London Mayor Sadiq Khan called on the United Kingdom on Thursday to strengthen its ties with the European Union, accusing Brexit of costing the British economy tens of billions of pounds.
The Labor councilor stressed in a statement the need to build “a closer relationship with the EU” and assured that a new deal would “boost the economy and help raise the living standards of the British people”.
This position contrasts with the reluctance of the main political parties, including yours, to mention the impact of the 2016 referendum, which approved leaving the EU just months before the general election, in which Labor is considered the winner against Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's Conservatives.
“We have to be honest, Brexit is not a side issue that we can leave in the past. It is a key factor in the cost of living crisis caused by inflation,” stressed Sadiq Khan, candidate for a third term in the May local elections.
According to a study commissioned by the Mayor of London from Cambridge Econmetrics, Brexit has already cost the British economy 140 billion pounds ($178 billion), 30 billion of which hit the capital.
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Cambridge Econmetrics estimates that Brexit in 2020 led to the loss of two million jobs in the country, 300,000 of them in London.
According to the same data, economic losses for the United Kingdom will rise to 300 billion pounds ($381 billion) by 2035 if no action is taken to reverse the trend.
A spokesman for Sunak hit back at Khan, saying that British economic activity had experienced “faster growth” than Italy and Germany since 2016.
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The government also emphasizes the opportunities that leaving the European Union opens up, such as the free trade agreement with Australia and the Trans-Pacific Trade Association.
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