It can be hard to figure out whether Brexit has had good effects or bad ones so far. That will be more obvious over decades not years. Recently, of course, the world's also had a pandemic and a serious war which has resulted in worldwide inflation.
But a few things are worth knowing. UK inflation is below the OECD average, and its growth rate is above that of Europe. Nothing to celebrate. But also, nothing altogether unusual to report in these numbers.
So whatever problems we are having right now, it is not obvious that they result from Brexit. International travel, for instance, is horrible everywhere, because many people who worked in the airline industry went off and got themselves new jobs. Supply chains remain disrupted. Gas prices have been ridiculous although they are declining.
At the same time, we have had some obvious benefits from Brexit. The freedom to develop a vaccine and to get vaccinated ahead of everyone except Israel, the ability to support Ukraine when it needed it most, at the beginning.
I've always assumed there would be teething issues with Brexit. And they are certainly there with Northern Ireland and EU resentment at our departure. But the attempts to suggest that all of the UK's ills result from Brexit are pretty shallow.
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