UK May Lose at Least $1.3Bln Per Year Over Possible Border Checks After Brexit

The United Kingdom may lose at least 1 billion pounds ($1.3 billion) per year after the possible introduction of border checks following the withdrawal from the European Union, a report issued by the Oxera economic consultancy said.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – According to the report, one of the likely scenarios of the Brexit will embrace the low regulation and the high enforcement that will be undertaken at the ports or on a random checks basis.

“We estimate the impact of such a scenario to be at least £1bn per year,” the report said.

The report pointed out that was a highly conservative estimate as it did not take into account a number of costs such as the costs of the economic uncertainty and recruitment of the new staff.

“The full cost is likely to be much higher,” the report added.

On June 23, 2016, the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union by way of a referendum. Brexit negotiations between the United Kingdom and the European Union officially kicked off on June 19, and are due to be completed by the end of March 2019.