Expert says the UK economy has been permanently damaged by Brexit

We may have had enough of experts, or Michael Gove has at least, but one has just explained how disastrous Brexit has been and makes a compelling case.

Speaking to Bloomberg Michael Saunders, a former Bank of England policymaker, warned that the policy is having a terrible impact on the British economy and implied austerity measures are only being considered because of it.

Asked if the policy was bad for London, he said: "I would cast the net wider than that, the UK economy as a whole has been permanently damaged by Brexit. It's reduced the economy's potential output significantly, eroded business investments.

"If we hadn't had Brexit we probably wouldn't be talking about an austerity budget this week, the need for tax rises, spending cuts wouldn't be there."

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"It's been a chaotic period," he also said, speaking about Britain's prime ministerial churn. "Getting higher potential growth is really the big economic challenge over the next few years."

"Improving trade links with the EU, improving education, training and also fixing this worrying rise in long-term sickness which has been reducing the workforce so much," would help improve the economy, he said.

We should have chosen chaos with Ed Miliband.

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