Britain’s economic prospects have been downgraded by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for the second time in three months as it warned the country had become dependent on foreign-born workers for growth. The fund said that the UK is at risk of becoming trapped in a prolonged period of weak growth and stubborn inflation, as it warned of zero growth this year once increases in the population are taken into account. IMF analysis showed Britain’s workforce had been powered entirely by immigrant labour since 2019. It came as official figures show that the number of workforce dropouts claiming long-term sickness had surged to a fresh record high. More than 2.8m people now say they are too ill to work, the highest number since records were first collected by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). The IMF on Tuesday downgraded its forecasts for UK growth for the next two years, even as it hailed a brighter global outlook. Its World Economic Outlook showed the global economy is expected to expand at a faster-than-expected pace of 3.2pc this year. However, the British economy is expected to expand by just 0.5pc in 2024 as “lagged negative effects of high energy prices wane”. This...