Britain will regret leaving the European Union and rejoin the bloc in the coming decades, Austria’s finance minister has predicted.

Hans Joerg Schelling said he believes British voters will, in time, change their minds. He was speaking at a trade meeting in the City of London, after visiting London to meet the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Philip Hammond.

“When Britain joined the European Community in 1973, it was called the sick man of Europe. More than four decades later it is one of the largest economies in the EU and the fifth largest in the world,” he told the meeting.

“According to the 2015 prosperity index it is one of the most successful economies.”

As a result, Britain will regret leaving, he believes.

“In my view, I think that Great Britain will probably in 10 or 20 years again be a member of the EU,” Mr Schelling said.