A report by the National Institute of Economic and Social Research, published today, predicted growth of 3% in the UK this year followed by 2.5% in 2015 and 2% in 2016, the Daily Mail reported.

It comes just hours after the European Commission forecasted the UK to expand by 3.1% this year – 10 times faster than France – before growth of 2.7% and 2.5% in the following two years.

But experts at Fathom Consulting were less optimistic about the future, predicting that growth will slow to 1.5% in 2016.

“The UK economy, having been the basket case of the G7 not that long ago, suddenly became a roaring success, going from bottom of the league to top of the league,” said Fathom’s Danny Gabay.

“But we are fairly convinced that the UK economy has passed its peak and is now slowing.”

Brussels forecasted growth of 0.8% in the eurozone this year – and just 0.3% in France and 1.3% in Germany – following by expansion of 1.1% in 2015 and 1.7% in 2016.

NIESR warned that the eurozone ‘remains very depressed’ and poses ‘significant risks for the UK economy’.

Director Jonathan Portes said: “It is a really gloomy outlook. The situation in the eurozone continues to be particularly dreadful.”