The Economy of Brexit: Performance, Interests and Agency

This chapter examines debates regarding the potential effect Brexit will have on the economy and, in particular, specific areas of the economy in which international trade plays an especially important role. It demonstrates how differing elements of British business not only have divergent interests in Brexit but that these differences arise from their position in the economy. It focuses on Brexit in relation to agriculture, financial services and internationally traded manufactured goods as three examples of sectoral interests. A second element of the chapter is to look at the social consequences of these economic transitions. It utilises agency in the area of welfare and poverty, as a means to understand linkages between Brexit and austerity, and to examine their impact on poverty in society.