In real terms the economy has grown, exports have risen – all according to official figures
This report calls out the disinformation about Brexit being peddled by this Government
At the Labour Party Conference, as discussed here on Tuesday this week, Andy Burnham declared that “Brexit has done more harm than good.”
The Prime Minister himself has previously made many comments about Brexit which are not true, as did his predecessor Sir Keir Starmer when quoting Rachel Reeves in saying “Brexit did deep damage to our economy.”
(Click on the image of Sir Keir to watch the “GB News Short” video of him at the time.)
Now that Mr Burnham is talking about re-opening Brexit and looking at all options including rejoining, the Stand for Our Sovereignty (SOS) team, together with colleagues at The think-thank Facts4EU and The Campaign for an Independent Britain (CIBUK.Org) have prepared a simple summary for readers, disproving these wild accusations. These have been shared exclusively with GB News.
These are the facts based on the OFFICIAL figures
- The UK’s economy has grown faster than the EU’s top economies since the Referendum
- Our exports are up significantly, in real terms
- And GDP per head has risen, business investment is up, and millions more people are in work
All this, despite the fact our undemocratic governments since the Referendum still haven’t seized the full benefits of Brexit.
How is it so many people think Brexit has caused a hit to our economy?
The answer, unfortunately, is in the lies and propaganda the public has been subject to, which is worthy of a totalitarian dictatorship like Russia. Russia itself hasn’t needed to interfere – our governments have done the job for them.
The public has been fed a constant diet of misinformation and disinformation by the majority of those in Westminster since before the Referendum vote even took place. This has carried on for over 10 years and it is not surprising that people have started to believe it.
Now for the proof of what has actually happened
The facts, however, are quite different, as can be seen in our charts below. These are not ‘forecasts’ – so favoured by Rejoiners – these are the facts of what has actually happened.
Rejoiners like Andy Burnham simply can’t argue with what follows. All the data comes from the official government sources.
BEFORE WE CONTINUE…
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The truth which the Government won’t tell the public
The most damning is perhaps our first chart, showing that the UK’s economy post-Brexit has outperformed the EU’s best three.
The economy has grown by 14% in real terms since the Referendum
June 2016 – June 2026
[Data sources: The Office for National Statistics (for UK) and the EU Commission’s Eurostat (for EU). The data is CVM, adjusted for inflation.]
For those who want to see the detail behind the above chart, here is the history from the time of the EU Referendum in mid-2016 to mid-2026. Click on the thumbnail to view full-size. (Opens in a new window.)
Chart © Brexit Facts4EU.Org 2026 – click to enlarge
Germany, France and Italy are the countries closest to the UK in economic size and development and no-one can say this is not a reasonable comparison. We invite the Prime Minister to try to explain this away.
Rt Hon Lord Redwood D.Phil FCSI, former Single Market Minister and former Secretary of State
commented exclusively to Stand for Our Sovereignty, Facts4EU and GB News
“The brilliant Facts4EU graphs are compelling. How dare politicians claim the UK suffered a hit of 4% or 8% to national output from Brexit. They cannot even make up their minds which falsehood to use. The official figures in the charts show no such fall.
“These misleading doomsters about Brexit take dodgy long-term forecasts about future UK performance and grossly misrepresent them. Both the 4% and 8% studies were about possible future slower growth, not about actual falls in output when we left the EU.
“As the graphs show, so far the UK has been modestly outperforming the leading EU economies, not suffering declines. The UK continues to underperform the US because we have stuck with dear energy and over-regulation policies we got from the EU.”
UK exports – also up significantly
Trade is the other topic most often cited by Rejoiners. Again, if Mr Burnham and all the massed ranks of Europhiles in the Establishment would care to try to explain away the facts about British exports shown in our chart below, we’re all ears.
The UK’s exports have grown by 18.4% in real terms (after excluding inflation) since the UK’s EU Referendum. As the Referendum took place half-way through 2016, we have shown the amounts to the end of Q2 for each year.
UK exports have in fact risen since the Referendum
[Data source: The Office for National Statistics: BOP, CVM (adjusted for inflation), accessed Oct 2026. The data shows exports of goods and services, year to Q2 for each year from 2016 – 2026.]
The good Brexit news doesn’t stop there
In addition to the economy growing and exports rising significantly, there is more good news. Recently we analysed the official data for some other key measures.
More good Brexit news
- Employment: Up by over 2.4 million at end-2025
- Business investment: Up by 16.7% at end-2025 in real terms
- GDP per head of population has risen by 5.9% in real terms
[All of this is based on the latest official data available in July 2026. Data source: Office for National Statistics.]
So what is behind the Government’s disinformation campaign?
Some will ask how it is possible for the Government and many senior politicians and officials to say the things they do, when the official facts flatly contradict them. The answer to this lies in reports which have been produced by organisations which are clearly pro-Remain.
These reports all have one thing in common: they show forecasts, not actual results. It may have been possible to do this before the Referendum and before the UK finally left the EU, because no-one knew the outcome, but this has not been the case for some time.
No corrections, no apologies
When these forecasts turned out to be wrong, the organisations concerned haven’t recanted and produced corrected reports based on the actual, official data. In addition, some reports have forecast out to a 15-year time period, when everyone knows that organisations such as the OBR can’t even correctly forecast what will happen next year.
The Rt Hon the Lord Redwood D.Phil FCSI gave us his final comments
“Life in the EU was tough for UK business. The Common Fishing Policy gave away too many of our fishing permits. The Common Agriculture Policy limited our milk quota and undermined our beef over BSE. EU carbon taxes and emissions trading made many of our energy-using plants uncompetitive, leading to closure. Energy policy took us from self-sufficiency and sensible prices to being a big importer of dear power.
“The UK growth rate in the EU was just half the rate we achieved in the 20 years before we joined. Brexit gives us the chance to grow faster if we remove more of the bad policies which keep the EU stuck in the economic slow lane.
“The anti-Brexit brigade needs to ask why the US has grown twice as fast as the EU this century. It needs to study these great Facts4EU graphs from official figures which show there was no collapse of output or trade caused by Brexit. Instead our trade with non-EU, now the majority of our exports, has done particularly well now we can make our own trade agreements with the rest of the world.”
Observations
We consider it to be disgraceful, when the individuals peddling their disinformation know only too well that the official data belies what they are trying to sell to the public. The everyday term for this is lying.
In his Labour Party Conference speech on Tuesday last week, the Prime Minister made a big play out of the importance to him of being honest with the public.
We now invite him to prove these are more than just words by telling the public the truth about the economy since Brexit. If he doesn’t – our confidence isn’t high – then he is effectively just another snake-oil salesman.
Leaving the EU was always about restoring sovereignty, not economics, but we hope that readers who voted Leave – and those who voted Remain but who have an open mind – are reassured by the official figures we have provided.
Please help us to carry on our vital work in defence of independence, sovereignty, democracy and freedom by donating today to our research-engine: Facts4EU.Org or becoming a Member of Stand for Our Sovereignty. Thank you.
Please support our work
If more patriotic members of the public donate, we will keep going.
Please donate today to our research partner, Facts4eu, if you would like to continue reading us tomorrow, next week, and the weeks after.
[ Sources: Office for National Statistics | Eurostat | Labour Conference | Keir Starmer press conference ] Politicians and journalists can contact us for details, as ever.