2021 Marked the start of Britain's official severance from the European Union after 5 long years. In these protracted 5 years, there was a referendum, Article 50 being triggered, then Article 50 being extended first up to 30th June 2019, then Article 50 being extended again until 31 October 2019, and then at no surprise, yet again it was extended to December 31st, 2020. The year 2021 has shown us how a new Britain functions without the EU and here are the highs and lows from the year.
Over the year, through the ongoing pandemic, there has been a sudden surge of investment into the electric car market. This is due to negotiations between the prime minister with the EU to allow the deal to apply for a few years to cars with lots of imported technology from Japan, Korea, and the US. In the year 2021, there have been a total of 750,000 electric car sales all over the UK whereas, in the year 2020, there were only 430,000 electric car sales all over the UK.
As expected, due to Brexit, UK imports from the EU have decreased by a colossal 19% and UK exports into the EU have decreased by a similar 14%. On the other hand, the British government has made tremendous efforts on free trade negotiations with non-EU countries. These include Australia, New Zealand, the CPTPP, the US, and Singapore. Furthermore, some promising upcoming trade deals with Canada, Mexico, India, and the GCC. The most exciting of these upcoming negotiations decidedly is the UK-India upcoming trade deal. This features a package of £1 billion for the creation of more than 6500 UK jobs for Indian Citizens in the Health and Technology sector which through the pandemic has become increasingly important. The partnership is set to double the value of UK-India trade again by 2030 and declares their shared intent to begin work towards a comprehensive Free Trade Agreement. With almost 1.4 billion people, India’s population is bigger than the EU and US combined and by far the largest market the UK has committed to negotiating a trade deal with to date.
