UK has to shift its focus

After months of havering, Prime Minister Theresa May recently announced that the United Kingdom plans to make a clean break from the European Union and not opt for "anything that leaves us half-in, half-out".

Such remarks mean Britain will completely abandon its EU membership and quit the single European market. However, a "clean break" from the EU is expected to have considerable consequences for the UK economy, given that it means the UK's homegrown products will no longer enjoy the preferential treatment it received from the EU as a member, and enthusiasm for investing in the UK will be dampened. British enterprises' attractiveness to foreign talents will also decline.

Such negative impacts on the UK economy will be long-lasting. A recent International Monetary Fund report lowered its 2018 expectations for Britain's economic growth by 0.3 percentage points to 1.4 percent and adjusted its long-term outlook to "negative".