AREPORT written by a Welsh political consultant for a thinktank set up by Tony Blair paints a bleak picture of a post-Brexit future. Dafydd Rees, who has held senior positions with the BBC, Sky and Bloomberg, was commissioned to write a paper called Brexit - What We Now Know by the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change. The former Labour prime minister believes it is still possible for the UK to pull back from leaving the EU, and has argued in favour of another referendum once the terms of Brexit have been finalised. In his report, Mr Rees documents a series of outcomes and predictions that indicate a drop in prosperity for Wales and the UK as a whole because of the vote to leave the EU. He states: "The Office for Budget Responsibility has downgraded UK growth expectations for the next five years. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development says the UK went from the top of the G7 growth league to the bottom in the year following the Brexit vote. "The Centre for Economic Policy Research calculates that the Brexit vote has already cost the UK economy £300m a week. "Food prices are growing at their fastest rate in four years. Inflation is over 3% for the first time in nearly six years. The Centre for Economic Performance says that the Brexit vote has cost the average household £404 a year. … "The Resolution Foundation warns that Britain is on course for the longest period of falling living standards since records began back in the 1950s. Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales are already paying the heaviest economic price for Brexit in terms of higher inflation costs, according to the Centre for Economic Performance at the London School of Economics."

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