Hope vs gloom

For all Gordon Brown’s economic mistakes, he at least tried to build confidence in the British economy. In the build-up to the European Union referendum, David Cameron and George Osborne did the opposite. Osborne, as Chancellor, ignored the good news, accentuated the bad and tried to portray Britain as an economic weakling propped up by EU membership. He was joined by a great many investment banks who produced analyses saying that Britain’s life outside the EU would be catastrophic.

Since the referendum, these anticipations of doom have continued. It is rather strange to watch. Encouraging economic news — the increase in high-street spending, the buoyant demand for jobs through recruitment agencies — is brushed aside. But the surveys about sentiment, which are more negative, are being seized upon as proof of the Remain side being right all along. The Brexit vote might have passed, but the debate goes on: its advocates looking for signs of optimism, and its opponents muttering about ‘hard Brexit’ and almost willing economic collapse.