Andrew Neil mocks Brexit doom-mongers as UK outperforms EU giants

Miserable UK doommongers who claim that the UK has been the worst-performing economy since the pandemic have been slammed after new figures revealed the country is outperforming Europe’s economic powerhouses.

Journalist Andrew Neil posted on X (Twitter) pointing out the UK had outperformed Europe’s three biggest economies.

Mr Neil’s tweet comes after revised figures from the ONS (Office for National Statistics) showed that the UK’s economy had regained its post-pandemic size in 2021.

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt hailed the news on Friday after the data showed just how strongly the country was bouncing back from the damage done by Covid-19.

Before revised figures were released, Britain was believed to be the only G7 economy that was smaller than it was before the pandemic.

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Following the news, Mr Neil tweeted: “You will have read many times on Twitter that the UK economy has been the worst performing among the G7’s most prosperous nations since the pandemic.

“Said without caveat and often gleefully by a Twitter mob that revels in doing the country down.

“Well, now that the official stats have been revised independently, an up-to-date G7 league table shows this: the UK lagged behind only the fast-growing North American economies of the USA and Canada.

“It has outperformed Europe’s three major economies — Germany, France and Italy, as well as Japan — since the pandemic. Who wudda thunk it?!”

The new ONS figures suggested that the UK recovered strongly during 2021.

It said that in the fourth quarter of 2021, the economy was 0.6 percent larger than in the final quarter of 2019.

Previous estimates had been far more pessimistic, claiming the economy had shrunk by 1.2 percent.

With this in mind, the ONS warned in their latest data set that in the last three months to June 2023, the UK economy was 0.2 percent smaller than it was pre-pandemic.

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Speaking about the more positive figures, Jeremy Hunt said: “There are many battles still to win, most of all against inflation so we can ease the cost of living pressures of families.

“But if we stick to the plan we can look forward to healthy growth which according to the IMF will be faster than Germany, France, and Italy in the long term.”

He added that the news showed “once again those determined to talk down the British economy have been proven wrong”.

In a statement, the ONS revealed where there was such a dramatic change from previous datasets.

They said: “These revisions are mainly because we have richer data from our annual surveys and administrative data, we are now able to measure costs incurred by businesses directly and we can adjust for prices at a far more detailed level.

“This means that the UK has one of the most up-to-date sets of estimates for this period of considerable economic change.

“Other countries follow different revision policies and practices, which can result in their estimates being revised at a later date.

“It is important this is considered when comparing the UK with other countries and our international comparison position is likely to change once other countries fully confront their datasets over time.”

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