Britain is already on the peak of global competitiveness in a decade. But, the status of being the highest is recently at stake as it is reversed by the vote for Brexit, discloses the World Economic Forum. This happens when the people in Britain are asked to cast their votes on June 23, 2016. The electoral commission says there are 46.5 million people who are expected to vote, including all those who are entitled to vote in a UK parliamentary election. 

 As WEF report is published, simultaneously the government seriously think of a scheme to exit from the EU. Thus, Britain holds a referendum on whether to stay in the European Union on Thursday. Reuters will offer live coverage of the results throughout the night and carry UK Press Association results from each of the 382 counting areas. The ministers are divided, some favor the soft Brexit under UK that would prioritize access to the single market. Some other ministers favor a hard Brexit that would prioritize immigration control in negotiations.

The data collected before the June 23 referendum, shows that Britain had its rise in three places to rank seventh in the past year and this is data is used as the basis for its Global Competitiveness Report according to the body that runs the annual Davos event. UK is remarkably one of the most competitive economies that dominantly reign in the business world.

WEF study reveals that their report complement with the records of result from other global institutions such as International Monetary Fund and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development which state prior to the referendum that Brexit would surely make a big impact that would negatively affect UK in terms of trade and stock market investments. Brexit supporters are challenged with the result of the studies." UK will be able to forge closer trade links with countries outside the EU and will benefit from a reduction in the red tape generated in Brussels." yelled Brexit supporters as they express their sympathy.

 "Today's report demonstrates our ability to sharpen our edge and improve our competitiveness. This government will build on that progress, as we demonstrate to the world that Britain continues to be highly competitive and open for business." said the chancellor of Exchequer, Philip Hammond. During the World Trade Organization in Geneva on September 27, 2016, the Secretary of State for International Trade and President of the Board of Trade, Liam Fox, said that UK should push more trade liberalization after Brexit."The decision of the British people to leave the EU is not symptomatic of looking inwards, but a people who want to take more control over our laws, our money and our borders. We are a proud and outward-looking trading nation." said Fox.

WEF states that UK relies solely on highly efficient goods and labor markets for its competitiveness in which it ranked 9th and 5th among the 138 countries assessed. It also ranked third for its technological readiness and get a higher score compared to EU as a whole in eleven of the twelve categories. Britain scored lesser than EU when it comes to macro-economic development, mainly because of its huge deficit in budget, high debt ratio and poor performance in savings. Though there is a rise in the category of 23 places, UK remains nailed as rank 85^th in the world. Switzerland, Singapore and the US top the league table as the creams of crop in the investment world which remain unchanged from 2015.

Netherlands, Germany, the UK, Japan, Hong Kong and Finland are among the top ten countries which excel in global competitiveness.

Though countries which made up half of the top 10 comes from Europe, WEF said it was divided between the north and south of the continent. "For all economies in Europe, maintaining and improving prosperity levels will depend heavily on their ability to harness innovation and the talents of their workforces. Declining openness in the global economy is harming competitiveness and making it harder for leaders to drive sustainable, inclusive growth." said the WEF's founder and executive chairman, Klaus Schwab.