Seven years ago last week, George Osborne sparked a storm by warning that departing the EU would leave Britain “permanently poorer”. By 2030, he warned, citing a Treasury study, the economy would be 6 per cent smaller than if we stayed in.
This went down with Leavers about as well as one might expect: no less a giant than John Redwood described it as “completely worthless”. And if it was simply a scare tactic then obviously it didn’t work. We’re now halfway to 2030, though, and real wages are falling while prices are very clearly not. Last week the German news magazine Der Spiegel ran a feature headed, “Britain in Crisis: The UK Faces a Steep Climb Out of a Deep Hole”.
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