The UK economy has been firmly in focus in the last week.

Sadly, there has been nothing to lift the spirits on this front, in terms of the outlook.

That said, it was heartening to hear Mayor of London Sir Sadiq Khan point out again the reality of Brexit, at a time when so many of his Labour colleagues would apparently rather avoid talking about the major ongoing impact.

His colleagues’ reluctance is no real surprise, given the red lines of Sir Keir Starmer’s administration in terms of not rejoining the European Union, single market or even the customs union.

Sir Sadiq pointed out the simple truths of Brexit as he made the case for a youth mobility scheme between the UK and EU.

This is of course an eminently sensible proposition given young people in the UK have been deprived of so many opportunities by former Conservative prime minister Boris Johnson’s hard Brexit, the key elements of which have essentially been embraced by the Labour Government.

Sir Sadiq told the EU ambassador and the UK ambassadors to the 27 member states of the bloc at a meeting last Tuesday that Brexit “continues to have a negative impact” on the country.

And he highlighted his view that closer relations between the UK and EU could act as a counterweight to moves by US President Donald Trump to impose tariffs on goods exports to the world’s largest economy, some of which are being pursued already and others talked about.

Sir Sadiq declared: “I'm a proud European and........

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