As a non Brit and non European I’m struggling to understand how Brexit will be worse for Britain versus staying in the EU. I read that Brexit will ruin British industry and it’ll fall behind countries in Europe, but the economic numbers don’t seem to back that up.
When Britain left the EU in 2020 its GDP was USD $2.7 trillion, while France was $2.65 trillion.
Four years later in 2024 Britain’s GDP is $3.5 trillion, while France is $3.1 trillion.
The [IMF is forecasting](https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/WEO/weo-database/2024/April/weo-report?c=132,112,&s=NGDPD,&sy=2020&ey=2029&ssm=0&scsm=0&scc=0&ssd=0&ssc=0&sic=0&sort=country&ds=.&br=1) that by 2029 Britain’s GDP will be nearly $4.65 trillion while France will be $3.65 trillion, so over 9 years a $1 trillion gap has opened up between them.
Can someone explain why Brexit seems to be much worse for France than Britain, and why Britain is seeing such rapid economic growth?