Exposed: “Life in the slow lane” – Proof that UK growth halved when in the EU

“Failed policies”, “laughable...” - The Rt Hon Robert Jenrick MP's response to our revelations about Sir Keir's 'EU Re-Set'

Even the Labour-led Select Committee slams the Government's own plans

Montage © Facts4EU.Org 2026

How long before the PM is forced into the biggest U-turn of his career to date?

In a Facts4EU Exclusive we prove for the first time that economic growth HALVED when the UK was in the EU. After a series of significant events in the last 10 days, today we publish a devastating demolition of one of the key planks of the Government’s No.1 priority: economic growth through alignment with the EU. This report destroys Sir Keir’s justification for his ‘EU Re-Set’.

The UK's average annual growth rate has fallen from 3.4% before joining the Common Market, to 1.7% on exiting the EU.

Given this means the Re-Set’s supposed vital contribution to Sir Keir’s mantra of ‘growth, growth, growth’ has gone, how can he now justify us all driving ‘EU-Approved’ cars, eating ‘EU-Approved’ food, and having to obey EU laws, rules and regulations?

“Out of ideas”, “failed policies”, “laughable...”
The Rt Hon Robert Jenrick MP gives us this thoughts exclusively

“The idea that Starmer’s EU reset is going to bring back jobs and leave people with more money in their pocket is laughable.
“This Government is out of ideas and is now trying to dig up failed policies from the past.
“Starmer should start fixing the mess he made, beginning by scrapping his ridiculous plan to hike fuel duty.”
- The Rt Hon Robert Jenrick MP, 12 Mar 2026

It’s the biggest U-Turn ever, or we’re condemned to “Life in the slow lane”

In short, if Sir Keir was relying on this ‘re-set’ magically to produce growth, then either he’s on for the biggest U-Turn yet, or we can all look forward to “life in the slow lane”, as Lord Redwood put it in Parliament.

Sir Keir’s Re-Set plans for growth are “The last thing the UK needs,” says Lord Redwood

“The government says the EU re-set will boost growth by being closer to the EU. Experience shows the opposite is true. When we joined the Customs Union our growth rate slumped. When they completed the Single Market it fell again. The last thing the UK needs is more EU laws and taxes to cripple business.”
- Lord Redwood, 12 March 2026

This is another EXCLUSIVE report by the Brexit Facts4EU think-tank, in collaboration with Stand for Our Sovereignty and The Campaign for an Independent Britain (CIBUK.Org), and in very close association with GB News.

“The No.1 priority of this Labour Government is growth.
Growth, growth, growth.
“And by that I mean wealth creation. We have to get our economy working”
- Sir Keir Starmer, talking to Bloomberg, 2025

Here’s the definitive proof of how wrong Sir Keir is to rely on the EU Re-Set for this

The Government has started accelerating its plans to take us back into the EU in all but name. The ‘EU Re-Set’ is rapidly becoming a cover name for the ‘EU Re-Join’. This summary report is a major response which destroys the central justification for the re-set. We prove beyond any doubt that the EU is bad for growth, bad for jobs, and bad for our living standards.

Below we show the results of our research into the UK’s official economic growth from the post-war period to the point where the UK exited the EU on 31 December 2020.

This clearly shows the UK’s average annual growth halved from our moment of entry into what was then the Common Market (EEC), through the period of the Customs Union and then the Single Market, to our point of exit. These figures are adjusted for inflation and are therefore shown IN REAL TERMS.

Proof that membership of the EEC/EU caused the UK’s economic growth to halve

The above is a sufficiently long period to make the results incontrovertible.

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It all started to unravel last week

Last Wednesday a damning report was issued by the Labour-led Commons Foreign Affairs Select Committee on ‘The UK-EU reset: rebuilding a strategic partnership in uncertain times’. This will not have made for comfortable reading in No.10.

Today we have provided proof that the misgivings of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee of the House of Commons last week are well-founded.

‘With friends like these, who needs more enemies?’ - What the Commons Select Committee says

The Select Committee is chaired by The Rt Hon Dame Emily Thornberry MP, who had previously been Sir Keir’s Shadow Secretary of State for International Trade and then Shadow Attorney General. She was overlooked for the latter position when Labour won the election, with the new PM appointing his friend Lord Hermer to the Lords and giving him the role instead.

Here are some of the highlights from Dame Emily’s report to the Commons:

When reading what follows, readers should bear in mind this comes from a Labour-led and Labour-dominated Select Committee, being highly critical of the Government's policy on the EU Re-Set and growth possibilities.

Selected extracts from the Select Committee's report

“Our inquiry has also highlighted shortcomings in how the Government has formulated its EU policy and conducted the negotiations to date: a lack of transparency about UK objectives and priorities, which appear to be shifting and changing constantly; a haphazard approach to consultation; and, most importantly, a lack of an overall vision for the new Strategic Partnership.”
“The Government draws some of its priorities and objectives for the “reset” of the relationship with the EU from the Labour Party manifesto,while others have only emerged since the 2024 General Election.”

“…following the General Election, Ministers chose to conduct the process of setting the UK’s negotiating position ahead of the summit mostly in secret.”
“In terms of the substance of the Government’s priorities for the EU “reset”, both in terms of trade and security policy objectives, much of the evidence we received as part of our inquiry considered them lacking in ambition.”

Was Sir Keir stung into action?

Whether coincidental or not, on Monday (09 Mar 2026) the DEFRA Secretary of State, the Rt Hon Emma Reynolds MP, made a statement to the House telling it what it already knew: that negotiations for the SPS foodstuffs deal were underway.

“Negotiations are expected to conclude in the coming months, and we are aiming for businesses to be ready for, and benefit from, the deal from mid-2027,” Emma Reynolds told the Commons.
Meanwhile, businesses and trade bodies have been warning for the last year about the increased costs of enacting all the changes demanded by the EU in order that:
“Fresh produce [from the EU] will reach supermarket shelves more quickly,” as Ms Reynolds put it in her statement.
- The Rt Hon Emma Reynolds MP, DEFRA Secretary, House of Commons, 09 Mar 2026

This is the deal that means food in the UK will have to be relabelled as being approved by the EU, as GB News reported on Tuesday. These detailed negotiations had in fact started in January.

Final comments from Lord Redwood

"EU policies are toxic for the UK. The fishing policy steals our fish and has destroyed most of our trawler fleet. The Common Agriculture Policy slimmed our dairy industry by restricting quota, cut our beef herds by regulations and grubbed up our orchards with grants."

"Their energy policy and carbon taxes are closing our energy using factories. Their car policy will shut all our petrol and diesel car plants by 2030.
"Their trade policy gave us a huge trade deficit and their re-set will boost UK imports from the EU by more than exports to it. EU policies hit hard the things we did export and favour EU exports to us.

"There is no extra growth to be had from re-set. There will be slower growth, and higher taxes to pay the extra bills they will send us for our humiliation. Why pay them more to end up with more imports?"

Observations

Finally, proof positive that the UK's membership of the EEC/EU actually reduced the UK's economic prosperity. Not only that, but it halved it over the entire period.

Why is this significant? Because the PM has predicated his ‘re-set’ with the EU on how much better it will be for UK growth, his No.1 priority, if we align more closely with the EU. In one simple chart and report, we have shown his entire argument is built on sand.

The time period is so long – going back to the start of the reign of Queen Elizabeth II – that Rejoiners would have to be pretty desperate to argue about economic events during that long time. If they want further proof of the EU's failures in the economic growth department, why don’t they ask themselves why US average growth is double that of the EU average?

The EU’s priorities have never been about trade and about the economy. Their obsession is unification and societal control via the passing of laws on almost everything one can think of. Worse still, when it comes to trade deals, these attempt to impose an enormous variety of conditions on the other parties, which have nothing to do with trade. As a result it can take over 25 years for them to agree one, as in the case of their latest ‘trade’ treaty with some South American countries (‘Mercosur’).

Our exclusive report today, covered by GB News, provides the definitive proof for the first time in one chart of the total fallacy in Sir Keir’s government pinning its hopes for growth on moves which are all designed to increase the UK’s economic growth via alignment with the EU.

History proves the opposite will be the case. In fact, we believe it will be even worse, as the EU continues to stretch its tentacles into more and more areas of its member countries’ national lives.

If the ‘EU Re-Set’ is therefore proven to be a dead fish, does Sir Keir have anything else to offer?

Please, please help us to carry on our vital work in defence of independence, sovereignty, democracy and freedom by donating today. Thank you.

[ Sources: ONS | Hansard ] Politicians and journalists can contact us for details, as ever.

Brexit Facts4EU.Org, Thurs 12 Mar 2026

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Reader Comments 9

1. Sparky , Thursday, March 12, 2026, 05:04:

Charts do not prove anything other than the use of selective data. The period up to 1972 includes pre WWII growth and the Barber Boom. The period 1972 to 1992 includes stagflation, oil crisis, industrial unrest and falling living standards. The period 1993 to 2020 includes the 2008 banking crisis.

2. Alastair Price , Thursday, March 12, 2026, 06:55:

Sparky obviously is unaware that WW11 ended in 1945 not after 1953.

3. Alastair Price , Thursday, March 12, 2026, 07:31:

The Barber Budget was in 1972 not pre 1972 as Sparky claims
Until 1956 we had rationing and the post war period was one of austerity until almost the 1960s.
We had Wilson's pound in your pocket devaluation
We were told we were joining the EEC to take advantage of their higher post-war growth but by the time we actually joined this growth spurt was largely over.
Perhaps Sparky would apply his reasoning to all those pro-EU economic forecasters who select short periods of time when the UK was performing exceptionally well and extrapolate from these to claim Brexit has harmed the country. We have outperformed Germany, France and Italy since Brexit and the CPTPP and other trade deals which focus on UK services exports mean we should continue to outperform unless Starmer the Harmer succeeds in his aim to damage the economy.

4. Have You Wondered , Thursday, March 12, 2026, 07:59:

.
One of the main takeaways that struck a chord with me is:
.
“…following the General Election, Ministers chose to conduct the process of setting the UK’s negotiating position ahead of the summit MOSTLY IN SECRET”
.
Secrecy - a typical course of decision making for anything EU. In evidence - here's just a few of the headlines.:
"EU COURT SAYS CITIZENS SHOULD HAVE ACCESS TO COUNCIL DOCUMENTS: ........but only need to be published after people ask for them. "
"It will basically be the end of access to documents in the EU," says Shari Hinds of Transparency International EU, the Brussels-based advocacy group.
"MEPs reject greater transparency in hidden vote"
"The European Ombudsman launched an investigation earlier this year into the parliament’s refusal to confirm and publish the numbers."
"Luxury pension for MEPs remains mired in secrecy"
"MEP luxury pension held corporate assets in tax havens"
"eu chiefs use controversial signal app but will not reveal what is said"
"funding for ngos are granted at the expense of transparency says eu watchdog"
.
And Rejoiners want to get into bed again with the EU ?!!
.
Why does the UK (or any other nation) need another level of corruption and malfeasance above that which the UK has already?
.

5. Have You Wondered , Thursday, March 12, 2026, 08:21:

.
Just a little research (but not definitive) reveals:
.
Critique of the Foreign Affairs Committee report on the UK-EU “reset”
1. Conceptual vagueness: the report criticises the government but offers limited strategic alternatives
The report avoids politically sensitive questions such as whether closer alignment with the EU single market or customs union is necessary.
.
2. Limited attention to asymmetry between the UK and EU
The report emphasises partnership and mutual interest but underplays the structural imbalance between the UK and the European Union:
The EU is a much larger economic bloc.
The EU’s regulatory framework shapes access to its market.
Evidence from negotiations shows the EU has often set the agenda in post-Brexit relations.
.
3. Over-reliance on security cooperation as a reset mechanism
The report strongly emphasises cooperation in:
Security cooperation is politically easier because it does not require regulatory alignment.
This may lead to overstating security as the foundation of the relationship while avoiding harder economic issues.
.
4. Economic dimension is underdeveloped
the report does not fully analyse:
the long-term economic impact of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement
whether incremental adjustments can meaningfully improve trade.
(*) THE ECONOMIC ANALYSIS REMAINS SECONDARY TO DIPLOMATIC FRAMING. (!!!)
.
5. Domestic political constraints are insufficiently addressed
The report assumes that rebuilding trust with the EU is primarily a diplomatic problem.
In reality, UK-EU relations are heavily shaped by:
domestic politics in the UK
internal divisions over Brexit.
Without addressing domestic political constraints, recommendations may be difficult to implement consistently over time.
.
.
(*) I would suggest Starmers Rejoin motives are more idealogically driven than for the benefit of the electorate when one looks at his other 'giveaways' ?
.

6. Have You Wondered , Thursday, March 12, 2026, 08:28:

.
As I posted yesterday: Should we worry? Yes and No.
.
Yes - and this is important - because Starmer is Rejoining the EU via the back door in an undemocratic journey contrary to a democratic vote.
See my last line above about idealogically driven.
.
No - because the EU is cracking up. Witness Benelux Union Secretary-General: Ariadne Petridis .
""We (Benelux Union) can carry things forward faster, in a more ambitious manner, and go beyond what the EU with 27 Member States can achieve."
"Decision-making is not always smooth or quick, with 27 parties involved – each with their own national situation and agenda. "
"We (Benelux Union) can really do things beyond what the EU does."
""We (Benelux Union) can be a model, an example that is attractive for others to follow, so we can make things move faster on a bigger scale,"
""But we (Benelux Union) are caught, so to speak, between countries that see themselves as great powers." "
"In spite of what we have been working on in the past decades, Europe is still too fragmented."
"There are still too many different rules,"
.
Put the two together, the Benelux Union wants more autonomy conflicting with the head of an EU dictator. Collision course? Bexit - Nexit and Luxit?
.
No - because Belgium, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Poland, France, Netherlands and Czech Republic all have Eurosceptic tendencies.
.
No - because VDL has, for some time, been raising waves about her autonomy evidenced by the now many critical references from within the EU.
.
No - because the EU is cracking up. Witness the break up of the Schengen treaty. France, Belgium, Germany ,Poland, Hungary ,Austria, Slovenia, Denmark, Italy and recently Greece have all used a suspension of Schengen, the free movement of people - the EU Holy Grail - which the EU beat over the head of the Brexit UK !
.
No - maybe - because Farage will possibly turn it all over?
.

7. NH , Thursday, March 12, 2026, 11:43:

1. Sparky
I am not sure which data would convince you. I suspect it's a futile task but here's a few more examples for you to ignore !
.
In 1973 the EEC was 9 nations and 28% of global output.
In 1990 the EEC was 12 nations and 26% of world output.
In 2026 the EU is 27 nations and is less the 14% of world output.
.
The Independent Growth Commission have calculated that alignment with the EU's SPS rules will cost the UK economy £15 Billion. They also calculate that, as these rules are protectionist and only protect some EU nations, that they are costing the EU 39 Billion Euros per year.
.
Two days ago VW announced a devastating profit drop and a plan to reduce it's German workforce by 50,000 on top of the previous 35,000 job losses. At the same time Porsche also announced a huge profit drop and a plan for job losses. Today BMW announced a sharp drop in the profits of their automotive division.
.
Maybe if you close your eyes, stick your fingers in your ears and keep repeating "the EU is a big success" al these problems will go away !

8. Sparky , Thursday, March 12, 2026, 13:36:

2 AP. Did WWII end in 53??? Obviously a typo on my part.
.
3 AP. The Barber Budget was in 1972, the time period covered by the first bar above, but it didn’t work and reflects in the 2nd bar above. The worst effects of rationing were over by 1953 which is why that year has been selected for the first bar.
,
There should be a fourth bar showing growth post 2020 but whoever has done the charts knows it will show a further decline.

9. KB , Thursday, March 12, 2026, 14:58:

To be fair, the growth curves should be in comparison to the rest of the world. Saying we had slower growth after 1973 means nothing unless it is put in context.
Basically, the whole of the developed world had slower growth post-1973 than in the immediate post war period.
Articles like this are easily dismissed by the other side, using this argument.

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