'Brexit has certainly hit our level of growth', Chancellor admits - but insists UK economy has been 'remarkably resilient'

The Chancellor has admitted that Brexit has hit the UK's growth during an exclusive interview with LBC, but touted the resilience of the economy in handling a year of global shocks. Speaking with LBC's Nick Ferrari at Breakfast , John Healey was asked whether growth would be stronger if Britain rejoined the European single market. Mr Healey told Nick: "Well, I don't actually accept that... Brexit has certainly hit our level of growth. It's certainly hit our level of trade, but we had a referendum; we're out of the European Union.

"The challenge for me now is how do we make the best of an economy, which this year has proved remarkably resilient. After this, Nick cited reports suggesting a return to the trading bloc would see growth spike up to 5% yearly. Mr Healey was non-committal on the prospect, instead saying that the deal which Britain has with Europe is part of a bigger conversation which Prime Minister Andy Burnham is set to kick off in the coming months.

The Chancellor told Nick: "That's part of a bigger conversation that the prime minister wants the country to have because he recognises, and many other people do, that our Brexit deal was not a good one. 'It's not been good for Britain over the last decade. But my job now, and you're talking about growth, is to try and win full-stop resilience in the British economy. "I'm encouraged that the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) has increased their growth forecast this year.

And really, in the last two years under this Labour government, we've seen government investment up."