Charles Day

If Jo Johnson is so worried about financial services, he should back Brexit

Jo Johnson has noticed that Theresa May has managed to unite the country, in that both Leavers and Remainers worry that her deal will let the EU pass our laws and regulate our markets but leave us no say in that process. But why does he think that staying in the EU is a remedy for the problems he outlines? He focused on a supposed threat to the service sector, spelling out the damage he seems to think Brexit would do. Here’s what he has to say:

“Even if we eventually secure a customs arrangement for trade in goods, it will be bad news for the service sector — for firms in finance, in IT, in communications and digital technology. Maintaining access to EU markets for goods is important, but we are fundamentally a services economy. Many in Orpington, for example, are among the two million Britons employed in financial services, commuting into the centre of London to jobs of all kinds in the City. Countries across the world go to great lengths to attract financial and professional services jobs from our shores. An agreement that sharply reduces access to EU markets for financial services — or leaves us vulnerable to regulatory change over which we will have no influence — will hurt my constituents and damage one of our most successful sectors.”

Oh dear. Where to start? It’s quite true that the UK economy is all about services: some 80% of our economic output. It is also true that the jewel in our service economy crown is the Financial Services Industry. The Global Financial Centres Index for 2018 puts us as number 1. The Eurozone’s best showing is Frankfurt, which is 20th. But the truth is that our services sector does well in spite of EU membership, not because of it.

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