Project Fear proved wrong after economy actually GREW in the three months since Brexit

Britain’s economy grew in the immediate aftermath of the EU referendum in the face of doom-laden Project Fear predictions.

GDP grew 0.5 per cent in the third quarter of the year, thanks to a “strong performance” from the Britain’s powerhouse services sector.

But the Remain campaign had predicted the economy would go into meltdown immediately after Brexit.

During the referendum Treasury scaremongering claimed Britain’s economy would actually shrink by between 0.1 and 1 per cent between July and September - but instead it grew.

Tory MP Marcus Fysh branded George Osborne’s prediction in May “b*******”

Economists had been pencilling in slower growth of 0.3 per cent but the economy outsripped their expectations.

However the Office of National Statistics also warned that “strong performance in the dominant services industries continued to offset further falls in construction, while manufacturing continued to be broadly flat.”

The higher-than-expected GDP figure was driven by services, which grew by 0.8 per cent between July and September.

Last night experts credited the boost in part to Britain’s booming movie industry after the release of The BFG and Star Trek Beyond in July, as well as the continued Star Wars productions based in the UK.

The good news also came from transport, storage and communication sectors which grew at their fastest pace since the fourth quarter of 2009, rising 2.2 per cent over the period in contrast to 0.6 per cent in the previous quarter.

Joe Grice, the chief economist at the Office of National Statistics, said the data provided the “most comprehensive picture so far of the post-referendum UK economy”.

Responding to the good news, the Chancellor said: “The fundamentals of the UK economy are strong, and today’s data show that the economy is resilient.

“We are moving into a period of negotiations with the EU and we are determined to get the very best deal for households and businesses.”

Philip Hammond added: “The economy will need to adjust to a new relationship with the EU, but we are well-placed to deal with the challenges and take advantage of opportunities ahead.”

But Ryan Bourne of Economists for Brexit hit back: “Ahead of the referendum, the Treasury forecast an economic contraction in Q3, the IMF forecast a crash in equity markets and the Treasury warned of a technical recession.

“These were just a selection of wildly inaccurate short-term forecasts based on the poorly-evidenced effects of supposed policy ‘uncertainty’ and expected lower growth potential outside the EU.”

The top wonk from the Institute of Economic Affairs added: “The Treasury forecast came largely as a consequence of dodgy assumptions about Britain’s future policy framework outside the EU.