, the option preferred by the likes of Boris Johnson and Jacob Rees-Mogg, would see the pound crash to a new low and investment into the UK seize up. This would cause a further cut to the UK’s credit rating, making it more expensive for the government to borrow money and push the country further into debt.
The disastrous economic impact of Brexit has come increasingly clear in recent weeks, with UK growth slowing and inflation continuing rise.
At a press conference following the release of the report, embattled Chancellor Philip Hammond said the UK would act where it could on the conclusions of the report and reiterated his stance that companies in the UK and EU would benefit from the certainty of a limited transition period after Brexit.
The sustained push by members of the government and Conservative back-benchers towards a “no deal” Brexit has caused many to ask questions about the ability of these political figures to understand the impact a failing UK economy has already started to have on working families across Britain. Rees-Mogg, a leading campaigner for a hard Brexit, has long claimed economic prowess after managing the Lloyd George Emerging Markets Fund for a number of years. However, a recent study in the Financial Times has shown that his stock selection consistently underperformed the MSCI Emerging Market Index, the benchmark for many emerging markets funds.
Negotiations between the UK and EU have made no progress so far and Theresa May’s attempt to find common ground with EC President Jean-Claude Juncker yesterday changed little to the situation.
