Why are so many Brexiteers excited by a trade deal with Australia? In advance of the relevant cabinet committee meeting which determined the UK’s negotiating position, our broadcasting studios and newspaper columns were full of Brexit-backing commentators arguing that this matter is of vital importance. One anxiously tweeted that “if the government caves on scrapping tariffs… on Aussie food then Brexit wouldn’t have been worth it. Simple as that.”
The government’s own economic analysis hardly suggests that this is a first order issue. A beneficial deal would increase GDP by around 0.01 to 0.02 per cent. To put that into context, at best this is 1/200th of the Office for Budget Responsibility’s estimate of the cost of Brexit (4 per cent of GDP).
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