IAN McCONNELL

UK economic output in the longer term will be around four per cent lower than it would have been had the country stayed in the EU if the Government’s proposed Brexit deal is implemented, a think-tank forecasts.

The National Institute of Economic and Social Research, publishing the report, said this was broadly equivalent to losing the annual output of Wales or the output of the financial services industry in London. It added that it also equated to a loss of 3% in gross domestic product per head, worth around £1,000 per person per annum to people in the UK.

Garry Young, director of macromodelling and forecasting, said: “Leaving the EU will make it more costly for the UK to trade with a large market on our doorstep and inevitably will have economic costs.”