SNP chief Stephen Flynn declared that “Brexit broke Britain” as he skewered Rishi Sunak on the economic impact of quitting the EU.
Flynn, who is his party’s leader at Westminster, clashed with the prime minister after new figures revealed inflation remains at 8.7%, despite Sunak’s pledge to halve it by the end of the year, while interest rates are soaring.
He also accused the PM of “taking honesty lessons from Boris Johnson” over previous claims about the UK’s economic health.
Comparing the economic situation in the UK to the EU, Flynn said: “I don’t think [the prime minister] quite grasps the reality of the economic situation facing households across the isles.
“It didn’t need to be like this. Because mortgage deals in Ireland, they’re not sitting in excess of 6%, they’re round about 4.5%.
“Inflation in the euro area, that’s not sitting at 8.7%, it’s sitting at closer to 6%. Britain is broke.
“Now, seven years after their EU referendum, will he finally admit that it was Brexit that broke it.”
But Sunak insisted that high interest rates were a “global problem” and that those in the UK were similar to what they are in America, Canada and Australia.
Flynn has earlier mocked Sunak for claiming the government was making progress on its promises when the evidence suggested otherwise.
He said: “In February the prime minister told this House that borrowing costs were back to where they should be.
“In March, he boasted that he would halve inflation by the end of the year, and in May he then said economic optimism increasing.
“Given the dire economic reality of today, is it not now clear that he’s taking his honesty lessons from Boris Johnson?”
Sunak said the Bank of England, the Office for Budget Responsibility, the OECD and International Monetary Fund had all “upgraded their outlook for the United Kingdom this year”.
He added: “We continue to be on track to keep reducing inflation because that is the right economic priority.”