I post this as a firm supporter of Brexit. Remember Project Fear - how it was all going to collapse. Remainers blame Brexit for a drop in GDP etc and try to pretend any subsequent economic down turns were/are being suffered by the UK alone. Of course this is a complete fallacy. Covid has had a massive economic impact across the world and especially in the EU. There is also the damage caused by the war in the Ukraine and the impact that has had on power costs particularly. UK is now doing better than much of the EU and also the EU is more and more (as predicted) realizing that trying to cut the UK out (for voting to have democratic autonomy again) - it is cutting off its EU nose to spite its EU face (so to speak). Unnecessary trade barriers are reducing. See Horizon below :
The UK is to rejoin the EU's flagship scientific research scheme, Horizon, the government has announced.
UK-based scientists and institutions will be able to apply for money from the £81bn (€95bn) fund from today.
Associate membership had been agreed as part of the Brexit trade deal when the UK formally left the EU in 2020.
However, the UK has been excluded from the scheme for the past three years because of a disagreement over the Northern Ireland Protocol.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said: "With a wealth of expertise and experience to bring to the global stage, we have delivered a deal that enables UK scientists to confidently take part in the world's largest research collaboration programme.
"We have worked with our EU partners to make sure that this is the right deal for the UK, unlocking unparalleled research opportunities, and also the right deal for British taxpayers."
Thursday's announcement also states that the UK will associate to Copernicus, the EU's £8bn (€9bn) Earth observation programme. Britain will not, however, be rejoining a nuclear research alliance known as Euratom R&D, although there is an agreement to cooperate specifically on nuclear fusion.
In a press release, the European Commission said that the decision would be "beneficial to both" and stated that "overall, it is estimated that the UK will contribute almost €2.6bn (£2.2bn) per year on average for its participation to both Horizon and Copernicus.
A Twitter (X) post from Andrew Neil today (29/09/2023) :
Apologies for spoiling the morning for so many on Twitter. BUT:
UK economy is now bigger than before the Covid-19 crisis. Indeed UK growth higher than Germany and France, new revisions to official data reveal.
GDP 1.8% per cent larger than final months of 2019 (ONS). Britain’s GDP reached its pre-Covid size way back in the final months of 2021.
So much for being worst performing economy in the G7, which is actually Germany, whose economy is about the same size as before the pandemic. UK has also outpaced France, post-pandemic.
UK growth still nothing to write home about. But that's true of almost every major economy post-pandemic.
As I say -- apologies. I know how much this will upset so many of you. But cheer up. The weekend beckons .
No comments:
Post a Comment