Today’s daily politics briefing
The UK economy could see Italy-style stagnation within the next decade because of Brexit and the pandemic, a think-tank has warned.
The Resolution Foundation said that Britain’s economic outlook could resemble Italy more closely than Europe’s powerhouse Germany if it does not rise to the challenges it faces.
“If the UK’s pace of underperformance relative to Germany continues at the same pace in the 2020s, then it will end this decade with GDP per capita much closer to that of Italy than Germany,” it said.
Clive Cowdrey, the Resolution Foundation’s founder, added that Britain’s “recent record of weak productivity, stagnant living standards and high inequality makes a new economic approach desirable”.
Meanwhile, the former chief Brexit negotiator Lord Frost said there could be “turbulence” if the Northern Ireland protocol crisis was not solved by July, when a large annual Protestant rally is held.
“We all know that late spring and summer in Northern Ireland can sometimes be turbulent,” he warned.
