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The Sun (25 December 2018)

BRITAIN will leapfrog France to become the world’s sixth biggest economy in the first year after Brexit – and stay there for the next DECADE.

A new report claims Brexit Britain’s GDP will still top France in the 2020s even if Scotland votes for independence – as it contributes a mere 7.7 per cent to UK output.

Britain's economy will be bigger than France's in the year after Brexit - and will stay there for the next decade

The prediction comes in the annual World Economic Rankings from the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR).

It warns that the chronic uncertainty caused by the Brexit talks will see the UK fall below both France and India to 7thin the world in 2019.

But it will bounce back to 6th from 2020 onwards “as the economy takes advantage of new opportunities emerging from Brexit”.

The report points out that the UK is the leading centre for creative and digital sectors, and the main financial sector in the European timezone.

France remains saddled with high debt, high taxes and a “rigid” labour market.

The CEBR said both Scotland and Northern Ireland could leave the UK but the rest of country would be larger by France by 2026, -remaining sixth behind the US, China, Japan, Germany and India.

Douglas McWilliams, CEBR chief, said: “If the UK manages to withstand Brexit it looks likely to regain its standing in the world’s six top economies in 2020

“And it will sustain this position for the foreseeable future.”

Ex-Tory party leader Iain Duncan Smith said the report proved Britain’s potential outside the EU – where it can begin to try and strike trade deals with the rest of the world.

He told The Sun: “This shows Project Fear and the Bank of England and the Treasury are wrong.

“Our future has not yet been written and it will be written by the great British public and not Remoaners and doomsayers.”

The annual World Economic League Table also highlights how Asian economies will replace traditional European powers over the next 15 years.

China will replace the US as the world’s biggest economy in 2033.

AMAZING! A genuinely independent report into Britain’s economic future predicts we’ll not just survive but thrive after Brexit.

It’s a marked contrast to the politically motivated doom-mongering of the Treasury and the Bank of England, still fighting pre-referendum battles.

Nobody imagines untangling ourselves from a bureaucratic beast with its tentacles around every part of our lawbook is going to be an overnight job.

But a rocky period as we leave is nothing compared with the possibilities it opens up for us in the future.

The CEBR rightly notes that the UK is the leading centre for creative and digital sectors, and one of the biggest financial centres in the world.

As we start to look towards our future outside of the EU, this report is a timely reminder of the strengths we can capitalise on in the years to come.

The Prime Minister must fight over the next three months, until the last ticks of the clock, for a deal that gives us the right to trade freely with the rest of the world without a “backstop” threat.

And she must remind Europe that Britain will be Great even without a deal, too.

And by then India will be the third biggest economic power on the planet.

Meanwhile Italy will drop out of the ten largest economies by 2026 and fall to 13thby 2033.

And Mexico will overtake Spain to become the largest Spanish speaking economy in 2031.

In a sign of Europe’s falling fortunes, Italy will drop out of the ten largest economies by 2026 and fall to 13thin 2033.