The Mayor of London denounces the cost of Brexit and calls for rapprochement with the European Union

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, called on Thursday January 11 for the United Kingdom to strengthen its ties with the European Union, accusing Brexit of having cost the British economy tens of billions of pounds. In a press release, the Labor councilor underlines the need to tie “a closer relationship with the EU” and judges that a new agreement “would boost our economy and help raise British living standards.”

This position contrasts with the reluctance of the main political parties, including his own, to discuss the repercussions of the 2016 referendum, a few months before the legislative elections for which Labor is largely in the lead.

Brexit, “a key factor in the cost of living crisis”

“We have to be honest, Brexit is not a peripheral concern that we can leave in the past. It is a key driver of the cost of living crisis” caused by inflation, insists Sadiq Khan, candidate for a third term in the May municipal elections, in this press release which relays extracts from a speech planned for Thursday evening.

According to a study commissioned from Cambridge Econometrics by London City Hall, Brexit has already cost the British economy 140 billion pounds (162 billion euros), including 30 billion pounds (35 billion euros) for the capital. . Cambridge Econometrics also estimates that Brexit caused a loss of two million jobs in the country, including 300,000 in the capital.