Britain beat international expectations today as its economy grew by a surprise 0.2 percent between April and June. Political commentator Ross Clark said the latest figures show that the Remainer myths around Brexit were “crumbling”. In the Telegraph, Mr Clark wrote that “real world data is undermining the doomster ‘Bregret’ narrative”.
The latest growth figures follow a growth of 0.1 percent in the first quarter of the year.
The chief economist at the CBI, a leading business group, said the growth in the second quarter highlights the “resilience of the UK economy”.
Ben Jones urged British businesses to focus on improving productivity, describing this as the “surest way to drive up growth and living standards in the UK”.
The biggest contribution to the economic growth came from the car industry.
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Mr Clark mocked previous predictions of Brexit doom and gloom, pointing out that the IMF had claimed the UK economy was headed for a grim 2023 relative to other European countries.
In January, the IMF sparked concern in the UK after predicting that Britain would be the only major economy to shrink in 2023, faring even worse than Russia.
The political commentator said that even the Bank of England had Britain in recession throughout 2023.
He said that Britain had “consistently outperformed” the negative predictions.
Mr Clark also pointed to a souring economic mood in Europe, with Germany suffering growths of minus 0.4 percent, minus 0.1 percent and zero percent in the past three quarters
He suggested that Germany, the Netherlands or Italy would end up as Europe’s worst-performing economy in 2023 – not Britain.
Mr Clark wrote: “One of the purposes of Brexit was to try to escape the low orbit of Europe’s over-regulated, over-protected economy.
“We can’t say that we have done that yet – though the potential is still there. But what we need is a government prepared to exploit our new-found freedoms.”
The Government celebrated the latest figures.
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt said: “We’re laying the strong foundations needed to grow the economy.”
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak tweeted: “At the beginning of the year I made growing the economy one of my top priorities, and we are making progress.
“There’s still more work to do, but today’s figures show the plan is working.”
Meanwhile, Labour’s Rachel Reeves said the figures showed that growth is “still on the floor” thanks to the Conservatives’ “economic mismanagement”
