In the increasingly difficult search for good news stories about Brexit to offset all the bad new stories the Daily Mail has chosen to run a splash about last year's trade figures (HERE) trumpeting what it describes as a record high for trade exports at £616 billion and "heralding" a "surge in growth". It certainly is a good news story - but is it true?
Err, no. If you were to read the story, as a leaver you might be buoyed up and think remainers were just scaremongering again. But for some inexplicable reason, I assume because there were no good news stories about Brexit, the Mail chose to run with an item about last year's trade figures, figures that were published in February and even then had to resort to twisting the truth. But if you go to the ONS website it's the work of a few seconds to download the actual UK Trade figures for the three months to December 2017 (HERE) and therefore the whole of 2017. This tells you in plain English:
"Over the last year, the UK’s total trade deficit widened by £3.8 billion between the three months to December 2016 and the three months to December 2017. This was due primarily to increases of 7.5% (£8.7 billion) and 4.6% (£1.9 billion) in goods and services imports respectively. Imports of unspecified goods and fuels increased the most, by £2.9 billion and £2.3 billion respectively. Although total exports increased by a combined 4.5% (£6.7 billion), these increases were offset by the larger increases in goods (and services) imports".
In other words, although the £616 billion of exports was a record, our imports were even higher and hence the trade gap widened. The Daily Mail story says: "The total trade deficit – the difference between UK exports and imports – narrowed by £5billion to £25.8billion".
The Mail says the total trade deficit narrowed by £5 billion. The ONS say the total trade deficit widened by £3.8 billion. Notice the difference?
But we can forget about last year because much later figures are available for May 2018 at the ONS (HERE) which says:
"The total UK trade deficit (goods and services) widened £5.0 billion to £8.3 billion in the three months to May 2018 (Figure 1). This was due to a £5.0 billion widening of the trade in goods deficit, resulting from a combination of falling goods exports (£3.1 billion) and rising goods imports (£1.9 billion). Services imports and exports mostly offset each other as both increased by around £0.5 billion, resulting in a relatively small decline in the trade in services surplus".
I don't know why they had to go back to 2017 to mislead their readers, they could have misled them about far more recent figures - all they had to do was change "widened" to "narrowed". Easy isn't it? I am afraid the "surge in growth" heralded at the end of last year has not materialised and the Daily Mail knows it but what's a bit of wool pulling between friends?
And would you know it, The Daily Express gets into the action by copying the same rubbish (HERE) with he headline: "Project fear dealt a sharp blow". How will they explain the food shortages?
Don't you find it wonderfully uplifting to see your opponent having to stoop to this? It's a sign they're on the run.
And would you know it, The Daily Express gets into the action by copying the same rubbish (HERE) with he headline: "Project fear dealt a sharp blow". How will they explain the food shortages?
Don't you find it wonderfully uplifting to see your opponent having to stoop to this? It's a sign they're on the run.
