And one suggested the research highlighted just how badly wrong the architects of Project Fear had been with their gloomy predictions five years ago. Meanwhile Prime Minister Boris Johnson was urged to seize the moment with regulatory reforms which with help Britain’s businesses capitalise on their new freedoms.

       More than half of UK finance chiefs surveyed in the new Deloitte chief financial officer (CFO) survey, published yesterday, said they had seen a full recovery in demand for their businesses, or expect to by the end of the year.

       In addition, 76 percent expected to see increases in hiring over the year ahead - with optimism in terms of recruitment and spending at its highest level in nearly seven years.

       Professor Daniel Hodson, chairman of the CityUnited Project, told Express.co.uk: “The post-Brexit resurgence of the Nation of Shopkeepers continues; the confidence, innovation and entrepreneurial spirit of industry and the City shining through.”

       Referring to the research by the Government’s Taskforce on Innovation, Growth and Regulatory Reform, he added: “We look now to the Government determinedly to implement the wide-ranging and well supported regulatory reforms of the recent TIGRR report to maintain the momentum.”

       Leigh Evans, vice chairman of the CityUnited Project, told Express.co.uk: “This survey highlights once again just how disastrously wrong the Project Fear ‘experts’ were in their doom-laden prognostications and threats before and after the EU Referendum.

       “The important thing now is to capitalise on our newly re-found freedoms and to take competitive advantage wherever it opens up.

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       “It seems that the companies surveyed are doing just that.

       “With the Government now eyeing up important regulatory reforms, it’s vital that as a country we move swiftly and decisively.

       “We are confident that a pro-business environment with an increasing return to a traditional, British Common Law framework will enable UK businesses to flourish further still, powering the continued creation of new jobs and turbo-charging the economy. We can’t wait.”

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       An overwhelming majority of those surveyed expect investment, particularly in digital technology and assets, to accelerate over the next three years, delivering gains in productivity and business performance.

       However, CFOs also anticipate rising operating costs over the next 12 months and report a sharp increase in hiring difficulties.

       This is reflected in their assessment of higher inflation as a key risk alongside COVID-19 and climate change.

       Richard Houston, senior partner and chief executive of Deloitte North and South Europe, said The economy continued to be shaped by the aftermath of the pandemic as well as the transition to net-zero carbon emissions.

       He added: “We’ve seen a huge tilt from the uncertainty caused by the pandemic to an appetite for acquisitions, investment and hiring.

       “With the majority of finance leaders expecting a return to pre-pandemic levels of demand, the focus will be on innovating and creating new products and services.

       “The businesses that have successfully navigated this pandemic have been able to adapt quickly.

       “Investing in digital technologies will be key to helping them continue this transformation and nurture sustainable, inclusive growth.”

       Ian Stewart, chief economist at Deloitte, added: “With the economy reopening, CFOs’ perceptions of external uncertainty have dropped below the average of the last five years and businesses have tacked away from the defensive strategies that helped them through the downturn.

       ”The pandemic, like all major shocks, will reshape the economy and we are likely to see years of normal growth compressed into just a few months.

       “Indeed, eight in ten CFOs believe that productivity will run higher in the wake of the pandemic.

       “That offers the hope of a more comprehensive recovery than after the global financial crisis.”