The economic future of Brexit Britain has defied doomsday Remainer warnings yet again, as some 1,000 financial firms in the European Union are planning to open up offices in the UK and London has been declared as the top city in the world for investment opportunities.
Despite the economic damage inflicted by some of the strictest coronavirus lockdown measures in the world, the UK is set to defy dire predictions from anti-Brexit actors.
An estimated 1,000 finance firms in the European Union are planning to open up shop in the UK for the first time, the BBC reported.
A Freedom of Information (FOI) request filed by the financial consultancy firm Bovill also found that approximately 1,500 EU money managers, insurers, and payment firms have made applications to stay in the UK after Brexit.
Mike Johnson, a managing consultant at Bovill, said: “Many of these European firms will be opening offices for the first time, which is good news for UK professional advice firms across multiple industries including lawyers, accountants, consultants and recruiters.”
Mr Johnson said the figures suggest that financial service firms throughout Europe “recognise London’s potency as a global financial centre and want to be able to conduct business here.”
He concluded by saying that it is important for the UK and the EU to come to an agreement on financial regulatory equivalences as it would “benefit businesses on both sides of the channel.”
It comes as the Schroders’ Global Cities Index has ranked London as the top city in the world to invest in, rising from second place last year — before the country’s official departure from the European Union.
The portfolio manager and co-head of Global Cities at Schroders Hugo Machin said: “We weren’t surprised to see London regain first place in the Index. Whilst there has been uncertainty generated by Brexit and the resulting political environment, its underlying fundamentals remain attractive to investors.”
“With an economy that continues to attract multi-national companies and highly skilled talent, a high quantity of green spaces, access to clean and reliable water, as well as reliable energy and dependable public transport, London has retained its popularity with investors,” Machin added.
On Monday, Prime Minister Boris Johnson predicted that London and the other “great cities” in the UK will bounce back once the coronavirus restrictions are finally lifted.
Mr Johnson said that while people have accustomed to working remotely, they are at the same time in desperate need of human reaction, saying: “I think that London – our great cities – will be full of buzz, and life and excitement again, provided people have confidence about coming back.”
The latest batch of good economic news flies in the face of the pre-referendum dire warnings laid out by the Remainer ‘Project Fear’ scare campaign, which sought frighten Britons into voting to stay in the EU. A study in 2017 from Cambridge University’s Centre for Business Research found that many of the Project Fear predictions were “very flawed and very partisan”.
Follow Kurt Zindulka on Twitter here @KurtZindulka
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