How Brits can counter Blair's attempts to overturn Brexit

That dark lord Tony Blair popped up in the last few days, permatanned and determined to overturn the Brexit referendum.

“It can be stopped if the British people decide that, having seen what it means, the pain-gain, cost-benefit analysis doesn’t stack up,” he told the Telegraph.

Unfortunately for Blair, Britain's economy is looking rather robust. The Brexit effect that many predicted hasn't materialised here - the economy grew by 0.5% in Q3, compared to Germany's rather poor 0.2%. A detailed graph on Bloomberg revealed where the growth was coming from:

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That pale blue bar at the end is net trade. In Q3 imports fell and exports rose. Part of the reason imports fell is of course the falling pound. But part of the reason is because Brexiteers are trying to buy British in loyal attempt to ensure there is no economic fallout from the vote. Because Britain normally runs huge trade deficits (and still manages to grow), even a small drop in imports makes a big difference to the economy. Brits have held back on purchasing foreign cars. They've been reading labels in supermarkets. They reacted with anger when Unilever tried to put up prices and switched to home-produced supermarket own labels.

Is it possible to consume only British products, or have we hollowed out out industry so much that we need to purchase from abroad?

Here is what I've been doing when shopping:

Fresh milk, meat and bread - Sainsburys stocks only UK produce for these items. Look for the Union Jack on the package

Fruit and veg: most of these are supplied by British farmers. There will be some imports though - grapefruit from South Africa, bananas from the Caribbean and so on. I think it's OK to buy from Commonwealth countries like South Africa and Jamaica - we will be building a trade relationship with them. But don't buy spanish tomatoes, look for UK grown stuff, ditto apples, pears, potatoes and so on.

Digestive biscuits and so on tend to be UK made, go for the supermarket own brand to be sure.

I managed to find a British made hair dye in Poundland, which sold for £1 instead of the £7.99 for a L'Oreal product! It is called Pro Colour Plus and is made by Healthpoint Ltd based in Blackpool. It works extremely well and I guess the difference in price is down to the fact that they don't do any advertising at all!

Most of my vitamins are made in the UK, we seem to have a large pharmaceutical sector.

I don't actually know if my small attempts to buy British are really helping, but if enough of us do it, then it keeps the economy going and it's one in the eye for Blair. I feel better for trying at any rate.