'Clean Brexit' could boost UK economy by £24bn annually, pro-leave group Change Britain says

The UK would benefit by leaving the European Union. A "Clean Brexit" will boost the economy by £24bn ($29.45bn) annually which is more than £450m a week, Change Britain group said.

The pro-Brexit pressure group, whose members include Labour MP Gisela Stuart and Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, said this figure included £10.4bn in savings from contributions to the EU budget, £1.2bn in savings from scrapping "burdensome regulations" and £12.3bn in new trade deals that the UK will be able to enter into.

The group which was founded as a successor to the successful Vote Leave campaign, added that this was only a conservative estimate. It said the savings could be as high as £38.6bn annually. It added that the lowest boost the UK economy could gain from Brexit would be about £20bn a year.

However, these numbers did not take into account the possibility that leaving the bloc could lead to the UK facing tariff and non-tariff barriers to trade. This threat had the potential to negatively affect the UK's exports to the remaining 27 EU nations, which in 2015 stood at £220bn.

Change Britain however, highlighted that the biggest benefit from leaving the EU would be the new trade agreements that the country could ink with countries outside the EU. The current restrictions of taking part only in those deals that are negotiated by the European Commission, would then not be present. Hence, based on the total number of deals the UK strikes, its GDP could increase between £8.5bn and £19.8bn annually, the group said.

It added that this GDP could grow the highest from trade deals with the Asean (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) economies. This, it said would boost GDP by about £4.3bn a year. It added that while trade deals with the US would boost UK's GDP by £3.8bn, that with Japan would help gain about £3.2bn, the group added.

Commenting on the report, Conservative MP and Change Britain supporter Charlie Elphicke said that the Change Britain's report had made it clear the there was a lot of scope for the UK to benefit from Brexit. "This report makes it clear that there are huge opportunities to be had from making a success of Brexit. Leaving the EU fully means we won't have to pay billions to bloated Brussels bureaucrats. It means we will be able to take back control of our borders and end uncontrolled EU immigration.

"What's more, we'll be able to spend money on the things that matter to the British people. We can build a modern Britain that puts the hard-working classes first and makes it easier for British businesses to trade in the world and succeed.

"This is what people voted for in the referendum. Now everyone, Remainer or Leaver, has a duty to get on with the job of delivering a brighter future for our land," he was quoted as saying by the Independent.