Brexit Armageddon was a terrifying vision – but it simply hasn’t happened, by Larry Elliott.

Unemployment would rocket. Tumbleweed would billow through deserted high streets. Share prices would crash. The government would struggle to find buyers for UK bonds. Financial markets would be in meltdown. Britain would be plunged instantly into another deep recession.

The right-on crowd wanted to remain in Europe, “Stronger Together” they said, and economic disaster if Britain left.

Hasn’t happened.

The 1.4% jump in retail sales in July showed that consumers have not stopped spending … Retailers are licking their lips in anticipation of an Olympics feelgood factor. The financial markets are serene. Share prices are close to a record high, and fears that companies would find it difficult and expensive to borrow have proved wide of the mark. Far from dumping UK government gilts, pension funds and insurance companies have been keen to hold on to them.

City economists had predicted an immediate rise in the claimant count measure of unemployment in July. That hasn’t happened either. This week’s figures show that instead of a 9,000 rise, there was an 8,600 drop. …

By now, Britain was supposed to be reeling from the emergency budget George Osborne said would be necessary to fill a £30bn black hole in the public finances caused by a plunging economy. The emergency budget is history, as is Osborne.

They’ll say anything to get political control over us.

hat-tip Matthew