The government’s own Office for Budget Responsibility report says that the decision to leave the EU will reduce long-run productivity by 4 percent.

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt is being brutally mocked after claiming, against the evidence, that Brexit is not the issue for why the UK economy is performing poorly in comparison to other G7 countries.

Hunt made the comments to ITV News Economics Editor Joel Hills, when asked how big a drag Brexit is on the economy, after the latest gross domestic product figures show the UK is “still at the bottom of the G7 league table”, according to economists.

Hunt said in reply: “It is simply not the case that Brexit is the issue”.

GDP figures published last week show that the UK economy was still 0.5% smaller in the first quarter of this year than in the last quarter of 2019 – just before Covid-19 hit the global economy.

The government’s own Office for Budget Responsibility report says that the decision to leave the EU will reduce long-run productivity by 4 percent.

The same report also stated that both exports and imports will be around 15 percent lower in the long run than if the UK had remained in the EU.

It’s also worth pointing out that according to Bloomberg Economics, Brexit has caused a £100bn-a-year loss in output.

Earlier this year it was revealed that Brexit had cost the average UK household £1,000, due to a lack of investment following the referendum, according to a Bank of England economist.

Jonathan Haskel, an external member of the central bank’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), said investment had been “stopped in its tracks” by the decision to leave the EU.

Reacting to Hunt’s latest comments, Peter Stefanovic tweeted: “Chancellor @Jeremy_Hunt just told @itvnews Brexit is not the reason the UK economy is struggling to keep up with other G7 nations! He’s either completely deluded or grossly negligent – by now even Larry the cat knows he’s talking boll****

“Watch in disbelief.”

Basit Mahmood is editor of Left Foot Forward

Comments are closed.