George Osborne tells Grant Shapps Brexit is the reason ‘Britain is stagnating’

George Osborne has told Grant Shapps where to look if he wants to find out why Britain is stagnating.

The former chancellor appeared on the Andrew Neil show to discuss recent forecasts of an impending recession in the UK.

In its latest World Economic Outlook update, the IMF downgraded its UK gross domestic product (GDP) forecast once again, predicting a contraction of 0.6 per cent against the 0.3 per cent growth pencilled in last October as Britain looks set to suffer more than most from soaring inflation and higher interest rates.

The grim outlook for the year ahead puts the UK far behind its counterparts in the G7 group of advanced nations and the only country – across advanced and emerging economies – expected by the IMF to suffer a year of declining GDP.

Among the other G7 nations, the IMF’s 2023 GDP predictions show growth of 1.4 per cent in the United States, 0.1 per cent in Germany, 0.7 per cent in France, 0.6 per cent in Italy, 1.8 per cent in Japan and 1.5 per cent in Canada.

Even the Russian economy is expected to grow in 2023.

Discussing the matter this weekend, Osborne said Brexit is the reason Britain is stagnating – but no one wants to talk about it.

Watch the clip in full below:

Jack Peat

Jack is a business and economics journalist and the founder of The London Economic (TLE). He has contributed articles to VICE, Huffington Post and Independent and is a published author. Jack read History at the University of Wales, Bangor and has a Masters in Journalism from the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne.