UK’s exports of services are up by 25% – “despite Brexit”

A two-part report on the success of the UK’s services sector since leaving the EU

And the EU’s share plunges from one-half to one-third in under five years

This Easter Monday CIBUK and Brexit Facts4EU.Org analyses the latest positive figures from the Office for National Statistics in relation to the all-important services sector. We are publishing this together with Brexit Facts4EU.Org, one of our Affiliated Organisations.

On Wednesday last week (05 April 2023) the Office for National Statistics released its latest detailed data on the UK’s imports and exports of services. This matters, as the services sector represents 80% of the UK economy. The figures show an astonishing 25% surge in the UK’s exports of services since the British people voted to leave the EU.

In this two-part report we summarise our analysis of the official data and comment on the findings.

Nearly 2/3rds of UK’s exports of services go outside the EU

This Easter Monday we are able to bring readers the breakdown of exports of services from the United Kingdom, comparing EU with non-EU countries.

When it comes to services, the European Union accounts for only just over one-third of the UK’s total sales. The rest of the world is not only a more important market, but it is growing much faster than the EU.

Summary

EU and non-EU exports of services, ONS 05 Apr 2023, data for 2021

(Detailed figures for services always lag well behind those for the import and export of goods, so these are the latest numbers.)

• Exports to EU27 countries : £117.5bn (35.8%)
• Exports to rest of the world : £210.6bn (64.2%)
• In 2018 the EU accounted for 49.5% of the UK’s services exports

[Source : Office for National Statistics, published 05 Apr 2023, current prices.]

© Brexit Facts4EU.Org 2023 – click to enlarge

The UK’s success in exporting services has increased since Brexit

It is a sad fact that Rejoiners and those in the media who are anti-Brexit have allowed a myth to propagate that the UK’s exports have slumped since Brexit. This is emphatically not the case. Facts4EU.Org has published the official data on the export of goods several times, proving this.

Below we show how Brexit Britain’s exports of services have grown in real terms by almost 25% since the pre-Referendum year of 2015.

The value of services exports (in real terms) is back above its pre-Covid levels

It is a simple fact that the United Kingdom is the second-largest exporter of services in the world, after the United States. It is also a fact that the UK is exporting a much higher value of services to the world than ever before.

And finally it is a fact that the EU represents a shrinking market in its importance for UK exporters, as the growth is coming from the rest of the world.