If we do, we could reverse at least some of the six per cent hit to GDP it has caused so far. If we don’t, we could continue to lose productivity growth of 0.2 per cent a year.
Even Whitehall’s fiercest advocates of the need to stay as close as possible to the EU recognise that there are risks in being a rule-taker not a rule-maker.
But don’t expect that to stop the commentariat, or the Opposition, trying to manufacture some kind of row, even if only for show.
The basic principles of limited government, economic and civil liberties, freedom and equality under the law are almost entirely absent from her programme.
In her belief in “the good that government can do”, she is quite unique in terms of UK political post-war history.
The cost of £100 to the average household energy bill is just an example.
There is much more to politics than an affordable state and competitive taxes. But both will be indispensible for survival, let alone prosperity, after we leave the EU.
And May’s reputation for straightforwardness risks damage from the Budget’s proposals for NICs.
A major risk and a priority in the negotiations must be maintaining the EU’s system of financial passporting for British institutions.
With so many big issues to tackle, it would be easy to take her eye off the pressure groups and let them get their hooks back into domestic policy.
Her actions demonstrate that she truly understands the concerns of ordinary people and the reasons why they voted to leave the EU.
We re-issue the new Brexit Secretary’s essay on economic policy and the EU negotiation, originally published on this site on Monday.
Plus: Leadsom does well. Cameron runs away. No normal person I know is voting Remain. And: for LBC, world affairs. For the BBC, bedwetting.
Only six per cent of UK businesses export to the European Union, but 100 per cent are still required to undertake the cost of compliance.
I have also been horrified to learn that the UK regularly incurs millions of pounds of costs each year in fines.