The unexpected Brexit bonus

ALMOST EIGHTEEN MONTHS have passed since Brexit. Are we any closer to answering the vexed question, “Will we be better or worse off outside the European Union?”? In the referendum debate all sorts of estimates were bandied around. Famously or notoriously, the overwhelming majority of official documents argued that the UK would be much poorer.

A particularly contentious calculation came in April 2016 from the Treasury, with the publication of the Cmnd. 9250 White Paper. It said that, after 15 years, the UK could be worse