The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, used a speech at Mansion House in the City of London last night (11 January) to reveal that the cost of Brexit to the UK's economy is £140billion.

The new report, by Cambridge Econometrics commissioned by City Hall also shows that London's economy has shrunk by more than £30billion.

It reveals that the average Briton was nearly £2,000 worse off in 2023, while the average Londoner was nearly £3,400 worse off last year as a result of Brexit.

The report also calculates that there are nearly two million fewer jobs overall in the UK due to Brexit – with almost 300,000 fewer jobs in the capital alone.

Mr Khan spoke at the London Government Dinner yesterday and said: "Rather than dodging and ducking this issue, it's incumbent on all of us to have an honest and mature discussion about the best way forward.

"It's now obvious that Brexit isn't working. The hard-line version of Brexit we've ended up with is dragging our economy down and pushing up the cost of living.

"It's making food more expensive, adding to the acute pressures on households and having an ongoing detrimental impact on industries that are crucial to our success – such as hospitality, construction and financial services."

Mr Khan also used his speech to say the Government needs to start mitigating the impact of Brexit by tackling London's labour shortage, taking an approach to migration that is "informed by evidence, not prejudice".

He said: "For too long, we've seen a race to the bottom in rhetoric and policy, with politicians blaming "the other" for our problems – playing on people's fears, rather than addressing them.

"This has resulted in significant damage to our economy, society and community cohesion. It's time for politicians to be straight with the public: immigration isn't part of the problem, it's part of the solution.

"I'm certainly not in favour of open borders or uncontrolled immigration. But with severe worker shortages, we must be honest about what's best for our city.

"We need both British and foreign-born workers to support our public services, power our companies and drive our capital and country forward.

He added: "Immigration is a difficult, contentious issue. But the economic benefits – not to mention the social and cultural advantages – mean we have a duty to craft an approach that's guided by facts, not fear mongering."

According to the new research, the economic damage is only going to get worse – with more than £300bn set to be wiped off the value of the UK's economy by 2035 if no action is taken, and more than £60 billion wiped off the value of London's economy alone. 

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