Brexit Will Be Known as ‘Historic Economic Error’, Says Former US Treasury Secretary

THE GUARDIAN: Larry Summers says departure from EU ‘contributed to higher inflation’ and calls economic policy ‘substantially flawed’

Larry Summers told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme Brexit has ‘reduced the competitiveness of the UK economy’. Photograph: Manuel Bruque/EPA
Brexit will be remembered as a “historic economic error”, which damaged the UK economy and has helped to drive inflation higher, according to the former US treasury secretary Larry Summers.

Singling out Britain’s departure from the EU as a factor for higher costs, Summers also criticised the UK’s economic policy as “substantially flawed for some years”.

Brexit “reduced the competitiveness of the UK economy, put downwards pressure on the pound and upwards pressure on prices, limited imports of goods and limited in some ways the supply of labour,” Summers told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

“All of which contributed to higher inflation,” he added. » | Joanna Partridge | Thursday, June 1, 2023

The Tories once had a fine reputation for being the Party to trust with the economy. Alas, this is no longer the case. The UK economy is no longer safe in the hands of Tories. Brexit has put paid to that notion. – © Mark Alexander