Jeremy Hunt has hit back at Rejoiners who think Britain is set up to fail, saying the UK economy is “more resilient than many feared”.
He stated that the UK can be “confident of having among the best prospects for growth in Europe.”
While he did not specifically mention Brexit, his remarks were interpreted as a jab at those who have claimed that Brexit has weakened the British economy in recent weeks.
David Henig, director of the UK trade policy project at the European Centre for International Political Economy, said the nation’s economy was “already vulnerable because of uncertainty after Brexit”.
Meanwhile, economists Ana Andrade and Dan Hanson said the evidence suggests the UK committed “an act of economic self-harm when it voted to leave the EU in 2016”.
They added: “The main takeaway is that the rupture from the single market may have impacted the British economy faster than we, or most other forecasters, expected.”
Brexit, according to the UK’s independent Office for Budget Responsibility, will result in a 4% loss of productivity in the long run.
Hunt’s remarks follow the release of new data showing that Britain narrowly avoided entering a recession at the end of last year, with the UK economy outperforming expectations.