Britain has become the “sick man of Europe”, according to New Statesman reports.
A chart looking at GDP per capita growth over the last seven years shows the UK lags behind other European countries by some margin.
While the Netherlands has recorded an impressive 28 per cent growth, UK GDP per capita has grown by just 10 per cent since 2015, well behind other nations such as France (18 per cent) and Germany (24 per cent).
Stagflation
It comes as the UK was dubbed the “advanced nations’ stagflation capital” by Bloomberg as prices continue to rise amid stalled economic growth.
Prices could rise by 13.1 per cent over this year and next, the most in the Group of Seven, and the UK will drop to the bottom of the pack for growth in 2023, according to the International Monetary Fund.
Philip Aldrick writes that the results are a “curious form of exceptionalism but one that’s become all too familiar”.
He said: “When trouble strikes, the UK ends up sprawled on the canvas because, more than others, its economy lacks resilience.
“It’s a lesson in the dangers of just-in-time hyperefficiency, a culture focused more on cutting costs than on investing for the future. Never has that been more apparent than now.”
Pessimism
Sir Howard Davies, the chair of NatWest bank, has also said he is “quite pessimistic” about what the future has in store for the UK.
Dubbing Brexit a “significant mistake”, he said: “You don’t solve the problems of the left-behind by damaging the one area of the country that’s been writing the cheques.
“London is paying large amounts of tax and will be damaged by Brexit over time.”
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