David Cameron describes Brexit as 'a mistake not a disaster'

Former prime minister says vote to leave has 'turned out less badly than we first thought"

Brexit has “turned out less badly than we first thought”, David Cameron has said.

The former prime minister said the decision to leave the European Union in June 2016 was a “mistake not a disaster” while talking to steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

Mr Cameron called the 2016 referendum on the UK’s membership of the EU to heal the Conservatives infighting over Europe.

He campaigned on a platform to Remain and when the Leave side won he resigned as prime minister the following morning.

In unguarded comments recorded by Channel 5 News at Davos, he was heard saying: "As I keep saying, it's a mistake not a disaster.

"It's turned out less badly than we first thought. But it's still going to be difficult."

During the campaign, the Remain side warned there would be immediate economic consequences if the UK voted to leave the EU.

Mr Cameron's closest ally and former chancellor, George Osborne, said in a speech in the days before the referendum that he would have to issue an emergency Budget to tackle a £30bn “black hole” in the event of a Leave vote.

Meanwhile, Mr Cameron – in a speech to Vauxhall car workers in Ellesmere Port in Cheshire – said Brexit would be like a “bomb” to the economy.

He said: “Let's just remember what a shock really means. It means pressure on the pound sterling. It means jobs being lost. It means mortgage rates might rise. It means businesses closing. It means hardworking people losing their livelihoods.”

Later on in the campaign he described leaving the EU as the “self-destruct option” and a Treasury analysis predicted an immediate year-long recession with the loss of up to 820,000 jobs within two years.

In the immediate term the UK has not gone into recession, even though growth has remained anaemic.

Mr Cameron's predictions about pressure on the pound and mortgage rate rises also turned out to be true.

And many Remainers are warning it is still too early to predict the effects of Brexit as we have not left the union yet.