Tory MP John Redwood shut down claims of an impending recession post-Brexit and said the economy had actually grown since the Leave vote.
He also took aim at the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the EU and the Treasury for boosting the Remain camp.
“One of the frustrations of the referendum campaign was that we had a parade of apparently clever economists and big international institutions – World Bank, IMF, the European Union itself, the British Treasury – coming out and saying if we dared to vote to leave the European Union, we’d go into recession and the economy would be very badly damaged,” he told Express.co.uk.
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John Redwood has blasted economists who predicted a recession and praised Theresa May
I think people got it wrong because I think they confused sensible economic analysis with their own particular passions and beliefs
John Redwood
But Mr Redwood insisted things are looking brighter for the UK and that its economy had already grown “a little bit faster” since June 23.
“It wasn’t, I thought, going to do any damage whatsoever to the economy and so I put that case out and stuck with positive forecasts for the UK and the economy,” he said.
“And it’s been wonderful to see that the British economy has grown a little bit faster since we voted to leave and the consumer has remained an extremely good heart and businesses are having to invest to meet all the consumer demand.”
Theresa May's 12 point Brexit plan
Mon, January 16, 2017
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Continued cooperation with the EU to tackle terrorism and international crime.
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Former Prime Minister David Cameron also predicted an economic disaster after Brexit
He said economists backing the Remain side had “distorted” their forecasts because of their own “passions”.
The Wokingham MP said: “I think people got it wrong because I think they confused sensible economic analysis with their own particular passions and beliefs.
“And they all collectively thought that we should stay in the European Union and so they distorted their forecast as a result and they’re now all having to revise them and I hope they’ve learnt a lesson from that.”
Mr Redwood also praised Theresa May’s announcement that the UK would be looking to leave the single market in her Brexit speech this week.
He added: “We will be committed to projects with Europe that we like, as an independent country. [And] we’ll be in a position to have more and better agreements with countries beyond Europe.”
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