Ruth —there will be short, mid and long term gains and losses to the UK economy. Much of which will be dictated by policy, not by fundamental free market principles (like your point on border control and tourism).

I think the true message of Brexit is that we just don’t know how this is going to play out for UK businesses.

Will it be the impact of Brexit or the change in rates that’ll hurt most, and will your average business be able to track or assess that?

Yes we need to export more, but under what trade agreements?

And given that for the manufacturing sector we rely heavily on imported inputs, will that counteract the increased opportunity for export?

And these are simple concepts that most people can grasp. There are far more complicated concepts at play whose impact will be felt by my children and their children.

Unfortunately being a linguist hasn’t helped me find work over the last fifteen years (being a qualified accountant with some business savvy hasn’t hurt though!), let’s see what the future brings.

Thanks for taking the time to reply!