DMcG wrote: Many of them have customers who can only afford to buy their goods/services because they are employed by businesses that do trade with the EU, or the 87% may buy products from wholesalers who trade with the EU.

A fair point, and one of which I was not unaware. I was sort of hoping that JC would make that point and I could then point out that he said Britain no longer has any industry. Ho hum.

Untangling ourselves from the EU was always likely to have a cost. What you, I or anyone else, can predict is the cost that we will incur if we do not extricate ourselves from what I see as a sinking ship. It's not just leaving that will cost us. Staying could cost us a lot more.