The economy in Worcestershire will suffer from Brexit more than most areas of the county, government forecasts say.
Reports put together by Whitehall officials now released to MPs say the West Midlands economy will suffer under three different Brexit scenarios – and it will suffer more the ‘harder’ the Brexit.
The papers say that economic growth in the region will slow by two per cent compared to remaining in the EU over 15 years if the UK stays in the single market, but the slowing will increase to eight percent if we sign a free trade deal and rise to 13 per cent if there is no deal at all.
The region least likely to suffer is London, which will see a slowing of growth of 3.5 per cent to one percent depending on the type of Brexit.
Worcester MP Robin Walker, a minister at the Brexit department DExEU said: “It’s perhaps not that surprising as we export do much from the west midlands, it’s a real export success story. And of course, there will be opportunities to increase exports to other markets in the world.
“But many of us made arguments about the impact on the economy during the referendum campaign. People voted to leave for a number of different reasons, but sovereignty was one of the main ones and I think we have to respect that.”
Mr Walker added that the forecast were very preliminary analyses of the impact of Brexit and limited in their scope.
The minister said that Theresa May’s ruling out of staying in a customs unions wouldn’t mean a hard border in Ireland
He said: “We are committed to ensuring free and frictionless trade between Northern Ireland and the Republic. There are two models we’re working on, but whatever happens in the process we will ensure no hard border and no physical barriers. And not just in Ireland, we want free and frictionless trade between all of the UK and the EU.
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