Britain leaving EU in mud after shaking off recession fears, says Brexiteer | Politics | News | EUROtoday

Britain is leaving the European Union trailing in its wake after quitting the bloc – and rosy financial information printed this week proves it, a number one Brexiteer has mentioned.

The FTSE 100 closed at an all-time excessive yesterday after better-than-expected gross home product (GDP) figures for the UK launched by the Office for National Statistics earlier.

The UK financial system grew by 0.6 % within the first quarter of 2024, rising from recession within the course of. By distinction, development within the eurozone – made up of the 19 international locations which have adopted the euro as their forex – is simply 0.3 %.

Robert Oulds, director of the Bruges Group suppose tank and a long-term advocate of the advantages of Brexit, was in little doubt the UK is now starting to reap tangible advantages from voting to depart in 2016 – whereas urging Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to grab the second.

He instructed Express.co.uk: “The numbers are in, the evidence is clear. Brexit Britain is outperforming the EU. We are better off out.”

Mr Oulds had always believed it would take time for the benefits of Brexit to make themselves visible, he pointed out, especially given the global pandemic.

He explained: “The economy began performing relatively well since the vote to leave.”

Referring to an unproven theory that Covid escaped Wuhan Institute of Virology, Mr Oulds said of the UK’s economy: “It was knocked off course by our slavish commitment to World Health Organisation edicts orchestrated in response to a Chinese bioweapon.”

However, he warned that in order for the nation to realise its full potential, it was necessary to ditch all EU-era red tape, adding: “EU legacy laws need to be repealed.”

Mr Oulds’ position was echoed by Brendan Clarke Smith, the Brexit-backing Tory MP for Bassetlaw, who shared a Bruges Group tweet on X.

He commented: “UK outperforming the Eurozone once again.”

Speaking during a visit to Witney in Oxfordshire with constituency MP Robert Courts, Mr Sunak himself hailed the figures, saying: “After undoubtedly a troublesome couple of years that the nation has had, really now issues are beginning to really feel higher.

“Confidence is returning to the economy and the country, and I hope that you’re starting to feel that too.

“Businesses are making a secure guess in Britain. We have attracted the third highest quantity of greenfield overseas direct funding since 2010 and the UK accounts for round half of all AI non-public capital funding in Europe.

“We really are turning a corner, and the businesses of the future agree.”

The newest statistics represented the strongest quarterly development because the fourth quarter of 2021.

The efficiency was notably pushed by enhancements within the providers and manufacturing sectors, which grew by 0.7 % and 0.8 % respectively.

Nevertheless, Julian Jessop, Economics Fellow on the Institute for Economic Affairs (IEA) sounded a notice of warning, suggesting the figures have been “little to get excited about”.

He defined: “Consumer spending only grew by 0.2 percent. GDP per capita rose by 0.4 percent, but remains 0.7 percent lower than a year earlier.

“The business surveys that signalled a decent bounce in the first quarter were still strong at the start of the second.

“But the UK economy is still grappling with big problems. An even bigger state – with higher spending, higher taxes and more intervention – is not the solution.”

Yvette Cooper, Labour’s Shadow Home Secretary, was sceptical, telling Sky News: “The Government seems to think we should be grateful for the fact that we are no longer in recession and have low growth instead.

“I think this still reflects the fact that working people are still worse off than they were 14 years ago, that people are still paying more on their mortgages, prices are still much higher and actually people are feeling really squeezed.”

She added: “The thought of the Conservatives making an attempt to do a victory lap on all of this and anticipating everybody to suppose: ‘It’s all fantastic and we have by no means had it so good,’ simply reveals how out of contact they’re.”