Economists for Free Trade

Part of the Powerbase Brexit Portal.

Economists for Free Trade (formerly Economists for Brexit) is a lobby group pushing for a hard Brexit after the June 2016 decision by the UK to leave the EU.

Activities

Screengrab from Economists for Free Trade's upbeat website

Economists for Free Trade has been established to promote the case for a hard Brexit. The group has presented its views in the British media – principly that leaving the EU will have a positive impact the UK economy – providing a counter-narrative to most economists who think that the opposite will be true.

In November 2017, for example, the group launched its ‘Budget for Brexit’ report, which says that 'quitting the EU will reinvigorate the British economy, creating a flood of extra revenue for the Exchequer that can be used to cut taxes, boost state spending and slash the national debt'.

People

The EFT 'Team' (as of Nov 2017). There are no women in the 17-strong team.

• Professor Patrick Minford, Chair, Economists for Free Trade, Professor of Economics at Cardiff University, formerly Director and Founder of Liverpool Research Group
• Edgar Miller Convener, Economists for Free Trade, Managing Director, Palladian Limited and Senior Visiting Fellow, Cass Business School
• Professor David Blake, Professor of Economics, Cass Business School and Director of the Pensions Institute
• Roger Bootle, Chairman of Capital Economics, Vote Leave donor and Special Adviser to the House of Commons Treasury Select Committee
• Michael Burrage, Entrepreneur and Founder-Director of a specialist telecoms company. Former Harvard Research Fellow.
• Professor Tim Congdon, Previously a member of the Treasury Panel of Independent Forecasters
• Professor Kevin Dowd, Professor of Finance and Economics at Durham University Business School, a partner in Cobden Partners and an adjunct scholar at the Cato Institute
• John Greenwood, Chief Economist at Invesco
• Liam Halligan, Economist, broadcaster and columnist at the Sunday Telegraph
• Martin Howe QC, Leading expert on EU constitution and Barrister at 8 New Square specialising in Intellectual Property and EU law
• Warwick Lightfoot, Director of Economics and Social Policy at free market think tank, Policy Exchange; ex-Special Adviser to the Chancellor of the Exchequer between 1989 and 1992
• Professor Graeme Leach, CEO & Chief Economist of Macronomics, a macroeconomic, geopolitical and future megatrends consultancy
• Neil MacKinnon, Global Macro Strategist at VTB Capital
• Professor Kent Matthews, Professor of Banking and Finance at Cardiff University
• Professor David Paton, Professor of Industrial Economics at Nottingham University
• Professor Vudayagi Balasubramanyam, Professor of Development Economics at Lancaster University
• Dr John Whittaker, Former MEP and Senior Teaching Fellow at Lancaster University

Advisors

Advisors to EFT (as of Nov 2017). There are no women among the 11-man advisory board of the EFF.

• John Craven, Former Board Member Deutsche Bank, and donor to the Taxpayers' Alliance.
• James Dyson, Founder, Dyson Ltd
• Lord Howard Flight, Chairman Flight & Partners, Chairman EIS Association
• Daniel Hodson, executive committee chair of Financial Services Negotiation Forum, a 'think tank' that teamed up with Legatum Institute after Brexit to create a platform for the financial services industry to make its voice heard during the process of leaving the EU. Hodson was also chair of The City for Britain, a City-targeting lobby group affiliated to Vote Leave; he is former CEO of LIFFE
• John Longworth, Former Director British Chambers of Commerce, Co-Chairman of Leave Means Leave
• Tim Montgomerie, Editor of UnHerd, Founder of ConservativeHome
• David Ord, Co-Owner of Bristol Ports, Vice Chair Open Europe
• Owen Paterson, MP, Former Secretary of State Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs & former Secretary of State Northern Ireland
• Barnabas Reynolds, Partner at Shearman & Sterling LLP, Head of Global Financial Institutions Advisory Practice; Reynolds spoke at the Brexit-promoting Prosperity UK conference in April 2017 in London, including in a session on 'Opportunities from Deregulation' with Matt Ridley and James Sproule of the Legatum Institute.
• Jacob Rees-Mogg MP, Member Treasury Select Committee, Director of Somerset Capital
• Matt Ridley, Science and Technology Committee (House of Lords), Columnist The Times

Contact

• Website: https://www.economistsforfreetrade.com
• Tel: 0203 585 5290; it shares the same telephone number as Leave Means Leave campaign

PR agency

• Media Intelligence Partners: MIP's Matt Walsh is listed as EFT's media contact.