Lord Digby Jones, a leading proponent of leaving the EU, said in July 2016, “There’s not going to be any economic pain. If there are job losses, they will be very few”. Of course, he wasn’t alone. Britain would stroll into the sunlit uplands holding all the cards … but as we approach the final break with our EU partners, we can already see how worthless those assurances were.

Digby Jones made the claim on Twitter at the weekend when discussing the impact of a no deal Brexit.

Jacob Rees-Mogg says the benefits of leaving the EU may not be felt for 50 years – and he’s not the only Eurosceptic asking the people of Britain to wait patiently.