The old pound is being replaced this year, and is going out on something of a low

Sterling’s Brexit-fuelled decline over the past year has been Britain’s “least successful” currency devaluation in history, an analysis of the latest growth figures has revealed.

The UK’s trade balance has worsened by 1.8% of GDP since the final quarter of 2015 — before worries over the EU referendum began to hurt the pound. Rising exports have been outstripped by an even faster rise in imports, according to Samuel Tombs of consultancy Pantheon Macroeconomics.

The figures show that booming exports have so far failed to provide a silver lining to the pound’s slump, which has also driven up inflation and squeezed household spending.

By contrast, the economy was boosted by an improving trade position after four significant devaluations — in 1967, 1976, 1992 and 2007. “It’s