Northern Ireland 'hamstrung' by Brexit, which may threaten quality of life

© Thanee Hengpattanapong |

Brexit has “hamstrung” Northern Ireland, with its unfettered access to Great Britain reduced and a fix potentially months away as business waits on the UK government to supply accurate data.

Senior economist at Ulster University’s Business School Esmond Birnie warned that costs in NI were rising “far more rapidly” than in the other three UK nations.

Left unchecked, this could price the region out of the UK, he said.

“We’ve no official quarterly data for Northern Ireland, but we’ve Ulster Bank’s purchasing index ...