Brexit

BBC Question Time: Recap and Factcheck

Question Time on 20 September 2018 came from the West Yorkshire town of Dewsbury. Topics covered included the Chequers deal, rail nationalisation, Islamophobia in the Conservative party, and the point of party conferences.

Irish border: how much trade?

We look at the volume of trade across the Irish border.

Beer mat Brexit: do the facts stack up?

The pub chain JD Wetherspoon has recently distributed beer mats in its pubs making a number of claims about the EU.

This viral image showing the cost of different Brexit deals is wrong in a lot of ways

It misreports figures which are themselves based on highly uncertain analysis.

Is the UK going to become the EU’s tax collector?

The UK government has put forward proposals for a “facilitated customs arrangement” to replace the relationship we have with the EU through the customs union. We took a look at how it could work.

The UK is one of the biggest contributors to the EU budget

The UK has been the third or fourth largest contributing country to the EU budget in recent years.

Post-Brexit trade deals: the Norway and Canada options explained

It’s a choice between a higher level of EU market access, or a lower level of EU regulation.

Does the ‘Brexit dividend’ exist?

There is no guaranteed extra money – or ‘Brexit dividend’ – as a result of the UK ceasing its contributions to the EU budget after leaving.

Are families £900 worse off since Brexit?

The governor of the Bank of England said families are worse off than they were projected to be before Brexit by £900—the exact figures behind this calculation haven’t been published.

What’s happened to employment since the vote to leave the EU?

Employment is up, unemployment is down and there are more people from outside the UK in work than before the Brexit vote.

The UK is one of the three largest economies in the EU

The UK is the EU’s second largest economy after Germany, or third after Germany and France, depending on the measure of GDP you look at.

Our Brexit divorce bill will probably be paid off by 2064

The Office for Budget Responsibility estimates it will come to £37 billion in total.

32,000 people work in the British steel industry

32,000 people worked in steel in 2016. More than half of these jobs are in Wales, and Yorkshire and Humber.

Over half of UK exports were via EU trade agreements in 2016

Just over half of UK exports were done via EU trade agreements in 2016. 43% of exports went to EU member states.

Trade across the Irish border

Trade across the Irish border was worth at least £5 billion in 2016.

More people are in work since the Brexit vote

Employment has increased since the Brexit vote, and the unemployment rate is 4.3%.

The pound has fallen in value since the Brexit vote

The UK had the third-slowest GDP growth in the EU in the last year, and the value of the pound has fallen by 12% against the Euro since May 2016.

Is the EU becoming less important to the world economy?

Although the EU’s GDP is growing, the rest of the world’s is growing faster.

The UK's EU membership fee

In 2016 the UK government paid £13.1 billion to the EU budget, and EU spending on the UK was forecast to be £4.5 billion. So the UK’s ‘net contribution’ was estimated at about £8.6 billion.

Has there been a recession since the EU referendum?

The UK economy has continued to grow since the UK voted to leave the EU.

What’s Labour policy on a ‘no deal’ for Brexit?

Labour has not said how much money it thinks the UK should pay to the EU when we leave. It has said that ‘no deal’ is not an option.

Are British businesses struggling with recruitment?

52% of businesses surveyed by Lloyd’s Bank in June were struggling to recruit skilled labour.

10,000 finance jobs lost since Brexit?

There is no evidence we’ve seen showing that 10,000 jobs have already been lost in financial services following the EU referendum.