Facts

At the G20 Summit in Bali, Sunak was asked the direct question: "The UK's economic woes are particularly acute compared to some of its neighbours and like-minded countries. Do you accept that Brexit, in any way, is a contributing factor?" Sunak responded by talking about the "global context" and factors like covid and the war in Ukraine. He did not address Brexit. 

Meanwhile, economists have reached the consensus that Brexit has significantly worsened the country’s economic performance

The Office for Budget Responsibility reported that, “The latest evidence suggests that Brexit has had a significant adverse impact on U.K. trade, via reducing both overall trade volumes and the number of trading relationships between U.K. and EU firms.”

The report goes on to reaffirm their earlier predictions, made in March 2020, that Brexit would ultimately reduce productivity and UK gross domestic product by 4 per cent compared with a world where the country remained inside the EU.

The Financial Times estimates that level of decline, worth £100bn a year in lost output, to result in lost revenues for the Treasury of roughly £40bn a year

Verdict

It would be unfair to say that Rishi Sunak was lying to Sky Viewers. He may have genuinely believed (as his answer implied) that Britain’s economic woes should be seen in the light of the ‘global context’ rather than Brexit. Sunak, like the rest of his government, is in denial about Brexit. 

 We emailed Rishi Sunak’s office and Downing Street offering them the chance to respond. The email was received, but no reply.