Picture the scene. Economic growth is 5 per cent higher in the UK than it is now, foreign investment is up 11 per cent, and 7 per cent more goods are being traded across its borders. Stick on “Ode to Joy”, pop open a bottle of prosecco, curl off some jamón: willkommen to Doppelgänger Britain.
This parallel universe – scoffed at by Brexiteers and yearned for by Europhiles – is the unofficial comparison point for how much Brexit has impacted the UK economy. The country the UK could have been had it remained in the European Union. It’s a world that hovers in and out of view from Brexit Britain, like one of those lenticular stickers from the Nineties. There, but not there – a vision just out of view behind every unsettling ripple in the stagnant economy.
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