Report: Brexit Britain Open for Business with Market-Based Reforms
A new Competitive Enterprise Institute report offers a blueprint to make Brexit Britain a global economic superpower and tear down barriers to opportunities and entrepreneurship.
“Now that Britain has voted to exit membership from the European Union, it’s time to do away with government central planners and allow people and markets to succeed,” said Iain Murray, co-author of the report. “A post-Brexit Britain can once again be a global economic powerhouse by taking action to free up its markets.”
"With this change comes opportunity – for Britain, its people, and its trading partners,” said Rory Broomfield, report co-author and director of The Freedom Association in London. “Now, after the Leave vote, Britain needs a global vision for creating a freer and more prosperous future."
The report, Cutting the Gordian Knot: A road map for British exit from the European Union, makes the case for a regulatory reform commission, against joining the European Economic Area (EEA), and delves into specific recommendations for global free trade, opportunities for the financial sector, and market-based reforms for immigration, agriculture, and fisheries.
The “Royal Commission on Regulatory Reduction” would compile an annual package of regulatory reforms to be sent to Parliament for expedited action. The commission idea is modeled on the successful Bases Realignment and Closure Commission (BRAC) in the United States.
Regulation has become a major burden on the UK economy, due in large part to the European Commission. EU regulation is costing the British economy an estimated $171 billion to $712 billion a year—or $6,500 to $33,000 per household. As the typical British family has a disposable annual income of $21,000, reducing that regulatory burden should be a policy priority, the report urges.
The report also argues the UK should reject joining the EEA, contrary to the view of many opinion leaders. Instead, Britain should leave the EEA entirely and instead become a world leader in promoting free trade, say Murray and Broomfield.
An earlier, 2014 version of the report was runner-up in the 2014 Institute of Economic Affairs Brexit Prize.
> View the report, Cutting the Gordian Knot: A road map for British exit from the European Union by Iain Murray and Rory Broomfield