Another chart to show the declining importance of UK goods exports to the EU – a trend that began well before Brexit, It shows that UK goods exports to the EU have been falling as a share of UK GDP since at least 2000, which further undermines the case for rejoining... 🤔

Good grief... 🙄 Mark Carney is still suggesting that Canada will become the EU's first 'Associate Member'. Needless to say, this term does not appear in the joint EU-Canada statement, which simply refers to a 'closer association of Canada to the EU'! consilium.europa.eu/media/5p…

ICYMI, the latest ONS Pink Book confirms the devastating impact of Brexit on the UK's international trade... 🤯 In 2015, the UK ran a trade deficit in goods and services worth 1.2% of GDP. By 2025, this had surged to ... 1.3% of GDP. (Are you sure about this one? Ed.) ons.gov.uk/economy/nationala…

Some of the 'Brexit benefits' in today's Budget... 1⃣ strong commitment to 'Buy British' (hard to square this with EU procurement rules) 2⃣ additional funding for 'PuFIns', such as the British Business Bank (hard to square with EU rules on state aid) 3⃣ more cuts in UK tariffs on imports of food, drink and energy (not possible if the UK were still a member of the EU, or even a customs union)...

NEW Chopper's Political Podcast on @GBNEWS Labour MP warns Andy Burnham ‘not to rip the whole country apart’ in Brexit war The Prime Minister risks igniting a 'big trust issue', Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes MP has warned Ms Onn said the UK could still get closer to the EU such as allowing freedom of movement among 18-30 year olds without breaking Brexit red lines. She said: "It is just not worth ripping the whole country apart again when we are able to make decisions, like with the youth carve out." gbnews.com/politics/labour-a…

What has the OBR said today on Brexit in the Economic and Fiscal Outlook (EFO) accompanying the Budget? Not a lot... 1⃣ As expected, the OBR has ducked any assessment of the UK-EU 'reset', simply saying "the economic impact will depend on the outcome of these negotiations' (EFO, p.77) 2⃣ There is just a passing reference to "rising barriers to trade after EU exit" as one of the many shocks which have hit the UK since 2008 (EFO, p.10) 3⃣ The word 'Brexit' itself only appears three times in the entire EFO, each in the context of the "post-Brexit change in the migration regime" 4⃣ Unless I've missed them, I can't find any reference to the assumed "4%" long-term hit to productivity or the assumed "15%" hit to the UK's global trade; these do still appear in the OBR website's collection of 'Brexit analysis', last updated in July, but the OBR doesn't seem keen to draw any more attention to them... 🤔 #Budget2026

YouGov most important issues tracker, 24-26 October 2026 Economy: 51% (+2 from 17-19 Oct) Immigration: 48% (-2) Defence: 32% (+2) Health: 24% (-2) Welfare: 21% (-2) Environment: 18% (+1) Crime: 17% (=) Housing: 16% (+1) Brexit: 14% (-2) Tax: 12% (-1)

"It would throw up a huge dust cloud of uncertainty." Former chief economist at the Bank of England Andy Haldane says reopening a debate about Brexit ‘would be a damaging thing'.