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New report warns Brexit will damage growth and living standards in UK until 2030

Britain is on course for a "decade of disruption" in the wake of the vote to leave the European U...
Newstalk
Newstalk

10.58 29 Dec 2016


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New report warns Brexit will d...

New report warns Brexit will damage growth and living standards in UK until 2030

Newstalk
Newstalk

10.58 29 Dec 2016


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Britain is on course for a "decade of disruption" in the wake of the vote to leave the European Union, a report has warned.

Brexit has delivered a "profound shock" to the UK's political and economic order, which is likely to damage growth and living standards until 2030, according to centre-left think tank IPPR.

The report said the upheaval comes at a time when Britain's rapidly ageing population threatens to put new strains on the state, with the funding gap for adult social care expected to hit £13bn by 2030-31.

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"Brexit is the firing gun on a decade of disruption," said the report. "Even as what we do and how we work changes, the UK is likely to remain trapped in a low growth, low interest rate decade driven by demographic shifts, productivity trends, weak investment, weak labour power, high levels of debt, and the headwinds of a slowing global economy.

"Without reform, our political and social system will struggle to build a more democratic, healthy society in the decades ahead, even as Brexit accelerates us towards a radically different institutional landscape."

It adds that "exponential" improvements in new technologies will put two-thirds of jobs at risk of automation in the 2020s.

Baroness Susan Kramer, Lib Dem Treasury spokesperson, said the report's Brexit warning was a "devastating indictment of the Conservative Government".

She said: "In the face of huge global challenges, the Conservative response is to haul up the drawbridge and hope that the future will go away.

"Many of the huge international challenges identified in the report are more effectively faced working with our European friends, and within the single market."

Meanwhile, shadow Brexit secretary Kier Starmer said the report "shows once again the clear dangers of a hard Brexit".

A Government spokesperson said: "We have been clear that we are seeking a bespoke arrangement for the UK - one that gives British businesses the maximum freedom to trade with and operate in the single market but also allows us to make our own decisions on immigration.

"While there may be challenges ahead, we approach them from a position of strength."


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