66% of Brexit-bashing economic forecasters admit they got it wrong

BRITAIN'S booming economy has humbled top economists, as it is revealed how epically wrong so-called experts were about the impact of the vote to leave the European Union



But, apparently undeterred by the facts staring them in the face, the very same people are STILL warning that Brexit will still damage the country's long-term prospects.

About two-thirds of economists surveyed by the Financial Times at the start of 2016 warned a vote to leave the EU would damage the UK's short-term output.

The ‘respected’ experts predicted that uncertainty would block household spending and business investment, leading to a downturn.

The Treasury, Bank of England and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) were also among the economic elite that participated in financial scare-mongering over a Leave vote, including a stock market and house price crash.

In fact, spending has surged since the referendum and key segments of the economy reached multi-year highs in expansion.

Britain's stock markets have also reached record highs, while house prices continue to surge.

Kevin Dowd, member of Economists for Brexit group, said: “This latest review of dismal economic Brexit forecasting comes as no surprise, given that the overwhelming majority of economists and supposedly respected bodies have been proven spectacularly wrong on the short-term impacts of Brexit.

"Mostly, these forecasts were based on the poorly-evidenced effects of supposed policy ‘uncertainty’ and expected lower growth potential outside the EU.

"As it turned out, the economy had a strong head of steam going into the vote and a positive recovery in the weeks and months following, with GDP figures in particular demonstrating that uncertainty has not undermined economic performance.

"What is most concerning is that these very same economists appear to be wedded to a set of forecasts which see the UK economy shrinking in relative terms over the long-term, based on flawed models and entirely misleading assumptions."

In further evidence that scare-mongering experts were wrong, economic growth jumped to 0.6 per cent in the third quarter of 2016 - the three months immediately following the vote.

This compares to growth of 0.2 and 0.6 per cent in the first quarter and second quarters, respectively.

The most recent data indicates that fourth quarter growth will be at a similar level of around 0.5 per cent.

Output in the all-important service sector, which accounts for around 75 per cent of Britain's economy, reached it's highest level in 17-months in December.

At the same time, manufacturing expansion reached a two and a half year high.

The experts will be proved wrong again, according to establishment critics who say Britain's economy can continue to power through Brexit negotiations after Article 50 is triggered.

John Redwood, chief global strategist at Charles Stanley, said: “Many UK economists have been forced to eat their words following incorrect forecasts last year.

“These economists are predicting yet more gloom for 2017 despite evidence to the contrary."

The truth here is that nobody actually knows what the future outside of the EU holds.

How we fare will be dependent on far more political factors than whether we have a hard or soft Brexit.

... the root cause of our problems are the Tories.

Whilst I will agree to a point, I don't think it is that simple. The main political parties in this country are much of a muchness, and until Corbyn broke the mould the recent differences between Labour and Tories were minimal. I'll never vote Labour again after what the Blair governments did to the country and I never have voted Tory.

Perhaps it's the political system that is actually wrong?

I wonder just how many of the electorate ask questions of those standing before voting for them? - I do!

All because some of you don't like foreigners and don't understand that the root cause of our problems are the Tories.

There's a difference between 'not liking' foreigners and not wanting to be ruled by them.