It’s not only Brexit but also inflation. It simply costs way too much to buy what amounts to be some potatoes (local) and some fish (local). Conversely I am hoping Brexit might actually force the UK to realise that we have great local food resources and to serve the local population first rather than export it all. I mean our langoustine is awesome but instead we ship it all abroad.
The way #brexit is contributing to the death of the classic British Fish and Chips shop is one of the most amazing self inflicted wounds. The nationalism ended up undermining the economics of the national dish.
https://www.theargus.co.uk/news/23562954.half-uk-fish-chip-shops-close-2025/#
Discussion
The UK inflation is worse than the EU because brexit cut off the low cost / low friction import / export market. In this case it drove up the cost of fish and made fisheries less economically efficient. Labour costs also are driven up as intended by making shrinking the labour pool, which was a lot of the point.
I agree and just hope these might be shorter term highly disruptive adjustments. But who’s to know what it might be like 30 years down the line? Better or worse? With the way the EU is going we might be thankful we exited? 🤷🏻♂️
Brexit was a chaotic move.
It was certainly expensive, but people voted for it in spite of expecting much bigger costs than anything that has actually materialised.
We actually expected an -8% recession.
People still voted for it anyway.
It was a question of jingoism.
It was an utter mess. And freedom of movement was a defeatist heavy price to pay for all sides.
The fact that Brexit disrupted so much stuff, was kind of a self fulfilling prophecy that we had surrendered too much control.
The more George Osborne warned about the chaos, the more people asked “Why the hell would it affect that? Do they really control that too?”
Epically bad campaign and Cummings on the other side just being ruthless with ‘whatever it takes’ campaigning.
Agree.
The question of the EU membership is not free trade benefits alone. There are also bureaucratic costs - green policy scam, overregulation etc.
Each nation has its own equation to manage. I don’t know of a better way than a referendum.
In addition to the great monetary supply increase, somehow the author omits the fact that the EU block declared war on Europe’s primary energy supplier. Absolutely everything is downstream of energy costs. Fish and chips are not an exception.
This type of writing by omission reminds me of the articles that attribute price increases due to Beyonce, and increasing heart health episodes due to anything but the experimental shots.
10 year ago I thought Brexit was a calamitous idea. But if I’m honest it really hasn’t been. It’s been a damp squib. Inconsequential. For all the attention and energy it consumed not much happened. The biggest cost was probably opportunity cost of so much political capital debate going to such a none issue.
Saying all that, before the fact it was certainly a big leap into the unknown.
But people had eyes wide open, they expected to be poorer. They expected to lose 8% of GDP.
They voted for it anyway.
Irrational? No, people were simply willing to pay that price for control of their destiny.
But they got lucky, the price was actually much lower.
The Brexit recession simply did not happen.
Lots of establishment types point to every minor thing and claim aha! brexit or aha! Climate change. But it’s undeniable, the emperor has no clothes. Nobody is listening any more.
We left years ago now.
Covid was 30x more disruptive than brexit.
Some stuff is rebalancing still, but UK has a lot of smart people. Is very agile. Can punch well above its weight. Has gained autonomy to do so.
All it takes is Sterling to return to 2008 exchange rates (or even $1.60) and the broadsheets will be squealing… “what do the Brits know?”.
😂 
I suspect it’ll be more like how Argentina went from being the wealthiest country per capita in the world in the first half of the 20th century to a place that had a grand past but now only exports its youth due to one crisis after another.
Current trend is the opposite direction, biggest inward migration of all time in 2023.
Antidotally I run in to tons of Brits who’ve moved to New Zealand, and they all point to Brexit. Sure lots of kiwis have always done their time going the other direction, but it feels like a trend. Even more go to Australia.
This has always been there even before Brexit and it won’t change unless living standard and salaries match those offered abroad. My peers and myself find ourselves all working abroad - New Zealand, Cyprus, Dubai, Kuwait, Australia, the US etc. Why?
Data contradicts this. British emigration is down, and immigration has exploded. 
Yes, the UK has significant problems and those that are down to Brexit are relatively minor.
Brexit was a peaceful civil war and as such, of course people are going to be sore about it for a very long time, with the expected motivated reasoning being applied to every negative fact and figure.