Quote:Brexit is killing the hospitality industry, with more than double the number of venues closing in the last 12 months as in the years before leaving the European Union, and more than six times the figure of the year before, stark new data obtained exclusively by The Independent shows. The net closure of almost 4,600 pubs, clubs, hotels and restaurants in the year to 31 March 2023 – the 12 months that followed the ending of Covid restrictions – lays bare the devastating impact of staff shortages caused by Brexit as well as the cost of living crisis. This compared to just 678 closures in the year to March 2022 and amounts to an average of 12.6 closures a day, with independent family-run businesses taking the biggest hit..Revealed: The great Brexit pubs and clubs shutdown | The Independent
Quote:The impact of Brexit on the UK economy is on the same “magnitude” as the Covid pandemic and energy price crisis, the chairman of the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) has said. In a grim assessment, Richard Hughes also warned that it would take five years before people’s spending power recovers to pre-coronavirus levels. Britain’s gross domestic product (GDP) will be 4 per cent smaller than if the country had stayed in the EU, the head of the government’s fiscal watchdog confirmed on Sunday. Brexit damage to economy as big as Covid, says OBR | The Independent