Brexit – what were they thinking?

Sovereignty and immigration were the headline issues of Britain’s EU exit vote. David Kernek looks at possible gains and losses in jobs and trade.

DISCUSSION about the economics of Brexit this summer was largely confined to academia and think tanks. Attempts by then British prime minister, David Cameron, the UK treasury, the Bank of England, Labour Party grandees, US President Barack Obama, the International Monetary Fund — and, for light relief, David Beckham and Richard Branson — to scare the pants off voters with warnings of immediate economic misery backfired.

They were perceived by an increasingly Eurosceptic electorate as dodgy counsel.