Rishi Sunak and European Commission Ursula von der Leyen (Image: GETTY)
Britain is leaving the European Union trailing in its wake after quitting the bloc - and rosy economic data published this week proves it, a leading Brexiteer has said.
The FTSE 100 closed at an all-time high yesterday after better-than-expected gross domestic product (GDP) figures for the UK released by the Office for National Statistics earlier.
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The UK economy grew by 0.6 percent in the first quarter of 2024, emerging from recession in the process. By contrast, growth in the eurozone - made up of the 19 countries which have adopted the euro as their currency - is just 0.3 percent.
Robert Oulds, director of the Bruges Group think tank and a long-term advocate of the benefits of Brexit, was in little doubt the UK is now beginning to reap tangible benefits from voting to leave in 2016 - while urging Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to seize the moment.
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He told Express.co.uk: "The numbers are in, the evidence is clear. Brexit Britain is outperforming the EU. We are better off out.”
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READ MORE: UK smashes EU growth as recession ends, FTSE booms and rate cuts loom
Tory MP for Bassetlaw Brendan Clarke-Smith (Image: House of Commons)
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nation to realise its full potential, it was necessary to ditch all EU-era red tape, adding: “EU legacy laws need to be repealed.”
The UK recession has ended with the strongest growth since lockdown (Image: Getty)
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 difficult couple of years that the country has had, actually now things are starting to feel better.
"Confidence is returning to the economy and the country, and I hope that you're starting to feel that too.
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#despitebrexit
U.K. outperforming the Eurozone once again ?????????????????? https://t.co/W4Y0mSi0vk
— Brendan Clarke-Smith MP (@Bren4Bassetlaw) May 10, 2024
"Businesses are making a safe bet in Britain. We have attracted the third highest amount of greenfield foreign direct investment since 2010 and the UK accounts for around half of all AI private capital investment in Europe.
"We really are turning a corner, and the businesses of the future agree."
The latest statistics represented the strongest quarterly growth since the fourth quarter of 2021.
The performance was particularly driven by improvements in the services and production sectors, which grew by 0.7 percent and 0.8 percent respectively.
Nevertheless, Julian Jessop, Economics Fellow at the Institute for Economic Affairs (IEA) sounded a note of caution, suggesting the figures were “little to get excited about”.
He explained: “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.
Rishi Sunak during his visit to Witney in Oxfordshire yesterday (Image: Getty)
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"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."
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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 idea of the Conservatives trying to do a victory lap on all of this and expecting everyone to think: 'It's all wonderful and we've never had it so good,' just shows how out of touch they are."
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