Brexit is hurting the UK economy, Bank of England officials said Wednesday, even as government leaders downplay the impact of the seismic EU withdrawal.

Brexit has "permanently damaged" the UK economy, former Bank of England policymaker Michael Saunders warned as London was deposed as Europe's biggest stock market.

Wages are worth less as direct result of departure from EU, says Monetary Policy Committe member. / Brexit has added 6 per cent to UK food prices, a Bank of England official has said as inflation hit a 41-year high.

LONDON has lost its crown as Europe’s largest stock market to Paris, with France closing a trillion-dollar market gap since the 2016 Brexit vote.

In reality, Brexit has hobbled the UK economy, which remains the only member of the G7 — the group of advanced economies that also includes Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States — with an economy smaller than it was before the pandemic.

"The need for tax rises and spending cuts wouldn't be there if Brexit hadn't reduced the economy's potential output so much."

As evidence mounts of the long-term harm being inflicted on the U.K. economy by Brexit, the government is coming under pressure to acknowledge the elephant in the room.

Meanwhile former Cabinet minister George Eustice questioned the negotiating strategy that led to the Australia and New Zealand trade deals.

Senior economist Michael Saunders thinks country "wouldn’t be talking about an austerity budget" if it had stayed in the EU.

Former Monetary Policy Committee at Bank of England Michael Saunders said Brexit is to blame for "persistent" and "lasting" damage to the UK economy.

"The UK chose Brexit in a referendum, but the government then chose a particularly hard form of Brexit, which maximized the economic cost."

Former Bank of England policy maker Michael Saunders said Britain’s exit from the European Union one of the reasons why the UK is now entering a period of austerity.

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.

Britons facing ‘austerity’ budget as a direct result of decision to leave Europe, former Bank of England adviser says

Everyone can see that it is failing, but pretending it can work is a precondition for positions of authority.

A former Bank of England policymaker suggested there may not be a need for an austerity budget had it not been for Brexit.