Brexit snarling again amid more grim economic news

The grim toll Brexit is taking on the economy is getting increasingly hard to ignore, writes James Moore

Lorries queue to enter Dover, a visible sign of the cost of Brexit (Getty)

Brexit waxes and wanes like the moon – but while our lunar satellite cyclically disappears from view, the effects of Britain’s exit from the European Union are visible across the board.

John Springford at the Centre for European Reform, who has been tracking its increasingly dire impact on the UK economy, released his latest update this week.

Based on the performance of similar countries before and after the event, he calculated that the UK’s economy was 5.5 per cent smaller in the second quarter of the year than it otherwise would have been. In real money, economic output was £33bn lower and tax revenues were £12bn lower.